Cubix Latinamerica
With Head Office in Miami, Florida, US
Cubix was founded in Venezuela in August of 1990 as a business dedicated to distributing computer products. In 1993 Cubix expanded their operations to Miami and creating the Cubix Latin America LLC to guide and manage their operations in Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala and Colombia distributing brands such as Acer, AOC, APC, Apple, BenQ, D-Link, Genius, HP, Lenovo, LG, Linksys, Microsoft, PNY, Samsung, ScanDisk, SimpleTech, Sony, Targus, Toshiba and Triple-Lite. Currently Cubix is one of the leading computer technology dsitributors in the region with 280 employees in over six countries of North, Central and South America.
Before OnLineKit (OLK)
Before OnLineKit (OLK) Cubix only had sales people in two countries (Miami and Costa Rica) using SAP Business One. At the time they were rapidly expanding and wanted to implement SAP B1 in the rest of their offices, but after evaluating the cost of the SAP Business One licenses for all of their sales personnel, equipment required to run SAP B1, and VPN connections it was determined that they needed a less expensive way to work with SAP B1. Below are the responses of Ms. Carmen Navarro, the IS Manager of Cubix, to some of our inquiries regarding OLK.
How did Cubix sales team work before OLK and what were some of the problems and limitations you faced?
Before using OLK, the vendors were working without too much difficulty in SAP B1. The basic problem that we confronted was the high cost of SAP B1 licenses from having a high number of sales personnel and still being in the process of implementation while managing plans for geographic expansion in three cities with Sales Offices. The cost of the OLK licensing permitted that during this growth the area of IS did not factor in impacting the cost of opening new offices.
As a bonus, OLK demands less processing power and memory than the equipment used by SAP B1. OLK permits web access for sales agents to the system in a practical manner without big complications.
Did Cubix look for any other solutions before Choosing OLK? Which and why weren’t they chosen?
Actually we did not search for another solution before OLK; we contacted our SAP B1 provider who coordinated an OLK demonstration for the project management who quickly decided to acquire OLK based on its seller functionalities, the feasibility of its use for web sales, and price.
Was it hard to Cubix to decide on OLK?
Making the decision was simple; we evaluated the functionality with a demo confirming that OLK conformed to both our immediate and medium term requirements and after making the calculations in reduced costs decided to implement OLK almost immediately.
How did Cubix find the implementation time and cost?
The price looked affordable. Considering the functionalities given by OLK in relation to the price, the value is excellent. Besides that, vendors outside the office using SAP B1 would also need access to a VPN for which the web application considerably reduces the investment with very good results.
The time it took to implement OLK was considerably short; after gathering information in a lapse of about a week an internal demo was available for testing. Adjustments were made immediately and then the parameters were passed to the final database.
How have Cubix sales processes improved since OLK?
OLK had a major positive effect on vendors outside the office due to the ease of access to the system via web.
Has Cubix found in OLK all the functionalities they require; can they benefit in the future from those features which you do not use now?
OLK presents multiple functionalities we are currently using which are the base requirement of the company on a sales level. Right now we are working on a project to enable client functionalities so we may provide better services to them. The project consists of customizing our shopping site for the web using OLK so our clients have access to pricing inquiries, account statements, available inventory, order placement, and direct communication with our sales personnel. With this functionality we are providing our clientele the opportunity to access and interact with our system more directly, practically, and efficiently.
How has TopManage responded to Cubix needs over time using OLK, how is the support?
The support has been excellent, we had the help of TopManage for every step of the way, for both improvements in product features, and extreme cases when we have presented hardware level faults and had to restore the system completely, in that instance restoring the system to full operation in less than twelve hours which represented an important point in our sales service.
Does Cubix use any other solution from TopManage? Which and why?
In addition to OLK, Cubix uses Flute Player which allows us to maintain the inventory of 5 companies in different countries in total synchronization by simplifying the creation of products in the different systems and countries and achieving uniformity of information and product codes. We also use Flute Player to generate purchase and sales orders within the companies that comprise Cubix, in that way generating the legal documents necessary in both companies when they purchase merchandise from one another simplifying this work and consequently reducing the man hours required in the shopping area as well as minimizing human error.
Would Cubix recommend OLK to other businesses?
Without a doubt, I would recommend it. Using OLK in our company has meant better response times and ease of information management and consolidation by using only one system, such as SAP Business One as a platform that supports all our operations in six countries. Moreover it has entailed a significant cost reduction and simplified the expansion of our sales offices without a major impact on costs and implementation times.
And finally, in a few words, what is OLK to Cubix; how would Cubix describe it?
An easy to use and functional tool that significantly optimizes our sales processes besides maintaining the information integrated with SAP Business one for all other non-commercial transactions such as Accounting, Collection, and Administration all in one platform. OLK provides fast implementation and a major support for the growth of the company.
Summary
Cubix has used SAP B1 2005 since 2007 and decided to acquire OLK in 2008 based on their requirement of a secure, efficient, and affordable solution for their sales personnel. After one and a half weeks of implementation, eighteen sales persons in Cubix Colombia began using OLK; from seeing their success, Cubix Guatemala implemented OLK where thirteen sales personnel have been using OLK since. Following the implementation of Cubix Guatemala the Cubix Venezuela implementation of OLK began with 64 sales personnel throughout various cities. The most recent implementation of OLK was in the Cubix Panama office and required about forty hours to complete.
Cubix has employees accessing OLK simultaneously from different countries all over the Americas to create commercial documents and access Sales Reports, Customer Information, Inventory Details, and other information in real time via web. When Cubix' agents use OLK, they are confident that the information is accurate and up to date. OLK didn’t even have a hiccup when Cubix upgraded from SAP B1 2005 to SAP B1 2007. Cubix' experience with OLK clearly demonstrates the versatility, efficiency, robustness, and stability of OLK.
In addition to all of this Cubix is taking the next step, OLK access for clients. This project will soon offer Cubix' clients in Miami, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Venezuela the opportunity to create commercial documents and access information regarding inventory, account statements, customized reports, etc.
USA
