Topcon Ireland
Topcon Ireland is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Topcon
Corporation, a Japanese producer of optical products. The company
sells products, supplied by its parent, for the surveying, laser,
GPS and ophthalmic industries throughout Ireland.
Drivers for change
Topcon Ireland has experienced recent dramatic growth and can
attribute much of the success of this to the improved processes
that have been implemented, driven by a new financial and business
solution, Access Dimensions.
Previous to the Access Dimensions implementation, Topcon had been
using an off-the-shelf product that did not have the scalability to
manage the growth that they were predicting. In the words of John
Downey, European Regional Manager, "We were using a poor software
package that was like working with one hand tied behind my back.
There were too many processes that were still being handled
manually and the old reports were very convoluted and were easily
messed up. We were behaving like a small company and we
weren't!"
With the company as a whole going through major internal
changes, the company's decision-makers had little confidence in the
offerings that their existing supplier could provide.
Need for visibility
"We believe we're in capable hands... we knew that we
would not outgrow Access" John Downey
European Regional Manager
As Topcon fully embraced their growth period they felt
constrained by the limitations of their existing system. They
needed to better manage their stock and tighten up all other
business processes while also growing and expanding - a difficult
task. It became a critical decision to change when the management
team felt that they could not clearly see where and when they were
making money.
Specific requirements
As Topcon's Financial Controller, Mark Fagan had some
accountancy-specific functionality he expected the new accounting system
to fulfil.
And as an active system user, he was confident that he could
adapt to any system but wanted software that people of all
computing abilities would find intuitive and easy to use.
Topcon's John Downey had more general requirements. The new
solution would be fully integrated, streamline key processes,
provide total confidence in data security - and also help with
future planning.
Needs assessment
After an initial meeting with one of the Access
Ireland sales consultants to establish Topcon's detailed
requirements, it became immediately apparent that there was light
at the end of the tunnel in the form of a total financial and
business solution - Access Dimensions.
The Access implementation methodology also proved to be a key
strength in ensuring a smooth transition to the new system. Access
staff spent time analysing the specific needs of Topcon and how
they could be addressed. It was a huge benefit that the Access team
had the business skills to understand the Topcon business
model.
Competitive advantage
Topcon has grown in to a company dealing with thousands of
invoices per month and, without Access Dimensions, would
have had to at least double their staff numbers to cope with the
paper trail. This alone created substantial savings. The better
stock management, invoicing and procurement aspects have proven to
be invaluable, with the multi-location delivery creating huge
efficiency gains. The Workshop module also enabled Topcon Ireland
to manage its entire hire division, providing a huge competitive
advantage.
An ideal fit
Access Dimensions was developed to be user friendly while
providing decision makers with the information they would require
to perform their tasks more efficiently. Dimensions is a fully
scalable product which can cater from one to one thousand users and
for this reason Topcon believed that they were in capable hands
with a solution that would grow with them. As John Downey
concluded, "we knew that we would not outgrow Access"
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