Customer Solution Case Study
/ / Barter Trader Integrates Barter Management and Accounting Processes
Reduces operating costs by 40 percent
Overview
Country or Region:India
Industry:Professional Services
Customer Profile
Net4Barter, an Indian trade exchange firm,facilitates trading transactions throughamember network.It also markets products and services to itsmembers, as well asmaintaining records and accounts, and underwriting transactions.
Business Situation
With the absence of an integrated business solution it was impossible to monitorand manage the business efficiently. Consequently, Net4Barter needed a solution to manage the barter exchange and monitor the transactions of each member.
Solution
Net4Barter deployed Microsoft® Business Solutions-Navision®, with the help of Headstart Business Solutions, to manage its commissions, barter balances, and credit management processes.
Benefits
Accurate barter statements.
Barter transactions managed more efficiently.
Consolidatedbusiness processes
Reducedoperating costs by 40 percent / “Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision has provided us excellent integration between our barter transaction management and accounting.”
Rakesh Bhatnagar, Chief Executive Officer, Net4Barter
Net4Barter pioneered the Indian corporate barter industry, when it commenced operations in June 2000. The company developed a huge opportunity for barter transactions among Indian companies. It enabled companies to buy products and services—without spending cash—by paying in kind, which in turncan resolve their excess stock problems.
The solution Net4Barter needed revolved around the creation of an organized trade exchange at a national level which facilitates trade among a network of companies.
The implementation of Microsoft® Business Solutions–Navision® has helped Net4Barter to restructure business processes. It has enabled the company to automate its bartering transaction processes and also to integrate transaction workflow and processeswith accounting. The company is now competent to maintain its barter balances and manage transaction status updates in real time, which has helped the company to save as much as 40 percent on operating costs.
Situation
Net4Barter is an Indian barter and trade exchange where buyers and sellers can meet and exchange their product and services, as barter and cash transactions. Net4Barter acts as an exchange and collects commissions on the transactions.
A typical example of barter would be Dainik Jagaran, India's most read daily newspaper. Dainik Jagaran buys products for running reader contests, incentives for distributors, gifts for advertisers in its newspaper. It also buys services such as conference facilities, hotel rooms for internal consumption. All it has to offer is advertising space which is what it sells on a daily basis. It chooses products and services from any of the thousands of members of Net4barter and in return offers similar value of advertising in Dainik Jagaran.
It has built a strong base of loyal and satisfied clients across a number of industries over the years, which include well known Indian and international companies such asBusiness India, Business World, Godrej, Grand Hyatt, Hindustan Times, Hotel Radisson, Helene Curtis, MTV, Kinetic, Sahara Airlines, Timex, Indian Express, Britannia, Monte Carlo, Amar Ujala, Cadila (EverYuth), Epson, Eureka Forbes, CavinKare, G.M. Pens (Reynolds), Vijay Karnataka, Polar, Nomarks, Nike, Oyzterbay, Symphony, and Rasna.
With its corporate office in New Delhi, the company has grown to an 80-member strong team of sales and marketing professionals over the last three years, with operations across 14 locations in India including New Delhi, Mumbai (Bombay), Bangalore, Chennai (Madras), Kolkata (Calcutta), Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Cochin, and Hyderabad.
The company was using Tally, a financial package by an Indian software company and the Microsoft® Office Excel®spreadsheet software for managing accounts.
Each member’s transactions were recorded on Microsoft Office Excel to track their barter balance. Net4Barter has to ensure that no one company buys too much in comparison to its sales. It is critical to monitor the process of barter transactions and to ensure that there are no violations in the nature of exchange.
The challenge with such a process was that the company was unable to track the transactions effectively. The barter processes could get skewed in favor of some customers if not monitored closely,because it was difficult to track the buying, selling, and customer balances.
In addition, Net4Barter used to provide statements to its members giving transaction details of both the buying and selling. In the future, it wanted this information to be available in real time to its members as well as to its employees so that it could check the buy versus sell limits, and take corrective steps.
The second issue that faced the organization was billing its members for the services of the exchange. Net4Barter charges a fee for each transaction. This was managed using the financial solution, Tally. There was a need to provide a single solution that integrated the sales, finance and barter balance all into a single solution. Thereby, the company could monitor each transaction at every stage ofa transaction. The company could then raise invoices for the fee as soon as the transaction is completed.
