AIR KEROH INDUSTRIAL ESTATE (Malacca): Mamee-Double Decker (M) Bhd said it has successfully implemented a RM1.7mil financial, sales and distribution, inventory and materials management system based on the mySAP.com e-business platform. 

The system has been deployed at the corporate office of the local food manufacturing and consumer goods producer here, SAP Malaysia said in a statement. 

SAP Malaysia is a wholly owned subsidiary of SAP AG, the German e-business solutions provider. 

The implementation was jointly managed by SAP Malaysia, Mesiniaga Bhd and ISS Consulting Sdn Bhd, and represents the first phase of Mamee-Double Decker's on-going enhancement and computerisation exercise. 

SAP Malaysia claimed that the implementation, completed a month ago, is already showing signs of a strong return on investment (ROI), but the company did not provide any hard data. 

Mamee-Double Decker is using mySAP.com to streamline business processes and work more efficiently with both customers and suppliers, SAP Malaysia said. 

In particular, the solution is helping Mamee-Double Decker achieve an improved understanding of its costs and gains, enhanced customer service, greater transparency for reporting on sales, better responsiveness to unexpected demands, higher product margins and a better grasp of which lines of business are more profitable in the long run. 

"We can, for example, better understand which of our sales channels are bringing about the best ROI or which retail option – be it hypermarkets, supermarkets or otherwise – offers us the best value and time to market," said Mamee-Double Decker managing director Pang Tee Chew. 

Mamee-Double Decker also said it is currently studying the implementation and is working on plans for its next phase of solutions, which would likely include plans to deploy mySAP Mobile Solutions to allow more of its sales employees to make full use of the wide range of information within the organisation. 

"We believe that delivering timely, relevant, and trustworthy information from wherever it originates into a decision maker's hands is the key way for technology to add value to our business. 

"By delivering that information through one easy-to-use source, without the need for wholesale replacement of all of our systems, even more value can be added," said Pang. 

Public-listed Mamee-Double Decker is the company behind a host of household names, like Mamee Instant Noodles, Double Decker and Smax cracker snacks, Mister Potato Chips, Cheers beverage, Nicolet Swiss Herb Candy and Nutrigen Cultured Milk and Yogurt, and others.

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CUSTOMER relationship management (CRM) solutions will be “hot” in Asia over the next two years, according to Simon Hopkins, managing director of Xansa (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (www.xansa.com). 

“CRM can integrate mobile sales, the Internet and callcentres,” he said at the recent SAP Summit 2001 conference and exhibition in Petaling Jaya. Companies which invested in enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions to streamline their internal workflow and financial processes have already got returns on their investment, and can’t squeeze any more efficiency out of the process, he said. So they are shifting their focus to CRM to improve efficiencies in their distribution network and to better serve their customers. 

“For example, we’re currently working with a local drink manufacturer to develop a CRM solution to service its dealer and distributor requests and feedback, and allow its sales force to take orders by immediately keying them into portable handheld devices,” said Hopkins, who expects to have a prototype CRM system for the manufacturer ready in three months. However, Hopkins does not expect supply chain management (SCM), which extends CRM to a client’s suppliers, to take off quite so soon in Asia; while the anchor manufacturers are ready to implement SCM, their suppliers and sub-contract manufacturers don’t have the technology and systems for it just yet. Meanwhile, while ISS Consulting (M) Sdn Bhd (www.iss-consulting.com) managing director Harald Weinbrecht expects CRM to really take off in Malaysia in about six months. 

“The best example of CRM (in use) is Amazon.com, which uses it to give customers a good buying experience, to anticipate their needs, keep them updated on available products, and retain customer loyalty,” he said. Weinbrecht believes that local companies appreciate the value of CRM, but not SCM. It will need a lot of education to get businesses to use SCM, and he expects local companies to begin implementing SCM in about six months; it would take a further six months for it to be more widely accepted. “SCM enables original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to optimise their entire supply chain from their raw materials suppliers, contractors and sub-contractors,” said Weinbrecht, adding that without a properly managed integrated supply chain to manage just-in-time (JIT) and other such manufacturing processes, suppliers often end up carrying surplus inventory. (In SAP and its partners terminology, an OEM is the principal or anchor company which subcontracts its production to outside parties.)

