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Ian Caswell  - Managing Director

Welcome to the all new Sapphire Customer Newsletter, Christmas Edition 2009.   I think that you will all agree with me when I say that 2009 has been a tough year for everyone and so I am sure that you are all looking forward to a few well deserved days off over Christmas, as am I.   As always it has been a busy and eventful year for Sapphire. In February we opened a regional office in Edinburgh, Scotland to support our growing customer base there; having members of the Sapphire team based nearby means we are able to offer our clients an even better service. Further to this, Sapphire also expanded its global operation with the opening of a second US office, in New York City, in April and recently an Asian office in Mumbai, India. We have many clients with multiple offices worldwide and so now have the resource needed to offer them an exceptional service, with consultants and account managers readily available to meet their requirements on a global scale.

In May I attended SAP’s international customer conference, this year held in Orlando – USA, where I was delighted to be presented with the SAP Pinnacle award in the mid-size enterprise category. Sapphire is now number one partner for SAP Business One in the EMEA region. To add to this, Sapphire has once again been recognised as the Global No.1 Partner for Infor FMS SunSystems – an accolade that we have enjoyed for the past seven years running.

2009 has also seen the expansion of Sapphire’s product portfolio with the introduction of the Infor Enterprise Asset Management solution, to provide our customers with a world class solution to manage and maintain company assets. This now means that Sapphire boasts a comprehensive range of market leading solutions covering every aspect of your business from financial and business management, procurement, budgeting, time and expense management and much more. In 2010 we will be running a number of events whereby you can see live demonstrations of these new applications, so look out for the 2010 event schedule to be released shortly.

As always, I am keen to find out what you think of our Sapphire newsletters, as well as any feedback you may have on Sapphire’s service to you as a whole, so please email me your thoughts at ian.caswell@sapphiresystems.co.uk. 

I’d like to finish by wishing you all a Merry Christmas and all the very best for the New Year 2010.

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Tony Martin  - Client Service Director

Firstly let me offer seasonal greetings to you all.   2009 has been a significant year for many reasons - Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th and first African American President of the United States and went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize creating much controversy throughout the globe, one of the entertainment world's biggest stars passed away crippling many major internet sites and, to the relief of football fans throughout the UK, England qualified for the World Cup - to be held in South Africa next year.   On the financial side we have hopefully seen the end of the recession and are looking forward to recovery in 2010 - VAT will return to 17.5% from 1st January.  To assist you in making any necessary changes to your tax set up, we have produced some advisory documents - these can be found on the Sapphire Online Support site in the Hot Issues section.   Please visit www.sapphiresystems.com/sapb1 if you are a  SAP Business One user or www.sapphiresystems.com/cas if you use SunSystems or other products.   2009 has also been an eventful time for Sapphire seeing the opening of two more offices - one in Edinburgh and the other in Mumbai.  We have received a number of awards such as the SAP Pinnacle Award and Partner of the Year for Professional Advantage 2009.  I hope you find it comforting that even in times of economic turmoil, Sapphire continues to grow from strength to strength; always looking at new ways by which we can improve our customer service and support.  With this in mind, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you about our Annual Customer Survey.  Each year we conduct a customer survey in order to obtain feedback on how you think we are doing and suggestions on how we can do better;  I would urge you to make use of the opportunity to tell us what you think.  Links to the survey can be found in our article later on in this newsletter.

To close I would like to wish you all a great Christmas and New Year break; I am sure that you have earned it.  May the New Year be as prosperous as it can be for you and I wish you all the best of health.

Please let me know your thoughts at tony.martin@sapphiresytems.co.uk or call me on 020 7648 2000.
 

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SunSystems Users: please click here

SAP Business One Users: please click here
 

As a Sapphire customer, we value your opinion.  To ensure that we are providing you with the highest possible service, each year we conduct a customer survey in order to obtain feedback on how you think we are doing and suggestions on how we can do better.

