Bon Bons has selected software from Advanced Exchequer (Advanced) to keep pace with company growth after expanding to become the UK’s largest hand packer of luxury confectioners in just eight years. The company will go live with the accounting software in January 2016.
Bon Bons chose Advanced from a shortlist of three suppliers due to the solution’s easy integration with the existing CRM, intuitive look and feel, and rich reporting functionality. The technology will replace spreadsheets and enable faster reporting with more accurate data.
The company employs 90 staff and supplies luxury sweets and chocolates to the country’s top garden centres, delicatessens, farm shops and visitor attractions, including the Tower of London and London Zoo. Following dramatic growth, Bon Bons recently moved its headquarters to larger premises in Wetherby.
Mark Rowntree, Managing Director, Bon Bons, says: “Our previous accounting system was no longer fit for purpose and we need a solution that reflects the business we are today – the largest in our sector – and that will support our plans for continued double digit growth and diversification.
“The business is currently managed on a series of incredibly large spreadsheets. With Advanced’s software we can bring all that information together online to access data that we couldn’t before, which will generate timely, meaningful and accurate reports.”
The software will be used by sales and purchasing staff in the office and operations employees in the warehouse.
For the first time, the location of items in the warehouse will be accessible online as well as the bill of materials, which automatically details the stock level of the component parts of each product when an order is received. This also enables staff to systematically track batches of bulk products which supports compliance with regulations. Currently staff manually calculate what individual parts need to be purchased before an order can be fulfilled.
Purchase orders will be processed electronically rather than manually. Management reports will be based on live information and automatically generated as graphical dashboards at the click of a button. These reports are currently created on spreadsheets meaning the data can be several weeks out-of-date. Delivery manifests will also be produced via the system rather than manually.
Rowntree says: “With instant access to more information than ever before we will be able to be more flexible as we identify and respond to opportunities and trends faster. Having our finger on the pulse of what is happening across the business is how we can remain efficient and competitive, and ultimately fulfil our strategy of becoming the recognised leader in hand packed confectionery.”
