ORION powers growth at Ali & Sons Group

ORION will enable Ali & Sons to better manage the demands of their growing business and ambitious expansion objectives by improving access to critical information across the group, leading to enhanced management capabilities. ORION will be implemented across all the companies of the Ali & Sons Group in the Northern Emirates.

Ali & Sons Company was established in 1979 and over the years has become synonymous with some of the leading brands in the region; Audi, Volkswagen, Porsche, to name a few. The first phase of the ORION implementation will involve ORION@Auto for Ali & Sons - Auto division. Ali & Sons was looking for a scalable enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution that would address all the business functions of an Automobile Distribution setup and ORION met all their criteria. This included providing up-to-date online access to key information including stock levels, availability of models, status of orders, auto customization options online, in turn enhancing their customer service and workflow.

Ahmed Bin Ali Al Dhahry, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Ali & Sons added, 'With ORION in place, we will have the competitive advantage of online communication across all our businesses with timely access to key information and better responsiveness capabilities when it comes to handling customer enquiries and orders'.

'We were looking for a comprehensive ERP solution that possesses Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Supply Chain Management (SCM) features, helping us to consolidate our group financial statements and monitor costs, profitability and inventory levels more effectively and online. ORION met all our requirements' said Ali Sabry, Chief Financial Officer, Ali & Sons Group.

'We were looking for a business application suite that goes beyond the four walls of the Group and actively support collaborative Internet-based interactions both internally and externally. ORION provided us with all the above and more' said Sanjay Keswani, Group IT Manager, Ali & Sons Group.

ORION's high scalability features, will integrate the Group's operations onto one platform, providing management with a single point of access to critical information, enhancing the overall performance and efficiency in each operational area of the business and across different industries that the Group of Companies boasts.

ORION@Auto to be implemented at Ali & Sons Auto division boasts an extensive Auto-suite of functionalities, with 3 modules in place, the automobile sales management module, the service center and workshop management module and the ORION Collaborator, the customer, vendor and employee relationship management module. This translates to front-end and back-end capabilities covering the entire demand and supply chain management process. The front-end capabilities include integration with CrossRoads CRM tool, which provides sales force and management with transparent visibility to spare parts and vehicle inventory resulting in enhanced supply chain process and auto retail management capabilities both on the shop floor and in the workshop.

'ORION will support Ali & Sons Group of Companies to integrate and standardize operations, reduce inventory costs, and improve customer responsiveness capabilities,' said Kalpesh Desai, Executive Vice President & Operating Head, ICICI Infotech Ltd. (Middle East & Africa) 'With ORION@Auto - the only complete end-to-end solution catering to the demands of the automobile sector - Ali & Sons Auto division will have the perfect foundation for future growth opportunities.'

ORION @Auto will have a direct impact on the company's relationship with customers, who will benefit from unique services; 'customize your car' kiosks at Ali & Sons showrooms and SMS service advising them that their car is due for a service or that it is ready to be picked up. 'The visual aspect of the Orion@Auto 'kiosk' solution will enable the sales team at Ali & Sons showrooms to manage the whole sales process more effectively and provide customers with added value service, a visual feature, which enables them to configure their car of choice for themselves in minutes,' added Kalpesh.

To date, ORION@Auto has been chosen by distributors of Mitsubishi, Toyota, Audi, Porsche, Volkswagen and Mercedes across the Middle East and Africa as their solution of choice.