Our survey takes just minutes to complete but will help us to maintain and hopefully improve our service and support levels so that they are in keeping with the high standard you have learnt to expect from all of us here at Sapphire.

PLUS - each named respondent will be entered into our FREE PRIZE DRAW for the chance to win one of three great prizes:

First Prize:  A new style 4GB iPod Shuffle (colour of your choice)

Second Prize: £50 of Amazon vouchers

Third Prize: A bottle of Veuve Cliquot champagne

Further more, for each entry to our survey, we will donate £3 to a charity that Sapphire continues to support year on year - Children with Leukaemia.  For more than 20 years, this valuable charity has been helping children with leukaemia by funding research into causes and treatments and by supporting the families affected by this horrible disease. 

To read more about the remarkable work that Children with Leukaemia do, please go to www.leukaemia.org.  

Please forward to anyone who has, at any time, had experience working with Sapphire; whether it be a call to our support team, a meeting with your account manager or communication with our marketing team about one of our many customer events - all views are welcome and we look forward to hearing them!

All entries must be in by Thursday 31st December 2009 to be included in our free prize draw.

If you have any questions at all, please call us on 020 7648 2000 or email jenna.roberts@sapphiresystems.co.uk  
 

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We are pleased to announce the dates for our annual customer user days.

As always, there will be keynote sessions from both Sapphire and our software vendors in which you can learn more about the future of their products - and what’s new at Sapphire. We will also include sessions intended on helping you to make the most of your chosen software solution offering you handy hints and tips. Add to this the chance to meet with many of Sapphire’s support, consulting and services staff … together with many other Sapphire customers and I am sure you will agree that these events are not to be missed!

	17th June 2010		16th or 23rd September 2010 (TBC)
	Sapphire City of London Offices		Venue TBC - Central London

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Get the maximum Return On Investment from your software solution

Do your users have knowledge gaps leading to errors and lengthy processing times?
Need training but don't know how to go about it? If your answer is ‘YES’ to both of these questions then let Sapphire help you get the maximum ROI from your software solution.

At Sapphire we recognise the need to provide an up-to-date and ongoing programme of education and training to highlight new product features, supporting you through any staff changes, and how to make better use of the current installation.  But how do you know what training is right for you? Our Training Needs Analysis (TNA) survey is designed to:

• Explore the reasons for the current knowledge gaps

• Review existing software related skill sets and knowledge levels

• Define training sessions based on the findings of the TNA

• Create a training plan based on the training sessions recommended

• Identify the best approach to, and location for, training session delivery

• Identify the need for bespoke documentation if applicable

• Deliver a TNA report documenting all findings and recommendations
   

A big part of Sapphire’s training service is the delivery of structured sessions involving examples, exercises and interactive discussions. If you have a training room, or a room that can be set-up for training, we can deliver an on site workshop, which allows us to work with you on specific topics/knowledge gaps without the constraints of a fixed agenda (although an agenda can be agreed if required). You and the consultant can discuss, try out and configure your software solution as part of the workshop so that, at the end of the day, not only have you filled in the gaps in your knowledge but you will also have made progress toward implementing new solutions.

If, however you do not have training facilities onsite, we can deliver courses based on our standard training course agendas using your own data, which we run out of our training facility at our London and Manchester offices.

We would also like to take this opportunity to let you know about an exciting offer that is only available to Sapphire customers - book one delegate on to one of our public training courses, taking place before 31st January 2010, and a second delegate goes free!  Places are limited so please book now to avoid disappointment.

Request our new training schedule for 2010 at:  www.sapphiresystems.com/contact/training.htm.

Alternatively, if you would like more information, please do not hesitate to contact us on 020 7468 2000 or email Sharon Stevenson, our Training Advisor directly at sharon.stevenson@sapphiresystems.co.uk.
 

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LONDON, UK – 02 November 2009. Sapphire today announced that it is to supply a 130 user Infor FMS SunSystems solution to leading global business processing outsourcing provider, Nair & Co. The system will be installed at Nair’s accounting services hub based in Mumbai, India and will be used by Nair processing staff throughout India and their other offices to provide accounting services to their growing base of clients across the world.

