JURA Australia – Case Study
JURA Australia relies on EBS expertise to deploy challenging MS Dynamics Business Central rollout
When premium fully automatic coffee machine manufacturer JURA Australia decided to upgrade its Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software to the latest Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, it invited Melbourne-based ERP specialist Evolution Business Systems to undertake the core Business Central deployment, to integrate the Square Point of Sale (POS) system, and to project manage the entire Australian side of the large and complex deployment, which also required Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) integration. EBS went “over and above” expectations to maintain continuity of the project, ensuring a successful rollout of Business Central.
The Challenge: Bringing JURA Australia up to speed with global Business Central rollout
Established in 2012, JURA Australia is the local subsidiary of Swiss multinational JURA, which was founded in 1931 and has designed and manufactured coffee machines since a few years later. Since the early 1990s, JURA has focused on fully automatic coffee machines.
JURA has a strong presence in the Australian market for domestic coffee machines through premium retailers such as David Jones, Harvey Norman, JB HiFi, Good Guys and Officeworks. The Melbourne-based company, which employs about 50 people nationally, also operates a direct sales presence for walk-in customers and through an online store.
In 2019, JURA Australia decided to upgrade the Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system it had used since its establishment seven years earlier as part of a global JURA upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. As well as instability and performing poorly, the old system was stranded by its age from justifying the investment of integration with the latest generation of Electronic Data Integration (EDI) systems used by JURA business partners.
JURA Australia invited a proposal from Melbourne-based ERP specialist Evolution Business Systems (EBS). After comparing it with comparable quotes presented to other JURA divisions globally, the Australian company accepted the EBS proposal as delivering good value for money.
“I believe myself and other internal parties received great support and guidance, training and competent feedback from all involved parties at EBS, from the project manager to the developers to the COO. I felt like there was always somebody to talk to. That was a very outstanding point for me.”
JURA Australia Espresso Pty Ltd Head of Finance & Operations, Sebastian Hallepape said the decision to upgrade to Business Central was made before the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. “We were fortunate to jump ahead of the craze,” he said.
“It was an outdated system. In IT terms, a lot can happen in two years, so after 10 years, you’re pretty much on a completely different planet. The 2009 system lacked automation and was too old to justify the cost of new EDI integrations with customers or additional third-party logistics systems.
“Then, in 2020, we were faced with the whole new requirement of working remotely. There were workarounds that made it possible with NAV 2009, but it was just not ideal. It had bad performance; it was unstable. If we hadn’t made the upgrade decision earlier, that would have certainly been the trigger to move to a new system that meets today’s requirements of working from home.”
The Solution: EBS delivered its project commitments “on date and on budget”.
JURA Australia accepted the EBS proposal in mid-2020 and the project deployment started in September that year, with go-live on May 3, 2021. Apart from customised service and hotline modules that were delivered by JURA’s Swiss parent company, EBS was tasked with deploying the core Business Central modules without any constraints from the international rollout.
Mr Hallepape said JURA had also required EBS to project manage Australian third parties in the project, which included EDI and Point of Sale (POS) integrations. “For us, one crucial element was that we don’t have an internal IT department here in Melbourne, so we don’t have anybody internally that has the technical knowledge to manage external EDI consultants,” he said.
“We’ve had a successful partnership with EBS for a long time. EBS was our NAV partner since 2012, setting up the original system and supporting us throughout. For me, it was important to have a supplier that we have some trading history with and that knows our system, so they would be able to support JURA Australia in that upgrade process.”
Mr Hallepape said EBS delivered its project commitments ‘on date and on budget’. “Certainly, in terms of EBS deliverables, they fulfilled their promise,” he said.
Thanks to EBS, we now have a system that allows us to move with the times.
Business Benefits: “I can safely say that EBS exceeded my expectations.”
Mr Hallepape said EBS also assisted JURA to deploy the Square POS solution. “We wanted a system that would work seamlessly with local payment providers, so the decision was made to not go with the Point-of-Sale solution that was rolled out internationally,” he said.
“EBS suggested Square as a payment provider POS solution because it met our key requirements which was a streamlined simplified handling and scalability for multiple points of sales in Australia. Hence EBS went ahead and developed something completely unique and new for JURA Australia.”
Mr Hallepape said EBS had also gone “over and above” its expected duties after one third party provider struggled to deliver its commitments by deadline due to internal staff changes. “We had ever changing consultants and project managers from the third party, so there was no consistency and no knowledge handover,” he said.
“The project management from the EBS side picked up a lot of the work that should have been handled by the third party to try to facilitate that consistency. I believe EBS went over and above by taking some ownership for the external party role. With all these moving parts, it was crucial that EBS stepped up and really helped out there, so it was very much appreciated.
“I can safely say that EBS exceeded my expectations.”
Mr Hallepape said JURA Australia was already reaping benefits from the new Business Central system, which was used by about 20 members of its staff. “Some of the new features already make our lives easier,” he said.
“For example, an immediate timesaving feature is an automated invoice dispatch via email. We can schedule all sales invoices to be sent directly to an email address every day. That might be a minor feature, but it saves us quite a lot of time.
“The second major benefit, once the EDI integration is fully implemented, is that 60-70 percent of our order volume will be fully automated, so there will be no more manual entry or keying necessary, which will free up quite a lot of resources in the back-office ordering department.”
Mr Hallepape said EBS had enabled JURA Australia to fulfil all its key requirements for the new system “A critical element was automation of daily transactions, automated dispatches and the ability for advanced EDI integration,” he said.
“We also wanted a system that was future-proof so we could adapt to the times and not fall back like we did with 2009. That really was one of our key criteria. Thanks to EBS, we now have a system that allows us to move with the times.”
Client Profile:
As a pioneer in the field of automatic espresso/coffee machines JURA has been a main contributor to the household appliance sector since the middle of the 1980s. Since 1931, the Swiss company has been developing innovative high-end household appliances.
Office Location
3/47 Burgundy St
Heidelberg VIC 3084
Postal Address
PO Box 1115
Camberwell VIC 3124
Phone
1300 303 973
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