United Fleet Distribution

United Fleet Distribution (UFD) is the UK's leading driven vehicle delivery specialist with an impressive client portfolio including some of the most sought after fleet contracts in the industry. Every day the UFD team of car delivery drivers move hundreds of vehicles for their customers. Vehicle storage facilities are also offered and, with the largest driver network in the UK, UFD's resources are unrivalled in the industry. Background to the case

In 2009, UFD was sold by parent company Mears to British Car Auctions. As a result UFD was no longer able to utilise Mears' financial accounting solution, so needed to implement their own.

Mears use Infor FMS SunSystems supported by Sapphire. Nick Chadaway, IT Manager at UDF, and the finance team were very happy with SunSystems and wanted to continue using the solution. "SunSystems is a good package; it does everything we want it to and it works well for us" commented Nick.

Review Process - why SunSystems and Sapphire?

A review of solutions available on the market place was undertaken "It made sense to use due diligence" said Nick "and we did look at Sage, but ultimately SunSystems is a corporate scale package and users like it and are happy with it. Sapphire were very helpful when we were working through our requirements; we worked very closely with our Account Manager who is fantastic."

"One of the reasons we chose to work with Sapphire was price" said Nick, "Although SunSystems was a bit more expensive; we felt that we would be getting good value for money on the implementation and on-going support offering. Another plus point was that Sapphire knew our previous parent company and were familiar with our data, making the transition from a hosted solution from Mears, to our own system very easy. There was no down time, which is almost unheard of!"

Of SunSystems Nick said "SunSystems is an industry standard package; it is scalable, flexible and reliable - it always works, plus it interfaces well with other systems – there is no need to re-key data into multiple systems. The entire organisation benefits from excellent reporting, compatibility and visibility".

Using SunSystems

Nick says "SunSystems is working well – as expected." Typically 6 members of the team are logged in to the system at any one time. United Fleet's SunSystems application is hosted at their Birmingham site, and is accessed by users at their Warrington site using terminal services.

"All of the team here find SunSystems easy to use and have no problems with training new users" said Nick, "If you are familiar with accounts and financial processes it is simple when you know how."

Integration

SunSystems is integrated with the transport system at UFD. The company's investment in new technology has been a catalyst for rapid expansion and better customer service.

State-of-the-art management systems are tailor-made so customers enjoy fast response times with immediate statistical information on individual vehicle moves. Details on each job are recorded in a management report. Every single vehicle movement is planned, and every mile noted. Vehicles and drivers can be monitored nationwide, enabling rapid responses to enquiries from existing and potential clients.

What's next?

Plans to further develop UFD's use of SunSystems include implementation of the eRemit module, which provides SunSystems users with the ability to email out payment notifications and debtor statements directly. UFD will also be executing the Sapphire Bank Transfer module which will link SunSystems to HSBCnet, UFD's bank. Looking a little further ahead plans underway for next year include implementation of a forecasting and budgeting solution.

Conclusion on working with Sapphire

"Sapphire is a professional organisation and the Support Team are very good indeed. Everyone is very approachable and they deliver in the right timescales" said Nick.

He went on to expand: "Sapphire worked to our timescales and delivered all the things they promised on time. Due to my workload I can go for periods of time when I am not in touch with our Account Manager, but the moment I contact him he gets things done – and gets them done well."

"The internal benefits of having SunSystems in place are huge. It is difficult to place an exact cost-saving or return on investment on the system as we've been using it for so long, but it is my first choice and I would encourage others to use it too" said Nick, concluding: "I would advise anyone reviewing their financial systems to speak to Sapphire and seek their advice."

Media contact: Victoria Park +44 (0)20 7648 2008 Victoria.park@sapphiresystems.com