Auckland-based VMG specialises in the design, manufacture and supply of high quality off-the-shelf and made-to-order yachting crew uniforms and corporate apparel. With a staff of only 18, VMG has a huge reputation internationally and over 500 super yacht and motor yacht customers.
Treading water with standalone systems
VMG adopted NetSuite as their ERP solution in 2012 because they needed to move away from standalone on-premise financial and CRM solutions, and slow manual processes for inventory management and purchasing.
As well as struggling with the lack of visibility caused by unintegrated systems, it was difficult for VMG staff to access live real-time information while out of the office. This proved a major drawback for a rapidly growing company, heavily dependent on their international sales team to generate and place orders from afar.
Plain sailing with a cloud solution
Howard George, General Manager of VMG says there are only about 10 major players in the high-end yachting apparel space worldwide. “We are part of an exclusive group. The rest are all based in the Mediterranean or in America - or both. So, there is nobody on this side of the world but us.”
While New Zealand’s yachting heritage is a marketing advantage to VMG, their geographical distance from most of their market is not. Being able to access their business systems remotely 24/7 is essential to further growth.
“One of the big drivers for our move to NetSuite is that it’s cloud-based,” said Howard. “We can access it from anywhere in the world. As an example, I’ve recently spent three weeks in the UK and did most of my job from there.”
Howard is a veteran of several ERP implementations, but NetSuite is the first true cloud business solution he’s worked with. Now he doubts he’d recommend implementing on-premise ERPs for companies who compete offshore “When you have an international business, being able to access your ERP system anywhere in the world is a very attractive proposition.”
...there was no way of running this business in the current climate without changing to a cloud-based system. NetSuite gives our agents in Europe direct access to our ERP system. This is a very real business benefit."
Howard George, General Manager, VMG
The importance of great team mates
The original VMG NetSuite implementation was done by a small local partner.
Fusion5 took over as support partner in 2014. They immediately set about improving the ways NetSuite matched the company’s processes, and delivered advanced training and support. The amount of buy-in and the rate of user adoption among VMG staff increased markedly under the new partnership.
“Fusion5 have been an excellent partner,” said Howard. “When I want to do something new and want to get feedback, they demonstrate very strong NetSuite know-how and expertise.”
Fusion5 have been an excellent partner. When I want to do something new and want to get feedback, they demonstrate very strong NetSuite know-how and expertise."
Staying in the race
The visibility of VMG's critical business information improved dramatically when they switched to running everything through NetSuite. User dashboards provide customised information, and additional training from Fusion5 means staff can now produce in-depth reporting with minimal effort or time.
Howard can’t imagine VMG competing effectively internationally without NetSuite. “From my perspective, there was no way of running this business in the current climate without changing to a cloud-based system. NetSuite gives our agents in Europe direct access to our ERP system. This is a very real business benefit. Controlling stock, sales order entry and having visibility of the management numbers are critical to our success.”
