Growing Moving Company Adopts One Integrated System to Eliminate Multiple Platforms & Reduce Manual Processes

• Product

  Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, ODT Advanced Payables

• Company

  Bellemont Group

• Name & Job Title

  Chris Phone, Corporate Management Officer

• Industry

  Commercial & Residential Property Management

Get your copy

Download PDF

Problem/Challenge

Recognizing the Need for a Modern System with Real-Time Access to Data

Based in Calgary, Alberta, Bellemont Group is a well-established, independently owned-and-operated franchise of 60 permanent staff and 40 contractors. Established in 1978, Bellemont Group has owned and operated a robust property management and moving company for over 44 years.

Despite many successful years of operation and a large amount of asset data to keep track of, Bellemont lacked a proper inventory management system. Instead, they struggled with an archaic 15-year-old ACCPAC/Sage 300 system that was never updated and hardly maintained. To that end, data capture and business processes were all manual, and staff struggled without the ability to access real-time information during day-to-day operations.

“We needed better access to more current information, and we needed more comprehensive reporting functions to keep track of our business data,” explains Chris Phone, Corporate Management Officer at Bellemont. “Everything was stored in spreadsheets, and we had no vendor database and no Accounts Payable disbursements module in the system.”

Solution(s)

A New Integrated Solution to Streamline Business Data Onto One Operational Platform

Bellemont Group had goals driving them to reduce multiple manual processes and refine data capture so they could access pertinent inventory details on the fly. They also needed software that would scale and grow with the company. After careful consideration and comparison against other offerings, Bellemont chose Open Door Technology to implement a new Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central system with the ODT Advanced Payables solution.

“Open Door’s option of cost per user with Business Central is scalable and easier for us to handle on an ongoing basis. Other partners I looked into had pretty steep annual minimum fees,” says Chris. Another attractive Business Central feature for Bellmont was the inherent integration with Microsoft Excel, Office, and PowerBI to provide the analytics they needed to access valuable real-time data.

During the implementation, the ODT team guided Bellemont staff through the process, clarified and resolved issues when they came up, and addressed any key concerns for management. “Open Door provided key user training and a Sandbox environment that really helped us get started with a parallel system to train on.”

Results

Bellemont Group Forecasts Future Savings in Time & Staff

Now that Business Central and ODT Advanced Payables are implemented, Bellemont staff can work efficiently and enter data quickly in one integrated, modern system. Chris says having an inventory system tied to accounting has given them more accurate data and insight into their assets.

“We’ve made a ton of progress—we can close month-end faster, and invoices can be posted instantly,” explains Chris. “On our old system, we used to have to process and post invoices weekly and sometimes even monthly. Now invoices are posted instantaneously, so I can see results all in the system right away. We’re also able to refine and tweak processes ourselves, and it’s way easier to access our historical information now.”

Chris has noticed significant time savings. He can now quickly and easily access the reports he needs while confidently relying on his staff to execute and review day-to-day business activities through clear workflows instead of using archaic Excel spreadsheets. He has even been able to reassign staff to other essential tasks and assumes they will save on hiring in the future. Plus, the Bellemont team can smoothly run and track inventory now, saving their inventory manager a significant amount of time and grief in reconciling furniture stock.

“I don’t know how we would’ve handled it if the business had continued to grow,” Chris says. “Having this new system in place will enable me to find somebody in the future to oversee the accounting side of the business so that I can move over and deal more with other company matters. There’s potential for growth here.”