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Maintaining healthy cholesterol levels
can be vital to living a long and healthy
life. The search for the perfect combination
has usually been a balance of eating wisely,
watching fat intake, and exercise.
Capitalizing on the growing healthy
lifestyle trend is Bionutrics, a
biopharmaceutical company in Phoenix, Ariz.
Its products are sold in 35,000 stores,
including major retailers such as Walgreen,
CVS, GNC and Wal-Mart.
The company's first product is a dietary
supplement called evolvE™, with the patented
P25 tocotrienol complex Clearesterol™. The
get cap maintains cardiovascular health by
helping to lower cholesterol and also acts
as a powerful antioxidant.
Bionutrics has an impressive board of
directors and scientists supporting the
manufacture and development of its products.
The board includes C. Everett Koop, the
former US Surgeon General; Winston Salser,
Ph.D., a professor of Molecular Biology at
UCLA and the founding president of Amgen,
Inc.; Milton Okin, the creator of Weight
Watchers low calorie foods; William M.
McCormick, the former president of American
Express' Travel Related Services Company;
and Ronald Howard Lane, Ph.D., Chairman and
C.E.0 of Bionutrics.
Introducing a new product, bringing the
company up to SEC reporting standards
(NASDAQ: BNRX) and providing detailed
information to manage six operating
companies are challenging assignments for
any individual. But for George Duck,
executive vice president and chief financial
officer, it was similar to starting a new
health regime after the Christmas holidays:
you know you've got to do it but it was all
the more difficult because Bionutrics was
running a completely manual system for its
financials.
The Team
One of the first things Duck did was to
call on Deloitte & Touche LLP, a Big Six
accounting and management consulting firm,
to coach him through the selection process.
Duck was very specific in what he wanted: a
software solution that did the basics of
general ledger, and went beyond that to help
him manage all aspects of a growing
business. This is especially important
because Bionutrics is a total of six
companies: research and development,
manufacturing, health products, marketing
and distribution, international and the
parent company.
Bionutrics, due to the enormous number of
retailers that carry its products, wanted to
be sure the software solution could take
orders electronically. Duck also wanted
discrete security levels so he could give
salespeople, order entry staff and inventory
personnel selective access to certain
modules in the software.
"I wanted something that had a lot of
flexibility, was easy-to-use, and could grow
with the company," Duck said. "I didn't want
to worry that we would max out the ability
of the system in a couple of years."
In addition, Duck needed a solution that
didn't require hiring information systems
staff to support it. Bionutrics doesn't have
a single IS person - that's right, zero,
nada, not one.
The Playbook
The Answer Company (formerly Bing &
Associates, Inc.), a Navision Solution
Center located in Scottsdale, came in the
game with the right strategy. According to
Duck, Andrew Bing and his team "brought a
lot to the table. Andrew is very savvy, very
much a business person with good ideas and
solutions."
In about six weeks, Bing and his
associates customized Navision Financials, a
client/server software system from Navision
Software, to the unique needs of Bionutrics
and went live with the product nearly a year
ago. "it was not as hard as I thought it
would be," Duck said. "Andrew Bing was
really enthusiastic, and he did what he said
he could do.
"The budgeting and forecasting in
Navision Financials are set up very nicely.
I have the ability to manage a lot of
information with a few keystrokes. I felt
like I got a big system for a medium price."
Bionutrics uses Navision Financials to
track its product all the way from raw
materials to the sale and delivery of
finished goods. Navision Financials
automatically handles the inter-company
account transfers and cuts a check to the
appropriate corporation.
Salespersons are already using Navision
Financials for electronic order creation and
invoicing, as well as the recording of
discounts. Eventually the warehouse will
pick orders through EDI transfer of sales
and shipping information. Currently it's
handled though a faxed-based system, but as
the sales process gets more automated, it
will become completely paperless.
"This spreads the responsibility for the
information to all the people involved,"
Duck said. In return, management and sales
get a powerful system that enables them to
review information by individual customers,
by retail chain and by each salesperson.
This has been a powerful tool that everyone
can appreciate.
"We are creating products and a company
at the same time. Every time we go to
Navision, we are able to make the software
fit the business and not the other way
around. It Seems Navision put more thought
into its product than the other vendors I've
seen.'
In fact, Duck said that he is "hard
pressed to find a major criticism (of
Navision Financials.) I'm very satisfied."
Like most Navision customers, Duck is
satisfied because of the flexibility of the
solution, its affordability, and the ability
to completely customize the solution. Those
benefits are a result of Navision's unique
approach to the development of its product.
The result is why Navision Software is so
successful -clients get exactly what they
need.
Navision Financials is sold through a
worldwide network of Navision Solution
Centers staffed with certified professionals
dedicated to providing customized solutions,
training, support and service. There are
more than 8oo Navision Solution Centers
worldwide. Pricing for Navision Software's
products is based on a scalable, usage-based
model that enables customers to purchase
only the features and system capacity they
actually use. The Navision Software
solutions are built and sold to meet
individual clients' needs through "granules"
(macro and micro functions).
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