Wondering how dedicated the team at CBIZ is? Here, Akhtar Ahamed, our Head of Sales and Marketing explains how a willingness to go to the end of the world (sometimes literally) enabled The 20 Degres Sud Hotel take control of their revenue and maintain their status as the number one hotel in Mauritius.
Akhtar’s Trip of a Lifetime
I’m sitting on a beach in Mauritius, admiring the clear blue sea and sipping coffee with the General Manager of The 20 Degres Sud Hotel (a boutique, bayside hotel) in February 2018. Reflecting over the last twenty years, when I made my first steps in Navision Version 1.1, I couldn’t have imagined that I would be leading a successful implementation, let alone in CBIZ’s subsidiary company in Mauritius.
How it Began
It all started with a phone call in July 2017, to discuss what Dynamics NAV (formerly Navision) could do for 20 Degres Sud. The requirements were clear: they needed more control over their multiple revenue streams and costs, to be able to analyse which areas of the business were profitable, and much more.
The management team had a lot of questions and finding the answers was proving tricky. Was the spa profitable? Were the restaurant costs beyond control? How was the business performing against budget? Were the debtors paying on time and were they even being invoiced properly?
The problem with not getting the information quickly was due to the tools the different departments relied on to keep things running. Their front office system was not talking to the back-office system and the General Manager had no dashboard [will it be obvious to your readers what you mean by this? Can you elaborate on the kind of data that a good dashboard would include] on a day-to-day basis, there was no control on inventory of alcohol, or even the consumables in the kitchen?
With room service costs escalating and the accountants fire-fighting daily reconciliation issues between the two systems, it was apparent to everyone that they needed a smooth and efficient solution to provide the information required, streamline processes and resolve the issues.
How CBIZ Helped
The choices were obvious: stay with the incumbent system or replace the Protel front office system and the inventory system with Beees. The last but most important piece of the jigsaw was a cloud version of Dynamics NAV 2017. The solution CBIZ supplied featured all the latest integration to Protel and Beees but no manual intervention.
With so many moving parts, each with its own challenges to resolve, we knew that it was vital to do this speedily, so we focused on putting the system live as quickly as possible. I’m pleased to say that CBIZ implemented the project within three months and had everything live on 1st February 2018.
The General Manager has nothing but praise for our work and dedication to the success of his business, as he told me over coffee. Suffice to say, we are recommended across the small island and more projects are on the horizon.
There’s nothing better than satisfied customers, and being able to see in person how we’d helped transform the hotel meant that the last sip of my latte – before getting on the 12-hour flight back to the UK – did indeed point to bliss in and with Dynamics NAV.
Find your own Dynamics NAV bliss here: https://cbiz.co.uk/industries/hotels-hospitality/
Written by Akhtar Ahamed, Head of Sales and Marketing
