Brent Oil, South Africa's largest and fastest-growing non-refining fuel wholesaler, has implemented the Sage ERP X3 enterprise application suite to tighten financial controls, improve efficiencies, and streamline its business processes. Sage Premier Business Partner, AccTech Systems was the implementation partner for the project.

Brent Oil decided to implement a robust enterprise resource planning solution – ERP, after its rapid growth in the petrol, diesel and lubricants sector demanded that it put systems in place that would allow better real-time visibility for the business. The company selected AccTech Systems and Sage ERP X3 for this project because both have strong reference sites in the South African oil and gas sector.

Says Mr Henry Erasmus, COO at Brent Oil: "We operate in a price sensitive industry with thin margins, which means that the smallest error could be the difference between making a profit or loss. For that reason, we need a rock-solid back-office system that gives us the confidence that we are calculating costs such as transport accurately and that we are billing our customers with operations in different parts of the country correctly.

"Sage ERP X3 cost-effectively addressed that need, while offering enough flexibility to support the growth of our business into the future. What's more, the solution has excellent functionality for our industry, catering for needs such as accurate scheduling for our 40-tanker transport fleet and complex product pricing that varies between regional zones."

With the Sage ERP X3 platform in place, Brent Oil has been able to speed up business processes while improving the accuracy of its financial data and gaining access to detailed reporting information. Now that the core back-office system is in place, Brent Oil is working closely with AccTech Systems to add mobile functionality to the system. This will allow Brent Oil to electronically invoice customers when a fuel consignment is delivered, speeding up the payment cycle and eliminating the need for data capturing in the back-office.

"Given the complex needs of the fuel retail industry, customers such as Brent Oil need solutions that are equally strong on the operational and financial sides of the business," says Tertius Zitzke, CEO for AccTech Systems. "Trusted by petrochemical companies across the globe, Sage ERP X3 gives companies such as Brent Oil the operational and business intelligence tools they need to drive better performance in an industry that depends on accurate, real-time information. Other systems implemented include: Fixed Assets and Business Intelligence."

Petrochemical firms need flexible, industry-specific business solutions to help them improve their competitive advantage and keep pace with ever-changing regulatory issues and volatile pricing, says Keith Fenner, Senior Vice President Sales for Sage ERP Africa and Head of Sage Middle East. "With pre-configured management solutions that deliver the best standard practices for this industry, Sage ERP X3 gives customers the ability to manage most elaborate business processes in a simple and efficient way," he adds. "And implementation partners such as AccTech Systems have the vertical industry expertise to help them unlock the full power of the software to streamline their businesses."