Having reached the limitations of its existing business system, Bright Light encountered a problem experienced by many growing companies: a lack of information causing an overwhelming amount of frustration. It chose MYOB’s Exo to address the immediate challenges while also preparing the ground for future growth.
Founded in 2004, Bright Light is one of New Zealand’s leading specialists in LED lighting solutions and has a strong presence in residential, commercial, hospitality, marine and architectural lighting markets.
Situation
Thanks to a strong reputation for innovation, product quality and service, Bright Light experienced significant growth and quickly expanded across three premises. Consequently, the Bright Light team began to appreciate the requirement for a more advanced management system to keep control of the business and improve decision-making.
It was time to switch to an alternative, agrees director Steve Marshall. “I looked at a number of ERP products and evaluated them all,” he relates. “To my mind, MYOB Exo covered all of what we required and appeared to be capable of giving me what we need.”
He adds that it didn’t hurt that his wife has direct experience in using the solution (at an unrelated business) – and what recommendation could be higher.
Solution
Having settled on the best solution for the business, Marshall contacted MYOB Exo Platinum Partner Aztech Solutions Limited to install the new system.
“We had been thinking about our requirements for over 12 months, so we had a good idea of what we were looking for,” he notes. “Some of the specific functionality was built as a result of what we had already identified as a necessity. The rest was done post-implementation, once we started working with Exo.”
He describes the Aztech team as very professional. “It came back to us in the indicated timeframes of when we could expect a response. Installation went as smoothly as one could expect, given we were running in a live environment”.
Results
Marshall is satisfied with the choice of Exo. “This has been the right decision for all the right reasons,” he says. Notably, “We have gained financially from this implementation, because the software has given us tremendous visibility. As an example, our stock ordering has migrated from a ‘wet finger in the air best guess’ to definite numbers in real time.”
The benefits of customisation are also apparent. “There are so many reports that are unique not only to our industry, but to our business specifically,” says Marshall, explaining that the custom sales and analytics reports have become the ‘go-to’ for him the Bright Light team. “Analytics is used all day long. We are getting better profit and loss information and quicker access to data.”
But the most significant contribution Exo has made is in the area of stock ordering. “A better system has saved tens of thousands of dollars because we don’t purchase too much stock,” Marshall points out. Instead, “We are purchasing the right stock in the right quantities at the right time. Now we can see what we sell in real time – and it is reflected immediately throughout the system, allowing for accurate inventory management and efficient replenishment.”
