The Fiordland Lobster Company is regarded as a market leader in live lobster exports from New Zealand – with a growing overseas market. Founded over 20 years ago, the privately owned company is made up of fishermen shareholders and private investors.
The company has export pack factories in the North and South Island, with the head office based at Te Anau and fish receiving depots strategically positioned on both islands.
Getting started
Administration officer, Jane Richards, says the company chose to work with MYOB because their previous software wasn’t able to meet the business’ developing needs.
“We wanted to update to an integrated accounting package that would handle both the fishing and the accounting sides of the business,” she says.
“With MYOB Exo Business there is also a multicurrency aspect, which is handy as a lot of our business takes place in Asia.”
Support
Getting the right support was a key requirement for The Fiordland Lobster Company when it began looking for new software in 2006.
“MYOB partner Focus Technology Group installed Exo Business for us,” Jane says, “and since then we have received fantastic support from them.”
“They email handy tips to us each week, have a good help desk and also have remote access, so if we are in real difficulty, as a last resort they will travel from Invercargill to Te Anau as soon as possible.”
“The transition to using MYOB Exo Business was relatively painless and we had extensive training,” she says.
Add-on modules
MYOB Exo Business also offers the chance to addon modules in the same programme, something that has benefitted The Fiordland Lobster Company.
With the company’s depots spread around the country, working out details could be time consuming.
“A specialised fish landing module was written for the company which integrates with MYOB Exo Business,” Jane says.
“The module helps the complicated landing process by working out all the details, such as how much a fisherman should be paid, taking into consideration the weight of the catch, as well as fuel and bait usage, and how much of their quota has been caught.”
It makes what could be a complicated process simple with everything sorted there and then.
“The fact that the fishing package is now part and parcel of the whole set up, has made life a lot easier,” Jane says.
“Previously, it was a stand-alone package and required a lot of double entry.”