An efficient control and process monitoring was required to create checks and balances for healthy barter exchange.
Solution
The company evaluated several products, including 3i’s Orion and Computer Associates product ACCPAC.
“We chose Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision®instead ofthe other products due its flexibility, scalability, and the Microsoftbrand,which ensures that the product will have longevity and a clear product plan,” points outManish Dutta, Chief Operating Officer, Net4Barter.
Headstart Business Solutions, a Microsoft Business Partner, customized Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision to create a bartering-focused solution that would manage the needs of bartering transaction accounting and also build a deal approval and management process. The solution helps in monitoring the transactions, acquiring updated information on buyers and sellers, applying set buying and selling limits, and generatingaccurate transaction statements.
The company implemented the Microsoft Navision modules for sales and receivables, purchasing and accounts payable, fixed assets, general ledger, inventory, human resources, and payroll.
The sales and receivables module has helped in generating updated bartering account balances and to control receivables.
The purchasingand payablesmodule is integrated with sales and general ledger modules.
The inventory module helps in working capital management and also provides a virtual tool for managing trade and logistics of the deals in transit.
The payroll module is localized to scenarios in India to include: employee details, wages, reimbursements, wages in arrears, pension fund, employees’ state insurance, tax deductions, and tax planning for individual employees.
The general ledger helps in managing profitability statements, balances, and bank details, and it provides a snapshotof the entire client organizations' accounts. It also helps in managing various reporting requirements through accounting schedules.
“Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision has provided us an excellent integration between our barter transaction management and accounting systems,” commentsRakesh Bhatnagar, Chief Executive Officer,Net4Barter.
Net4Barter is in the process of developing a Web portal based onMicrosoft ASP.NET for the retail market. This will help the company to manage the deals, create account summaries for customers, and help in the execution and logistics management of the deal fulfillment for smaller retail outlets. The portal will also have a product and services catalogue, to offer customers the best deals for them, and a range of barter business opportunities. The portal will be integrated with Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision for the centralized master records on customers, vendors, terms, balances, accounting management and back-office operations.
Benefits
“The Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision has made the entire barter process simpler and far more efficient.” notesAshish Chaturvedi, Head-Corporate Projects, Net4Barter.
Provides Accurate Barter Statements
“The Microsoft Navision solution provides us accurate account statements. The solution also integrates transactions for all business areas of a single client's organization, to provide real-time,consolidated transaction information for theentire company—and makes it available online,” notes Rakesh Bhatnagar, CEO, Net4Barter.
Manages Barter Transactions
Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision helps monitor each deal. It also helps to build checks and balances in the bartering marketplace and make corrections in policies, based on the information processed at a consolidated level.
Consolidates Business Processes
The back-office operations are automated to avoid re-entry and repetition of tasks, thereby increasing productivity, managingoperations at multiple locations, and reducing consumption of office supplies.And,in addition,the back-office systems help Net4Barter efficiently manageworking capital by providing accurate and timely accounts receivable statements.
Reduce Operating Costs by 40 Percent
The company has been able to manage its head count and make its staff more productive. Earlier, Net4Barter had 13 employees managing the accounts for the company. With the implementation of Microsoft Business Solutions – Navision, this has been reduced to seven employees.
About Headstart Business Solutions Private Limited
Headstart Business Solutions is a Microsoft Business Solutions Partner. Headstart has a core team of people from multi domain with qualitative and quantitative experience in the areas of IT strategic and tactical operations both at national and international arena.
Headstart offers IT and process related services with an objective to leverage the strengths of these individuals through forging alliances with Microsoft Business Solutions for ERP solutions successfully.
Microsoft Business Solutions
Microsoft Business Solutions offer integrated business applications and services that allow small and midsize organizations and divisions of large enterprises to connect employees, customers, and suppliers for improved efficiency. The financial management, customer relationship management, supply chain management, and analytics applications work with other Microsoft software, including the Microsoft Office System and the Windows® operating system, to streamline processes across an entire organization. This gives businesses insight to respond rapidly, plan strategically, and execute quickly. Microsoft Business Solutions are delivered through a worldwide network of channel partners that provide specialized services and local support tailored to a company’s needs.
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