Established in the late 1990's and catering to a broad range of customers across multiple industries, SALT is a proudly 100% Namibian company. Providing ICT services to in excess of 100 customers including the likes of Old Mutual, the Ministry of Defence and various local universities, SALT is one of Namibia's larger providers, competing with the likes of BCX and Dimension Data.

"As a player in Namibia's ICT environment it is crucial that our own in-house systems and IT infrastructure enable internal efficiencies, in turn driving customer delivery and satisfaction," says Claudia Jaeger, SALT's head of finance, HR and Administration.

After 16 years in operation, SALT found themselves with a legacy system inhibiting not only current daily operational requirements, but as importantly, future growth potential. "A lack of integration between essential business components, including our profit centre and sales reporting, further compounded by no integration with SALT's nominal ledger, was creating challenges when it came to reporting," adds Jaeger. Apart from hugely time intensive, the propensity for human error was not ideal. Furthermore, the unavailability of real-time information was impeding timeous business decisions, essential to the control and management of any organisation. "One of our key business goals is a constant focus on customer service," says Jaeger. "We urgently needed a scalable, holistic and integrated system with access to real-time information for improved customer efficiencies, the ability to meet current business demands and cope with future growth."

With a clear understanding of what they required, SALT began evaluating potential vendors. "Availability of local support was not negotiable," stresses Jaeger. "It is a big investment and therefore, as important as the necessary functionality required, access to local support was a critical factor in the decision making process."  SALT looked at a number of vendors, consequently discounting many on the basis of both lack of local support and cost. "We were already familiar with SAP Business One, having encountered it a few years earlier," says Jaeger. "We knew what the system was capable of and were excited at how it had evolved, bringing with it even more functionality and providing a perfect fit for our requirements."

4most, a leading supplier and implementer of SAP and ERP software and technology, was selected as SALT's vendor of choice. "The Namibian market is an important area for us," says Eugene Olivier, business development director, 4most. "We understand the importance of local interaction and support in the long term sustainability of customer relationships." To this end, 4most's established presence in Namibia enables them to ensure availability of local support resulting in security of investment and maximum return for their customers.

An existing relationship between SALT and 4most further reinforced the decision to move ahead with SAP Business One. "SALT had involved us in a consultancy project a few months earlier, in addition to enjoying a reseller agreement," says Olivier.
This created a natural synergy between the two companies.

With ‘go-live' scheduled for early October, Jaeger is confident that 4most's SAP Business One is the right fit for their business. "SAP Business One will provide us with a completely integrated business system," says Jaeger. This will enable real-time transparency allowing for immediate business decisions, enabling SALT to manage its business a lot more closely than before. In addition, the CRM module functionality available in SAP Business One will provide up to the minute accurate customer information, enabling SALT to meet its goal of improved client service management. "Removing the need to export data to excel, and the resulting manual configuration required, is also a huge advantage," says Jaeger. "But the most powerful benefit is the seamless and automated reporting SAP Business One allows," continues Jaeger. "Implementing SAP Business One will give us the advantage of knowing at all times where we stand as a business. This is crucial to effective management of daily operational efficiencies that no business can afford to be without."

Currently in planning phase, 4most's collaborative nature is already apparent. "A successful implementation is as much about the technology as it is about finding the right partner," says Jaeger. "From the outset we felt a natural cohesion with 4most which has been reinforced." In addition to weekly meetings, regular conference calls with 4most's Directors are an intrinsic part of the process. With such commitment and partnership already evident, SALT has no doubt that their decision was the right one. "We are confident our investment will yield great benefits; increasing daily efficiencies, improving customer service and delivery and providing a solid return," says Jaeger. "We look forward to growing our business, and our relationship with 4most, over the coming years."