Founded locally in 1997, ISS has developed solutions based on the SAP platform for over 50 customers, mainly automotive, high-technology (i.e. electronics) and transportation companies throughout 11 countries in the region. It has offices in Malay-sia, Singapore, Thailand. The British-based Xansa (formerly Druid Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd) has offices in Singapore and Malaysia. It develops enterprise solutions, mainly for aerospace, defence, retail, high technology and manufacturing companies. It specialises in what it calls “eCRM” solutions, end-to-end solutions including callcentre, sales force automation and marketing applications. All-round demand SAP itself expects to see demand for both CRM and SCM solutions to pick up in the region. 

“There’s a lot of activity in both SCM and CRM in Japan, Korea and Australia,” said Les Hayman, SAP Asia Pacific president and chief executive officer (CEO). SCM is strong among the region’s chemical, pharmaceutical, consumer, microchip, electronics component and automotive industries, while banks and insurance companies go for CRM. “Management is demanding more rigorous justifications for technology purchases; yet at the same time, they realise that technology is necessary for their survival,” said Hayman. “Despite the economic slowdown in the region, our Asia Pacific revenues were up 30% in euro terms and up 38% in local currencies in the first quarter of this year over the same quarter last year,” he added, without quoting actual figures. 

SAP’s revenues in Malaysia exceeded the region’s with a 100% quarter-on-quarter growth in the same period. Since launching the mySAP.com CRM solution locally last year, SAP has won 18 customers. Petronas Dagangan Bhd was the first of its 18 customers to go online with a CRM application, and according to the company’s implementation manager, Farid Iskandar, its Mesra Link system handles sales and deliveries to Petronas’ 7,000 petrol stations and large corporate customers. Meanwhile, in conjunction with SAP Summit 2001, SAP announced SAP Enterprise Portals, which it described as a role-based, personalised front-end that allows people to work collaboratively, obtain business intelligence and knowledge management apps online from anywhere. 


  

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LOCAL information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider ISS Consulting (M) Sdn Bhd is looking towards North Asia to provide its business a much needed boost under the current difficult economic situation.

Its chief executive officer Harald Weinbrecht said the company hopes to establish a direct presence in the region this year, particular in growing markets such as Japan, South Korea and China.

ISS Consulting, he added, will be investing about RM1 million for this purpose, which will go into recruiting staff and setting up the infrastructure.

The North Asian expansion drive is in line with ISS Consulting's plan to become one of the major regional players in providing ICT solutions. 

"We already have a presence in countries like Malaysia, which is the regional headquarters, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia. So, the next step would be for us to enhance our profile in other markets in the region, by establishing a physical presence," Weinbrecht told Computimes last week.

According to him, the move will also enable ISS Consulting to support its existing customers in North Asia much more effectively. 

He nevertheless acknowledged that competition to gain a share of the markets will be quite stiff as many ICT solutions providers are also embarking on a similar expansion drive.

"As a provider of electronic business (e-business) solutions on the mySAP platform, we offer a host of solutions such as supply chain management, customer relationship management, business intelligence and strategic management consulting," Weinbrecht said.

"We also have completed numerous projects in many countries in North Asia, and therefore, have many success stories to leverage on. We know our core focus areas and are determined to position ourselves differently from our competitors."

As far as Malaysia is concerned, Weinbrecht said the company hopes the local market will contribute between 25 and 35 per cent of its total turnover this year.

"We are confident that our business in Malaysia will grow between 50 per cent to 60 per cent this year, revenue-wise. We have many big accounts here, through our partnerships with large corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises."

Weinbrecht added that although there has been a slowdown in technology spending overall, the prospects are still bright as many companies are aware that adopting an effective ICT strategy will give them more mileage in an increasing tough business environment.

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MIECO Achieves great improvement in business systems

" I was impressed by their dedication and determination in providing what we needed through the R/3 system and thereby improving our business processes. "

Yap Fook Onn
Assistant General Manager
Mieco Chipboard Bhd Malaysia