customer story – ELECTRICAL
Company profile
Name: Anglia Components
Region:
UK
Operation: Global distribution
Products: Semiconductors, optoelectronics, interconnect, and
passive and electromechanical components.
Employees: 221
Website: www.anglia.com
Issues
· Dynamic and fast-changing business
· Same-day order shipping
· Need to upgrade financials solution
· Need to integrate with bespoke distribution system
· Complex reporting requirements
· Need to maintain consistency.
Solution
Integrated financial management with modules for:
· General Ledger
· Sales Ledger
· Purchase Ledger
· Cash Book
· Business intelligence.
Capabilities
· Fully integrated software
· Financial reporting and enquiries
· Powerful functionality
· Robust and reliable
· Monitors cach-flow
· Convenient interface for processing batch updates.
Value
· Over 99% delivery performance
· Smooth and fast upgrade
· Enhanced decision-making support
· Faster and more efficient reporting
· Streamlined payments
· Ready for further growth.
www.ibs.net
Anglia makes firm
connections IBS Enterprise
Upgraded to IBS Enterprise 6.0, UK-based
electronic components distributor Anglia delivers
first-class customer service and support.
Company background
In a business that handles more than 700 million components
from 340,000 product lines, Anglia’s most important business
criteria are to offer same-day order shipping from stock and to
provide complete customer service. The company distributes
a comprehensive range of electronic components to industrial
customers for use in equipment that generally employs a
printed circuit board.
Anglia Components is a privately owned company with its
head office in Wisbech, England. It also has a site in Hong
Kong. The company’s suppliers include some of the world’s
leading electronic component brands, complemented by
many smaller companies with leadership in their chosen
technologies.
Selecting IBS
With speed and reliability so essential to its supply chain,
Anglia has always tried to keep as much of its IT requirement
in-house as possible. The company employs an IT team that
handles the development, maintenance and running of Anglia’s
self-built distribution system. The company used to have its
own financial system, which it had run since the early 1980s,
but it switched to IBS system just prior to Y2K.
“Our business is very dynamic and fast-changing,” explains
Pete Abbott, an analyst programmer at Anglia. “As a company,
we have traditionally preferred to have in-house programmers
so we can react quickly to any changes. However, we needed
a new financial system, so we decided to find a company
we could work with that would support our business ethos.
We evaluated several products and companies and decided
that IBS had a product that was excellent and consultants
who would be fully committed to ensuring successful
implementation and running of the system.”
Rich functionality
In 1999, Anglia implemented IBS enterprise software for
financial management. “Of key importance to us was how
the system would integrate with the existing distribution
www.ibs.net
customer story – ELECTRICAL
applications,” Abbott says. “IBS is designed as an ERP
system, so integration is inherent within the software, but
how well would it work with our software? The answer was
apparent from the start – very well.”
With almost 18,000 customers actively trading and 480,000
orderlines to process, IBS software has provided Anglia with
the flexibility it needs in all areas of financial reporting and
control routines. The rich functionality seamlessly handles
accounting and financial reporting to suit the company’s
changing business needs. The powerful application boasts
extensive functions to process all customer and supplier
accounting, and is an efficient tool to streamline payments.
Fast upgrade from old to new
Until 2006, Anglia continued to operate successfully on the
same system. “We were very happy with the software and
the IBS people who supported it,” says Abbott. “We built up
a strong relationship with the IBS consultants. They knew our
team as individuals and how we worked, and were always able
to offer assistance in a manner suited to our own methods.”
However, after such a long time with the same system, Anglia
had become the UK customer with the oldest surviving release
of IBS software. It was time to change. Over a single weekend,
Anglia went from oldest to newest. “Transferring from the
old system to the latest, IBS Enterprise 6.0, was remarkably
smooth,” Abbott says. “The new release enables lots more
in terms of functionality and capabilities, but we were able to
incorporate our legacy data and modifications with relative
ease.”
Anglia managed to upgrade the system, transfer the data, test
it and get it live without any loss of service. Abbott points out
the final switch was done over a weekend, in no more than a
couple of hours.
Integrated financial management
With IBS software Anglia has found a financial solution that is
fully integrated with all its business processes, that monitors
cash flow and helps reduce debtor days outstanding. The
software offers a convenient interface for processing batch
updates from various process areas.
The IBS system has an extremely flexible, dynamic, tabledriven accounting and bookkeeping set-up. Importing data
from external databases is made easy via a general interface
that uses a pre-defined table layout. Users can easily import
data, such as payroll information, payments, invoices, etc.
into Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable or the General
Ledger. Anglia is able to post figures rapidly and accurately
and benefit from the software through savings and increased
customer satisfaction, all while complying with regulations.
“We were also impressed with how straightforward it was to
integrate with our other systems right from the start,” he says.
“Our first month-end, which is always a good test, went with
barely a hitch. We are on over 99 percent delivery performance
and rising.”
Growth plans
Looking forward, Abbott can see further opportunities for the
relationship with IBS to grow. “We are looking to expand the
business into new markets and territories, and we will want
to maintain consistency with our systems,” he says. “IBS has
delivered in all areas for us. The software has provided the
power, functionality, reliability and integration we needed. The
people have always responded quickly and well to our needs,
keeping us informed and delivering what we need to have
delivered.”
”IBS software has provided the power, functionality,
reliability and integration we needed.”
Pete Abbott, Analyst Programmer, Anglia
Founded in 1978, IBS has over 30 years of experience in the distribution industries ranging from automotive and electronics to paper, publishing,
pharmaceuticals, food and beverage. This deep understanding of distribution models and best practices is embodied within IBS Enterprise, a distribution
resource management application suite on which thousands of the world’s most successful companies now rely.
IBS corporate hq: +46-8-627 2300 • info@ibs.net • www.ibs.net
The materials contained in this document are summary in nature, subject to change and intended for general information only. For updates of this
information, please contact your local IBS representative. v2010-05 © IBS 2010