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Sunraysia Improve Efficiency of International Operations
 

London – 19 November 2009. Sapphire today announced that it is to supply and implement SAP Business One to Sunraysia for use in the UK, Australia and Hong Kong.

Sunraysia develops and markets a range of healthy and delicious fruit juices to leading retailers and distributors across the UK and Asia Pacific region. They source their ingredients from multiple countries working in their suppliers’ local currencies; production and logistics are out-sourced.

The incumbent financial accounting system at Sunraysia had been in place since the company was a small business. Now that Sunraysia operates in several different countries the team found it too limited in terms of running their business; additionally they weren’t confident that the system was sufficiently robust enough to cope with their growing requirements. The old system was unable to handle real time changes when buying in different currencies and the team needed a true and accurate picture of their financial accounts at any given time.

Sunraysia was faced with the option of extensively customising the existing financial management system, or the implementation of a new solution.

Justin Presser, Managing Director at Sunraysia, reviewed several potential solutions and looked at Sage Line 200, Sage Line 1000, SAP and Oracle in detail. A final comparison of Sage Line 200 and SAP Business One was undertaken to determine which would be the most suitable for the business.

Commenting on the decision Justin said: “Ultimately SAP Business One was the best fit for Sunraysia’s requirements as it is a globally supported solution that can grow with the company. We wanted a solution that is industry standard and supported in many languages and currencies. Initially there was a concern that the magnitude of an SAP solution might be too much for us, but SAP Business One is a good fit for a company of our size.”

The scope to customise SAP Business One was also a factor in the decision. “We were after a system that would do what we wanted, rather than the other way around,” said Justin, adding “a good solution should make our way of working more efficient, rather than us having to fit in with how the solution works by changing systems and processes already in place.”

Product features that made SAP Business One the right choice for Sunraysia included the fact that it is a global multi-currency system that can hold information on all aspects of the business operation, including financials, commercials, supply chain and CRM with real time reporting and analysis.

Justin commented: “We’ll be able to quickly and easily report in real time; the management team will be freed up to focus on business decisions, using accurate information to effectively drive the business forward.”

Of Sapphire Justin said: “The way that Sapphire managed the process was a big influence. We were impressed from the initial enquiry right through to signing. Sapphire was professional and diligent throughout – there was no issue raised that wasn’t addressed in a thoroughly professional manner. Sunraysia is a process driven company and we were pleased to see Sapphire’s own system driven approach.”

Ian Caswell, Sapphire’s Managing Director, said “We are delighted to be working with Sunraysia on this international project. SAP Business One is a great fit for organisations with operations around the world – regardless of size - as it is a true multi-currency and multi-lingual solution that can accommodate the statutory reporting requirements of over 40 different countries.”

Justin concluded: “Sunraysia is very KPI [Key Performance Indicator] driven and when SAP Business One is live we anticipate that the transactional side of our operation will be more efficient. We expect SAP Business One will deliver improved operational efficiencies and across the world and are happy to be working with Sapphire. We were, and continue to be, impressed with the approach and the people.”

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About Hansteen
Hansteen Holdings PLC invests in a range of industrial properties located across Europe including the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France and the UK. Formed by Morgan Jones and Ian Watson, who have a proven track record in identifying opportunities requiring intensive management and realising value for their shareholders, Hansteen seeks to profit from opportunistic commercial property acquisitions in the UK as value returns.

Background to the case
Janine McDonald, Head of Accounts and Operations, joined Hansteen in March 2008, to find the company using an entry level Sage solution that was no longer meeting the needs of the financial management team. A requirement for a more flexible system was a key business driver behind finding a new financial accounting solution.

At a previous role Janine had used Infor FMS SunSystems provided by Sapphire. She knew that the solution would meet the needs of Hansteen so put in a call to Sapphire. “Sapphire were very helpful” said Janine “The last time I worked with SunSystems I was using version 4, but we were looking at the latest version 5 for Hansteen. Sapphire highlighted the differences well.”

