The Big Bus Company: The Sky's the Limit with SAP


The Big Bus Company: The Sky's the Limit with SAP...

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SAP Customer Success Story | Hospitality | The Big Bus Company

The Big Bus Company: The Sky’s the Limit with SAP® Business One

SAP Customer Success Story | Hospitality | The Big Bus Company

Executive overview

Company The Big Bus Company Ltd.

Company

Industry Hospitality

Vision Why SAP

Products and Services Sightseeing tours on double-decker buses

Implementation

Web Site www.bigbustours.com

Solution

SAP® Solutions SAP® Business One application

Benefits

Partner Sapphire Systems plc (www.sapphiresystems.com)

Featuring double-decker buses with tops open to the sky, the Big Bus Company Ltd. offers tours that have proved to be popular wherever it operates. As the company became successful and began to expand beyond its London base, it found its backoffice systems unable to cope with its increasing size, international business, and multicurrency transactions. Once the company brought the SAP® Business One application on board, the back-office trip became noticeably smoother. 2

SAP Customer Success Story | Hospitality | The Big Bus Company

Executive overview Company

Open-top, internationally based ­sightseeing tours

Vision Why SAP Implementation Solution Benefits

developed advancements in accessibility and commentary ­provision. Every Big Bus destination offers commentary in a choice of eight languages, enabling Big Bus to genuinely cater to the international visitor. The easily recognizable red and cream livery has become synonymous with quality open-top sightseeing tours, building customer confidence in the visitor experience Big Bus provides.

The Big Bus Company was established in central London in June 1991 with just four buses; today, it operates over 150 buses worldwide. In the interim, it has developed an international brand covering 11 cities – London, Paris, Hong Kong, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Shanghai, Las Vegas, Miami, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington – with plans for ­further expansion. The company employs 221 and had annual sales of US$34 million in 2010. The hallmark of its success has been the flexibility it provides tour groups in the way they can view ­various sites. The company has invested considerable resources in tailoring the product to each destination – for example, by supplying air-conditioned vehicles for the warmer destinations and by tying in with complimentary tour providers – and has

150

Buses worldwide

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SAP Customer Success Story | Hospitality | The Big Bus Company

Executive overview

Scalability in multiple currencies

Company Vision Why SAP Implementation Solution Benefits

Initially, because of the international and multicurrency requirements, Big Bus assumed it would require a major software package, along the lines of Oracle or Sage 500. “We were relatively limited, as there are not many solutions that can handle multicurrency and consolidations,” explains Swain.

As its operations expanded, The Big Bus Company found itself encumbered with back-office software that was insufficient for the tasks the company required of it. Because of its international scope, the company needed an application that would be able to handle multicurrency transactions, consolidations, and purchase authorizations. “Being an international company, we needed this to be automated,” says Caroline Swain, chief financial officer at Big Bus. The company’s expansion also required a scalability that was beyond the capabilities of its existing software. Big Bus decided to explore the marketplace for an adequate replacement.

11 cities And counting

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SAP Customer Success Story | Hospitality | The Big Bus Company

Executive overview Company

International transaction functionality at a competitive price

Vision Why SAP Implementation Solution Benefits

and compared favorably on implementation time.” Management was also pleased with its compatibility with the payroll solution Big Bus was using.

During the exploratory process, Big Bus management contacted SAP, which referred them to Sapphire Systems plc of London. “Sapphire gave us a very impressive demonstration of the SAP Business One application,” says Swain.

SAP Business One includes all the processes required to run an entire business. Unlike niche solutions, it provides complete business management functions covering financials, sales, customers, inventory, and operations. And because it is designed specifically for small businesses, it can be installed quickly and is straightforward to maintain and use.

SAP Business One surprised Big Bus by providing all the functionality it required in a very competitive package. “SAP Business One ticked all the boxes in terms of the scope and functionality we wanted – especially on the purchase side of things that we control from London,” says Swain. “Also, in comparison to the other products that we reviewed, SAP Business One was extremely competitive on price

Big Bus chose SAP Business One and Sapphire ­Systems to implement it.

“We chose SAP Business One because it is a truly international product and can do everything we need it to do and more.” Caroline Swain, Chief Financial Officer, The Big Bus Company Ltd.

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SAP Customer Success Story | Hospitality | The Big Bus Company

Executive overview Company

Service and flexibility in a fast-paced environment

Vision Why SAP Implementation Solution Benefits

Big Bus found Sapphire’s overall performance outstanding. “Everybody we worked with at Sapphire provided exceptional service – our project manager, the consultants, and our account manager,” says Swain. “They all did their utmost to help – nothing ever seems to be too much trouble.”

Sapphire Systems is a leading SAP channel partner reselling SAP Business One in Europe, with operations around the United Kingdom and in the United States, Australia, and India as well. Sapphire offers comprehensive implementation, consultancy, training, and support services for business management solutions, as well as 24-hour technical support.

Sapphire had Big Bus up and running on SAP Business One at its London headquarters in three months, after which Big Bus began rolling the ­software out to its other international operations.

Swain notes that during the initial phases of solution selection, everyone at Sapphire was very helpful. She travels a lot and was not always available when implementation questions arose. “We have a small finance team with limited time, and the team at ­Sapphire really worked around us,” she explains.

“Sapphire had all the attributes we were looking for in a business partner.” Caroline Swain, Chief Financial Officer, The Big Bus Company Ltd.

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SAP Customer Success Story | Hospitality | The Big Bus Company

Executive overview

Intuitive operation, global reach

Company Vision Why SAP Implementation Solution Benefits

a variety of presentation formats allow management to click through relevant data and get answers at any time. Employees respond to customer needs faster, and managers accurately track revenues, costs, and cash flow so they can assess business performance and determine how to improve it.

Big Bus has had no problems with SAP Business One handling its high volume of transactions. There are typically 13 or 14 users concurrently logged into SAP Business One globally, with other members of the team, such as department managers, logging in from time to time throughout the day as required. Big Bus is using SAP Business One to capture critical data across sales, customers, operations, and financials in a single integrated system for immediate access and use. SAP Business One delivers precise reporting functionality and information access that allows Big Bus to get crucial insights into all parts of its business. Interactive drill-down functionality and

“Using SAP Business One is pretty intuitive. Everyone at Big Bus has learned on the job and has taken to it like a duck to water.” Caroline Swain, Chief Financial Officer, The Big Bus Company Ltd.

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The Big Bus Company

Executive overview Company

Operations streamlined, costs reduced

Vision Why SAP Implementation Solution Benefits

Big Bus is now fully benefiting from a streamlined purchase system. For example, reconciling and matching invoices with the previous manual purchase order system was a full-time job, but SAP Business One has effectively halved the time spent on this, ­allowing Big Bus to concentrate on further analysis. “Our engineering department is responsible for purchasing all our equipment,” says Swain. “This function too is now more efficient, meaning that the team is freed up to focus on the costs themselves rather than getting paperwork onto the system.” The result is ­additional cost savings for Big Bus.

CMP17616 (12/09)

“Another significant benefit provided by SAP ­Business One is that it is so much easier to track stock and keep an eye on it more efficiently,” says Swain. “The resulting increase in our productivity without having to add new staff members in the ­engineering department is a real bonus.” So, in a reassuring reversal of roles, Big Bus is ­receiving from SAP Business One the kind of view the company customarily delivers – the sky’s the limit on its ­business prospects.

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