Schaltbau goes for SaaS ERP with SAP Business ByDesign

Philip Hutchinson, managing director of Schaltbau Machine Electrics, says that the firm needed to get out from under an unsupported Unix system and an upgrade path that it considered inadequate for its manufacturing. "I originally looked at SAP three years ago—the Business One solution with a manufacturing bolt-on. We didn't go ahead at the time, because we didn't get executive buy-in to move away from our existing system," comments Hutchinson. "However following that, our system was becoming increasingly out of date and with the support also expiring, we decided it was definitely time to invest in another solution," he explains. Hutchinson says he we looked at several ERP providers, including SAP, which suggested the SaaS (software as a service) approach of Business ByDesign. "We were impressed with the browser interface and the fact that we don't need to have servers on premise. As a small company, it is important that we save money and time wherever possible so having SAP manage our IT system works perfectly for us," he says. He now expects the go-live to be "monumental" – pointing to the promise of immediate access to information across the organisation "to allow us to make accurate, speedy decisions we have never been able to do before". Hutchison also says that Schaltbau head office in Germany (currently on SAP R3) is monitoring progress and considering roll out Business ByDesign to other subsidiaries.