Road Café is a successful chain of drive-in coffee outlets in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In a unique business model, the company also has a subsidiary trading company that imports coffee beans and other supplies from international locations and distributes them to local markets. With close to 15 years in coffee retail and trading, this family-owned business has demonstrated consistent growth year-to-year. Having started with a single store, Road Café now has over 20 outlets spread across the Eastern and Central provinces of Saudi Arabia.
The company was dealing with a multitude of classic issues faced by rapidly expanding businesses. Although growth was strong and all operating processes were in place, what was lacking was an integrated software system that reflected the state of the business in real time. Road Café needed:
- Effectively handling of inventory shrinkage and waste management
- Simplifying transactions between the parent company and the subsidiary company to avoid duplication of effort
- Measurement consistency across its retail outlets
The solution for replacing a number of manual and semi-automated systems was to implement a single integrated enterprise wide system. After considering many possibilities, the LS Retail software solution was selected as the best fit product to meet the client’s needs. Godrej Infotech Limited (GITL), with its track record of over 150 successful implementations globally, was selected as the preferred implementation partner.
The key features of the solution were:
- Café Wise Comparisons
Tracking of outlet wise sales and consumption activity helps in identification of high and low performance areas. The system can almost instantly pinpoint proliferation scenarios; an extremely tedious activity when performed with a manual set up.
- Integrated Sales and Payments
Consolidated sales and payment information from the POS is automatically sent to the back office at the end of each closing period. In a situation where the stores are open 24/7, this solution ensures that all financial information is updated until the very last shift.
- Business Intelligence
The integrated system allows for a single source of truth for all of the organization’s data across companies and currencies. The senior management can make profitable business decisions with the strategic inputs received from the holistic MIS reporting system.
- Intercompany Postings
Since the supplies for the retail outlets are procured from the subsidiary trading company, the intercompany configuration significantly solved the issue of duplicate data entry. Sales, purchase and general ledger transactions between the two companies can now be automated based on input and output feeds.
Challenges
The main challenge for this engagement was related to converting a manual system to an automated system. Since this was a full life cycle implementation, constant communication between clients and consultants was imperative for the project’s success. Risks to this engagement were effectively managed by following GITL’s proven engagement execution methodology. The management team ensured that regular checkpoints and feedback mechanisms were in place right from requirements gathering to rollout. Upfront milestone based project planning led to efficient utilization of resources for both customer and partner organizations.
"We looked at every challenge posed in this project as an opportunity to do better and go that extra mile. Whether it was regional language barriers or unique customization requirements, we were excellently supported by the team at Road Café and Godrej Infotech Limited to find workable solutions to all of our problems. One of the most exciting aspects of this project was conducting the go-live activities after midnight so as to avoid disrupting the normal functioning of the cafes."
Benefits to the Client
- Discrepancy information
- 15% reduction in waste
- Optimal inventory levels
- Consumption trend analysis
- 40% reduction in manual effort
- Accurate financial information
- Automated real time triggers
- Arabic language reports
