Software company SYSPRO Africa announced last month that it was completing the implementation of a new software system –almost 100% remotely from South Africa – for a manufacturing and warehousing client, in North Africa.

“Besides sending consultants to site as the job was completing to iron out any small issues or questions, we did everything online,” says SYSPRO Africa customer & ecosystems enablement manager Doug Hunter.

The new system was required because the software for the warehouse was outdated and needed to evolve with the growing demand for the stock it carried.

Hunter attributes this growth to a substantial increase in online buying, which stems from global lockdowns that were implemented during the various waves of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“e-Commerce exploded during 2020, bringing with it an increased demand for better and faster warehousing, and storage monitoring and distribution systems,” he says.

Many South African companies also had to completely restructure their way of selling to accommodate the e-commerce drive.

“In some instances, the middleman was cut out and sellers sold from their stores directly. We have since seen a substantial increase in demand for our SYSPRO 8 system,” he enthuses.

The system includes the integration of several new features comprising artificial intelligence, machine learning, and social media as collaboration.

This provides business owners with instant insight into the status, condition or health of key performance indicators aimed at promoting proactive action while driving improved business behaviour.

Key businesses in the industry have taken up SYSPRO 8 to streamline their productivity and performance using an effective enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

He explains that SYSPRO Africa implemented its SYSPRO 8 technology at a reputable locally based alcoholic beverage online store recently, which has greatly improved the client's turnaround times on orders.

The client has also noted better visibility of stock, a decrease in theft, a more efficient means of managing returns and improved stock management.

Hunter says the client can also customise its front-end ordering allocations, which improves its stock-keeping capabilities.

SYSPRO 8 was also successfully implemented at a medical supply centre, in Kenya.

The 10 000 m2 warehouse is now fully integrated with visibility of stock, as well as the ‘first in, first out’ and ‘first expired, first out’ concepts, owing to the addition of SYSPRO’s Ritescan technology.

SYSPRO 8 is not only used in ecommerce but also suited to supply and distribution in the manufacturing space.

For a manufacturer to have the capacity to demand research, and have a full bill of materials, stock availability and cycle counting information readily on hand, are integral to the success of the manufacturer, he adds.

He concludes that clients need to adapt to changes in technologies, varying buyer profiles and even global pandemics to keep up with competitors.