Accantia considered a number of SAP replacement options including Microsoft's AX and Great Plains software, prior to selecting Sage Line 500 from CPiO. The project provided a clear opportunity to simplify and streamline processes across the business. CPiO consultants implemented the 60 user Sage Line 500 software within five months. They provided consultancy, project management and an education programme to support the roll out of the system which has been deployed across an IBM cluster server, employing the latest fail over technology for high availability.

Sage Line 500 was able to integrate electronically to Accantia's third party logistics warehouse company who provide delivery and storage. When an order is placed with Accantia, a request is sent to Exel Logistics who prepare and send out the goods and return an invoice to Accantia for payment.

Accantia also chose to implement a management reporting solution to run from within Sage Line 500; Sage Business Intelligence (Sage BI). Sage BI reporting gave Accantia management a powerful OLAP reporting tool to analyse data deep inside Sage Line 500, enabling them to understand purchase behaviours and product trends.
The Sage ERP system is used to provide a forecast of the finished goods stock requirements. The system also allows Accantia to create purchase orders, invoice processing, works orders and to control raw material, work in progress and finished goods stock, as well as providing accurate financial information for management. Employees from across the enterprise can now work with one set of data in a user friendly, intuitive environment. Sage has enabled the business to achieve global visibility and therefore information can be shared across Accantia's nine separate distribution outlets. Subsequently the month end management accounts procedure is dramatically reduced from four days to just one and the running costs of the software has reduced.

Accantia feels that it has the best solution to carry it forward over the coming years. The company is gaining such tangible benefits from Sage Line 500 and BI that it is now assured of improved customer relations, greater communication and financials savings. Through using Sage BI, Accantia is currently identifying other areas of the business where the company can introduce even greater efficiencies.