LONDON and SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwire - May 24, 2012) - Azelis®, a leading distributor of specialty chemicals, has boosted its efficiency and improved its business operations following Avanade's implementation of multi-layered Microsoft technologies. Avanade, a business technology solutions and managed services provider, rolled out Microsoft Dynamics® AX for ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), Microsoft Dynamics® CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and Microsoft Reporting Services for BI (Business Intelligence) across more than 15 countries to help standardize business data and systems. The integrated platform consolidates the heterogeneous IT environment, creates transparency across office locations and provides employees with easy access to information.
Through a corporate services centre located in Belgium and offices throughout Europe and Asia, Azelis provides a diverse range of products and innovative services to over 50,000 customers across various industries including chemicals, food & health, pharmaceutical products and personal care. As a result of rapid growth, operations in numerous countries and a diverse IT environment, Azelis needed to streamline the technology platform across all its entities and consolidate business data across the group.
Adrian Jesinghaus, CIO at Azelis, said, "Migrating to a Microsoft-based platform was a forward-looking choice. We were convinced that this would provide us with more benefits, as the ERP, CRM and BI solutions are completely integrated. We needed one uniform technology environment that allows all global users to collaborate better and creates far more transparency, improving management information accuracy. We selected Avanade for its business and technology experience, Microsoft expertise and global reach. Avanade understood the challenges of our multi-country project and delivered a successful roll-out in a very short time-frame of under a year and a half."
Avanade implemented Microsoft Dynamics AX across 36 offices and moved Azelis from a heterogeneous IT environment to an integrated platform with standardized processes. The Microsoft Dynamics AX system consolidates financial reporting and analysis, allowing the specialty chemicals distributor to gain further insight and better control over its global operations, and the ability to integrate future acquisitions into the group more easily.
"We are thrilled to see a complete set of Microsoft Business Solutions enabling Azelis to thrive as a dynamic business, where informed and timely business decision making is the norm and will facilitate the company's future growth," says Doug Kennedy, Vice President, Dynamics Partners & Support Service Programs, Microsoft Corporation. "We recognize the expertise provided and the valuable business partner Avanade has proved itself to be to both Microsoft Dynamics and Azelis."
The tailor-made BI system enables transparency among all the different locations in the Azelis group.
"We needed to obtain greater insight and transparency of inventory to comply with regulations and manage our inventory more effectively in response to market demand. Previously, reporting required the consolidation of a large number of local country Excel® reports. Today, everything is generated automatically by one system, which improves the quality of data and speeds the process for accessing the data," explained Mark Desmaele, Business and Data Processes Manager at Azelis. "There is an obvious inventory transparency across all locations now, which allows for more efficient production and higher sales and helps us comply with the chemical industry and transport regulations."
The centrally managed system provides employees with easy access to information, training and product updates. The custom pricing application with Microsoft .Net® and Silverlight®, integrated with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, ensures that all employees have access to market data, strategic information and pricing practices. With an up-to-date 360-degree view of their accounts in a single system, including order history and client visits, managers can follow Azelis' pricing strategy, specify margins and set the price of products, taking warehousing, repacking, duties, transport and logistics costs into account. This helps maintain consistency across geographic locations and protects the margin.
"Understanding our customers' pain points and working with them to transform and prepare their businesses for future growth is paramount to Avanade," said Ashish Kumar, Avanade President, Europe, Africa and Latin America. "As a result, we were able to do a quick and seamless implementation of the Microsoft Dynamics AX platform with CRM and BI which has clearly made a visible difference to Azelis' day-to-day business operations. Not only is the platform global, easily and rapidly deployed, but it also has the right level of flexibility to take into account all the specifics of the chemicals industry. We opened up unlimited opportunities and provided the agility for Azelis to work more effectively with its partners, customers and employees."
For further information on the Azelis deployment, please view the case study here.
About Azelis
Azelis is a leading Pan-European specialty chemicals distributor providing a diverse range of products and innovative services to over 50,000 customers operating in various industries including chemicals, coatings, MPA (materials, pigments and additives), polymers, composites, rubber, food & health, pet food, pharmaceutical products and personal care.
Through a network of suppliers and distributors covering all important markets, Azelis offers in-depth local knowledge, supported by value-add services and tailored international solutions. The corporate service center of Azelis is located in Antwerp, Belgium. The company has a turnover of EUR 1.2 billion and employs a staff of 1,325 highly-skilled professionals located in 36 offices in 32 countries in Europe, India and Asia.
For more information, please visit: www.azelis.com
About Avanade
Avanade provides business technology solutions and managed services that connect insight, innovation and expertise in Microsoft® technologies to help customers realize results. Our people have helped thousands of organizations in all industries improve business agility, employee productivity, and customer loyalty. Avanade combines the collective business, technical and industry expertise of its worldwide network of experts with the rigor of an industrialized delivery model to provide high quality solutions using proven and emerging technologies with flexible deployment models-on premises, cloud-based or outsourced. Avanade, which is majority owned by Accenture, was founded in 2000 by Accenture LLP and Microsoft Corporation and has 15,000 professionals in more than 20 countries. Additional information can be found at www.avanade.com.
Microsoft, Microsoft Dynamics, and Excel are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.