Anchor Industries has appointed AWCape to supply and implement Sage 300cloud Accounting after it had outgrown its previous accounting package and was experiencing data corruption issues. The overall customer experience following successful implementation was that Sage 300cloud provides a solid platform and is an essential business tool, rather than simply an accounting package, around which Anchor can build its business systems.

Headquartered in Cape Town, with offices in main centres around South Africa, Anchor Industries is a Southern African based company providing expert engineering services and equipment to the lifting and marine industries. It supplies safety critical products and services to major companies nationally and internationally. In the last ten years, Anchor Industries has supplied a total of 45,000 Apex80 chain slings (approximately 150,000 metres of chain) and more than 125,000 steel wire rope slings (more than 600,000 metres of steel wire rope). Project locations range from sub-Saharan Africa to northern Europe and Asia.

Anchor Industries Managing Director, Dale Hutcheson, said: “With our previous system, a lot of reporting was being done independently on the package. There was simply too much flexibility, with staff able to change invoices and other documents. With Sage 300cloud being implemented, we are now benefitting from improved stock control, invoicing functions, and reporting on various parts of the business. This means we have more control over what users can and cannot do within the system, and there’s less reliance on Excel spreadsheets to produce documents such as commercial invoices, sales confirmations and proforma invoices.”

Hutcheson added that Anchor Industries now has an accounting package that can handle the thousands of transactions it processes every month. The improved reporting functions provide managers with a clear view of what is happening within their branch or department, enabling them to make better decisions, quicker. Improved stock control means having more of the stock that sells regularly and less of that which does not.

“Our research showed that Sage 300cloud is an excellent product which is customisable to our specific operations,” said Hutcheson. “Once you get to know the package, you’ll find a solid platform to build your business systems around. We see this more as a business tool than an accounting package.”

Hutcheson said he recommends AWCape. “We knew AWCape to be a well-established Sage300 Business Partner with a good track record of implementing solutions. They’ve been extremely helpful in designing and implementing the package, document flow and reporting to our exacting needs.”

Dr Khalil du Plessis, AWCape Director Professional Services and Project Lead, commented: “As a highly accredited ISO-9001 company, Anchor Industries places high value on constantly improving its operational processes through streamlining and automating processes, which makes it easier and simpler for staff to do their jobs and for clients to do business with the company. Not only did Anchor need to move from an outgrown accounting package, but it also needed to implement tighter controls on inventory through serialised inventory and the tracking of certified stock items. Sage 300cloud functionality allowed us to push the envelope by producing customised reports and documentation, as well as automating processes to the high standards set by the management at Anchor Industries.”

Gerhard Hartman, Vice President: Medium Business, Sage Africa & Middle East, said: “We are pleased to partner with AWCape to enable customers like Anchor Industries to streamline their business processes. We are confident that Sage 300cloud will allow Anchor Industries to gain greater visibility into its business and allow the company to share information and communicate with ease.”