Founded in 1865 in Beechworth, north-east Victoria, Australia, Billson’s Beverages is one of the oldest continuing beverage manufacturers in Australia. It operates from a complex of heritage buildings centered around a Victorian-era ‘tower brewery’, constructed in 1872-3.
Billson’s maintains a connection to the past and tradition, with a mixture of traditional and innovative flavours, in a vast array of beverage products from cordials and sodas to gin, beer and pre-mixed spirit drinks.
SITUATION
Given rapid growth (from a headcount of ~5 to circa 165) in a very short 5 years, Billson’s were increasingly straining their systems - they were unlikely to last another 12 months without significant pain.
Billson’s were looking for a platform that would help them scale into the next phase of growth. With needs as vast as managing increasingly stringent compliance and risks, but also fast decision making through real-time data for both their operations and financial sides of the business.
The Billson’s team were introduced to Apparatus Quo through a mutual connection, and the AQ team were brought on to help facilitate the ERP selection process from start to finish.
In our early meetings together, we identified the Billson’s teams’ biggest goals across many areas:
APPROACH
Over approximately four months, we worked closely with Billson's ERP Working Group on a number of fronts, including: requirements gathering, analysis of various system and vendor options, demo days on-site with vendors and partners, and ultimately the key decision for the best-fit vendor and partner to proceed with the implementation.
Key workshops and deliverables included:
- Forms to capture goals, pain points and opportunities
- Virtual and in-person workshops to unpack current state, discuss what it means to move a SaaS-ecosystem based business to ERP, and develop detailed ERP system requirements and process flows
- Excel analysis for shortlisting potential vendors to our criteria
- Consolidated, prioritised and agreed requirements in a master tracker and decision matrix, based on agreed plan for analysis, and inputs into official RFP documentation to be shared
- Financial analysis of one-off and recurring investments required
- Facilitated on-site ‘demo days’ with the shortlisted top 3 vendors and partners
- Working group feedback and scoring of each solution
- ERP Recommendations pack, provided and presented to the Billson’s leadership team to help facilitate the final decision on vendor and partner
OUTCOMES
Angela Eiselt, Business Improvement Manager and ERP Project Lead
“Billson’s Beverages engaged the services of Josh Licence at Apparatus Quo for our ERP requirements and selection project.
As the project lead, I was impressed with his capabilities, professionalism and attitude - nothing was ever too much trouble and we completed the project on time and within budget.
Josh is capable, knowledgeable about multiple ERP solutions, professional and a pleasure to work with. I would recommend him highly to any company looking to undertake the same due diligence process.”
To find out more about Billson's Beverages, check out their website here: https://billsons.com.au/
Interested in a business system selection & strategy project for your business?