New Zealand’s leading traffic management company, Traffic Management NZ, have been able to significantly streamline office and technology processes, increase business visibility, enhance reporting, and save valuable time with the implementation of enterprise management software Sage 300.
Traffic Management NZ is an independently owned business with approximately 500 employees, established in 2001. Thanks to steady growth over the 20-plus years it has been in operation, the company brought on David Balme as its first commercial finance manager in 2018 to oversee the company’s finance and commercial activity.
Headquartered in Hamilton, Traffic Management NZ has branches throughout New Zealand and specialises in all aspects of traffic management, from event and roading management, through to traffic management planning, equipment hire, and education and training.
David recognised that the needs of the business were getting more complex as its capability and revenue continued to grow each year, and felt that its current enterprise resource planning (ERP) software wasn’t quite up to the task anymore.
“It became pretty clear, after the company had grown and grown over the years, that we needed a system that could do everything for us,” says David.
“In addition to tasks like invoicing and accounts, we also had a lot of fixed assets, such as cones, signs and trucks that we needed to keep a good eye on, and a way to store and organise a lot of our information – there were a lot of old invoices we were still storing in big boxes.
“We were previously with a lower-end MYOB accounting system that wasn’t designed for a business of our now-size. We looked at a few different solutions including MYOB and Oracle Netsuite, and I found that the Sage product was able to meet the criteria I had, and was well-priced.”
David also liked that the system would be installed and supported by enterprise solutions company Business Enabling Systems (BES). “We were able to talk through the process with them and they came up with some really good solutions for us.”
From a technical point of view, David is pleased that Sage 300 meets his needs, but also has the ability to expand and adapt as future needs arise.
“We got a basic package at the start, but then added purchase orders online and remote invoice approvals, and some Qlik BI to assist with debt collection. We’ve been able to implement improvements as we’ve gone along, including more automation, going paperless and producing reporting dashboards for branch managers to review.
“The BES team were able to integrate Sage 300 with our job tracking system, as well as with Z Energy. With 200-300 trucks fuelling up each day, that’s a massive amount of line items, so that’s now automated. In general, we’ve gained a lot more visibility and control of our systems.”
Having only had Sage 300 installed for a couple of weeks before lockdown in March and April of 2020, BES was still able to guide and support Traffic Management NZ in how to use the system remotely, a big win in David’s eyes.
“The implementation went really well, especially considering we were working from home during lockdown. It certainly helped that we had the system we had, and that it was more automated. Branch managers could approve the invoicing and other tasks like that online rather than being in the office and having to scan pages and things like that, so it was actually fortuitous timing.”
On David’s future agenda is finding a module or system to organise HR and staff records, and a CRM (customer relationship management) tool.
“I like having one system, which the BES team understands. I know they will do their best to find a solution for our evolving business needs.”