Why SunSystems and Sapphire?
“The main reason I had no hesitation in choosing to work with Sapphire again is that they provided a good service the first time around” said Janine, adding “As I had previous positive experience in working with both SunSystems and Sapphire we didn’t even consider other products.”

Features of SunSystems that made it the right choice for Hansteen include the layers of analysis available with the T-codes (Transactional Codes) and the level of reporting possible with Vision. “Vision XL is particularly useful as it enables quick and easy export of information into Microsoft Excel, which can then be distributed to the management team as required” commented Janine.

Implementation
Of the implementation process Janine said “Sapphire provides a clear process for solution design and implementation. Throughout the process our Sapphire Project Manager did a great job of keeping us up to date on where we were in terms of the system design, implementation and also budget.”

Initial roll-out of SunSystems took 3 months. “This was pretty much what I expected” said Janine, “we had some unexpected corporate activity at Hansteen which ate into the time we had planned for the implementation. We had scheduled the project for what I thought would be a quiet time for us, but it turned out not to be the case at all – we had a lot going on!”

Hansteen’s SunSystems solution is operated through Citrix and is performing in accordance with Janine’s expectations. Citrix enables users to access SunSystems remotely via the web; as Hansteen operates in several countries, this was the optimum way in which to set up their solution.

To others reviewing their financial accounting solutions, Janine advises “When you schedule an implementation make sure that you have the resource available – there is only so much that Sapphire can do. You will need to do testing and will need time to do it in.” With regards to initial training Janine said “I would recommend this is done in a proper training environment. Our training was done on-site and in retrospect it might have been better to have done this off-site– there would have been less interruptions and the team would have been able to focus solely on the training.”

There are typically 9 users logged into the system throughout the day at Hansteen. Janine commented “SunSystems is easy to use and new users have caught on quite quickly. It helps that Sapphire built the documents for our implementation, so everything was properly structured.”

Benefits
Janine tells us “We have only recently gone live on SunSystems, but anticipated benefits include increased speed of processing financial information and time saving with less duplication and re-keying of data. The accounts team will be able to compile and report on information to be passed on to directors and the management team faster, thus improving efficiencies across the organisation.”

She went on to add “Working with a flexible financial system will make our operation much easier; the flexibility of SunSystems would be a key reason for us using it and my recommending it.”

Solution enhancement
In addition to Infor FMS SunSystems, Hansteen has implemented the BankLinks for Business (B4B) enhancement solution. B4B provides an interface between the payables module within SunSystems and the services provided by Hansteen’s bank for Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT).

The solution automates and streamlines accounts payables rather than re-keying transactions that already exist in SunSystems. B4B is an easy to use, sophisticated payment management tool catering for global banking requirements including the complexities associated with
international EFT.

B4B is also SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) compliant, helping Hansteen prepare for the future. The SEPA initiative involves the creation of a zone for the euro in which all electronic payments are considered domestic, and will enable customers to make cashless euro payments to anyone located anywhere in the area using only a single bank account and a single set of payment instruments. The project includes the development of common financial instruments, standards, procedures, and infrastructure to enable economies of scale. This should in turn reduce the overall cost to the European economy of moving capital around the region.

Working with Sapphire
Janine said “The Support Desk at Sapphire provides good service – though I haven’t had much call to contact them to be honest. Others that have dealt with the Support Team have provided positive feedback.”

In conclusion Janine said “Overall we find it very easy doing business with Sapphire. They always perform well and I have never had any problems. The team there really try to understand the specific needs and customers’ business as best they can.”
 

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Sapphire offer all of these products and more, so if you are interested in seeing any of our products and services in action, please speak with your Account Manager or call our Product Advisory team on 020 7648 2000 or email  info@sapphiresystems.com.  Alternatively you can find more information including brochures and demo’s on our web-site at http://www.sapphiresystems.com/solutions.

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