Leading tea exporter Akbar Brothers declares confidence on IFS Applications

AKBAR Brothers, Sri Lanka’s largest tea exporter, has chosen IFS to implement its world-renowned Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in the company in order to improve efficiencies and help drive future growth.

Akbar Brothers Director Huzefa Akbarally explained that the export-oriented company had many information systems which were operating independently leading to a duplication of work. The existing systems also did not support some of the business requirements carried out by the company.

“In order to negate these issues, Akbar Brothers decided to invest in a comprehensive ERP. We selected IFS after visiting a few implementation sites, we obtained confidence in IFS’ implementation process and we were given positive reviews. We were also happy that the IFS implementation team is based in Sri Lanka,” Akbarally said.

Along with the positive reviews from the references, he pointed out that IFS’ R&D operations and team being locally based was a clear strength possessed by IFS over its competitors.

Although Akbar Brothers’ are renowned for their contribution to tea exports from the country, the company has diversified its operations over the years. While tea remains its core business, Akbar Brothers’ portfolio also includes ventures in Power Generation, Pharmaceuticals, Flexible Packing, Banking, Insurance, and Property Development and Management as well.  “With the implementation of this ERP system, we expect improved coordination across functional departments, increased efficiencies in doing business, and better accessibility to data so that our management can have real time access to information for decision making and managerial control purposes. The confidence we obtained from IFS made it a clear choice above its competitors,” Akbarally added.

IFS South Asia Sales and Marketing Manager Shiraz Lye said: “IFS has a reputation of successful projects all over the world. This is vital to a customer looking to invest in a software solution such as ERP. Companies who look for investments on ERP solutions build confidence through references to finalize their decision. It’s a very safe and advisable approach before the investment as it would cost the same or more for de-commissioning as well and re-commissioning or re-implementing a failed project. There are many companies even in Sri Lanka which had to re-implement the ERP making them to cough out very large sums of money. It has become one main reason why we advocate companies to evaluate similar case studies or references before the decision. This exactly what Akbar Brothers did.”

“With Akbar Brothers, after a very intense evaluation process, the decision makers visited one of IFS’ customers and without even having to see the product presentation, decided to partner with IFS. This is how IFS win new deals. We believe in customer satisfaction and we make sure that we deliver what we promise even by going through stormy times during project implementations. And we believe in getting it right the first time,” Lye added.

He explained that the Akbar Brothers’ evaluation process had a professional approach similar to many leading global organizations. The decision makers demand live case studies and references, and the witnessing of live successful implementation from user to management level gives the required confidence. “This is an advantage to us, because IFS does not have any unsuccessful projects to report from anywhere in the world,” Lye pointed out.  IFS Applications currently obtained by Akbar Brothers covers several functions including finance, Inventory and procurement, sales, production with planning and quality to name a few. Lye explained that work on the project implementation process was proceeding at a rapid pace at present. “We are working towards making Akbar Brothers another IFS success story in Sri Lanka,” he added.