29th April 2020 | 4 min read

Time for change

Sage 200 set to revolutionise seafood business

Based in Grimsby, Northcoast Seafoods supplies frozen foods to both Retail, Foodservice and B2B customers. We spoke to Managing and Finance Director Adrian Crookes, about the recent decision to move to Sage 200.

• Making the move away from manual processes

The business turns over upwards of £100 million a year, yet Adrian was surprised to learn that the organisation was still using limited systems when he joined in July 2019. “Everything until now has been on Sage 50, Excel or paper, providing the management team very little insight into business performance.”

The team had been using Sage 50 which was no longer fit for purpose given the size and scale of their operations. Adrian is confident however that by guiding the business toward a new system, the benefits will be obvious to all.

• Selling the benefits of a new system

Northcoast Seafoods is heading toward double digit % year on year growth this year, and Adrian is keen to progress towards a new ERP system. Having worked with Sage products before, he trusts Sage’s reputation in finance and ERP. However, selling in a new system to the business hasn’t been without challenges, and compromises.

“Moving to a new system is an upheaval for everyone, not to mention a big financial decision.”

Moving from manual systems is going to make obvious efficiency savings but for Adrian, increased accuracy is what’s really valuable to him. “Since we hold so much stock, features like barcode scanning are going to make a huge impact on stock accuracy. Currently our monthly accounts process is slow and inaccurate and time is wasted checking these numbers to get a clear picture of our stock position.”

• And now for implementation

The implementation process is now due to start and Adrian has been continuing to work with the Datel team via teleconferencing due to the recent government lockdown measures.

Right now, the priority is on mapping out the process from his end so the Sage 200 solution can be built for the business, and Adrian is keen to get it right.

“I’m going to be leading the implementation of the project, some of my team haven’t worked with an ERP system before I want to support them as much as possible. It can be challenging doing your day job while moving systems but I’m really excited to get the project underway.”