Entire business processes into the cloud
Cloud is on everyone’s lips. Nevertheless, as most companies concentrate on making their operating center cloud based, A Bygg has taken a bigger leap.
When Dag Straumsheim became CFO at A Bygg, he quickly discovered that the existing business system was insufficient for the company's ambitious growth plans.
A Bygg is a Norwegian total contractor that mainly supplies commercial buildings and public buildings. The company runs as a project organization that employs several subcontractors. A Bygg is a solid player in planning, engineering and implementation of construction projects in the central eastern region of Norway. In 2016, A Bygg was trading for NOK 450.000.000, but the target is a significant growth in both revenue and number of employees.
"It's important to have modern, effective tools for controlling the business, especially in the construction industry, where we run so many unique projects simultaneously," says Dag Straumsheim.
Accessibility
When Straumsheim started looking for a new business system, he was determined it should be cloud-based. "The future is cloud. I have no desire to own or operate a server and wanted someone with expertise to do this for us.”
To A Bygg it was also of inestimable importance that the solutions could provide accessibility.
"All our solutions must be available to all employees regardless of where they are. We have many employees at different construction sites who at the same time are parents who sometimes need to take care of their children. Regardless of where they are, it is of great importance that they can access our systems at any time."
"I had almost given up before I found Advania. Much of the solutions made for our industry does not fit A Bygg because we operate in a slightly different way.” At A Bygg, there are no craftsmen and skilled workers employed; the contractor purchases all services externally from other suppliers.
Project economics and contract follow-up
"What we needed was an adequate module for purchasing. A solution for the follow-up of subcontractors in terms of contracts, invoices and finances.” According to Straumsheim, in solutions
for the industry, this module for purchasing was largely missing. He was familiar with Microsoft Dynamics AX, but considered this ERP system to be too extensive for a company of A Bygg`s size. The solution A Bygg discovered was Advania Norway's offer on Microsoft Dynamics 365 in combination with SharePoint and Office 365. Solutions continuously updated and operated safely by Microsoft.
CFO Straumsheim emphasizes the importance of the method used by Advania, a fast track method to reveal understanding and needs along the process. "If we should have formulated a requirement specification, we would probably have lacked relevant expertise and risked making a specification based on the old solution we wanted to replace."
Better interaction with Dynamics 365
When Dynamics 365 and Power BI are fully in place, A Bygg will focus on tools of interaction and deploy Microsoft solutions for better communication in projects. E-mail usage shall be reduced and document management become more efficient using tools such as SharePoint, One Drive, Teams and Groups. "The needs we have at A Bygg are not unique. I guess most project organizations need solutions for more efficient project management and communication", Straumsheim says.
Standard
For businesses considering purchasing a cloud-based business solution like the Microsoft platform provided by Advania, Dag Straumsheim gives a clear advice: "Try hard to implement standard solutions. Drop ordering customizations and dare to choose standard. It will certainly minimize your cost, time and risk."
Dag Straumsheim, CFO A Bygg
Photo: Tina Koss
For more information:
Espen Hartz, CEO, Advania Norway
Tel: +47 930 29 688
E-mail: espen.hartz@advania.no
About Advania
Advania is a Nordic IT corporation, operating in 22 locations in Sweden, Iceland, Norway, and Denmark. The company focuses on helping customers to improve their performance with innovative use of best available IT platforms and services. Advania serves thousands of corporate customers, multinational enterprises, governments and public institutions, big, small and medium-sized companies in all aspects of society.
Advania traces its roots to 1939 when an Icelandic entrepreneur founded an office equipment repair workshop in Reykjavik. In the following decades, three separate branches of IT-companies evolved in three Nordic countries, Iceland, Sweden, and Norway. In 2012 they were braided into one and Advania was formed. For further information, please visit www.advania.com.
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