Case Study: Taj Holding

Taj Holding is an investment company based in Saudi and holds 19 companies across multiple sectors in different countries within the MENA region. Being a growth-oriented investment and holding group, it is consistently expanding in terms of industries and headcounts. At present, Taj operating firms have a total of 900 employees operating in industries like O&M, manufacturing, logistics, engineering, transportation and healthcare, architecture, retail, design and branding, F&B, etc. Taj looks forward to deploying a comprehensive ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system like Microsoft Dynamics 365 to support its vision of sustainable growth through integrated diversification. The need seems apparent with the company’s growth and increased stress in its house company – Nucorp.  

Nucorp provides shared services to all Taj operating firms and believes they can balance the load with a modern comprehensive ERP System. One of their companies, BESIDE, was already using an ERP solution tailored to their needs. However, they were using the older ERP version.  

After thorough research, Taj decided to implement Microsoft Dynamics 365 in all of its companies and contacted Trident Information Systems to support them further. Our experts analyzed the business challenges and requirements to customize a perfect ERP solution. 

Business Challenges  

Due to increasing business size and headcounts, the business faced operational difficulties including: 

• Inefficient finance and accounting management systems wouldn’t maintain accurate cash flow. 
• The inability to handle increasing headcount efficiently caused tension and payroll issues.  
• Difficulty in managing different warehouses, sites, and offices caused poor decision-making and delayed communication. 
• Lack of flexibility in their current business management system would not support business growth.  
• Poor scalability options for their constantly growing business caused business disruptions.  
• Disparate systems caused a delay in operations, loss of data, and stress among the management. 
• Poor workflow management due to lack of transparency, poor reporting, and inefficient cash flow management.  

Business Requirements 

Taj Holding believes a comprehensive ERP system can resolve all their challenges and provide much-needed flexibility and scalability. Their ideal customized ERP must include the following features:  

• Core Finance and Accounting Module for their growing business.  
• Human resource management module to manage 900 employees. 
• The capability of supporting the future deployment of the business. 
• Integration of other modules to meet specific needs of Taj operating companies.  
• Integrated business processes within the organization and improved coordination among different departments.  
• Automation of key back-end processes.  
• Greater control and efficiency in manufacturing, trade, distribution, contracting, retail, and warehouse and inventory management optimization.  
• Detailed reporting on customers, sales, and inventory.  
• Integrated finance to optimize end-to-end back-office operations.  

Solution by Trident Information Systems –  

After analyzing and reviewing the overall challenges of Taj Holding, Trident proposed the given products for managing operations on one technology platform to get seamless integration among different entities, functions, and to have a single source of truth. We offered them two Microsoft Dynamics 365 products:  

Product 1: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations  

Product 2: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central  

Taj Holding’s business functions and requirements are grouped as follows:  

• A single platform to handle all the operations of diversified business entities.  
• Central server at head office to integrate seamlessly with all systems at different sites, warehouses, and offices. They can save cost and time with easier administration and maintenance jobs.  
• Centralized masters (stock items, suppliers, customers, price lists, etc.) 
• Real-time and accurate data analysis for more logical decision-making.  
• Workflow and Management Authorization setup throughout all locations and business processes. 
• A robust backend system on which the rest of the system can reside giving a single operating environment and seamless integration along with state-of-the-art backend ERP functionalities.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operation is cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning software, well suited for large-scale or diversified businesses. It allows you to track all your finance and inventory. Some of its specifications are given below:  

Capabilities: Unified global financials and operations to facilitate more informed and suitable decision-making. It has advanced capabilities across manufacturing, finance, supply chain, and operations. In addition to it, it has extra capabilities in HR, sales, projects, and customer services through a wider Dynamic 365 range with a full D365 plan.  

Analytics: With embedded Power BI (Business Intelligence), it provides rich analytics and reporting functionalities. 

Number of Users: It must have a minimum of 20 users.  

Ideal Organization Size: Organizations with over 200 workers must use Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations.  

HR, Payroll, and Administration: HR solutions like (Recruitment, talent acquisition, retention, training management, and performance management) are available out of the box. Payroll is the third-party ISV solution developed and designed on D365 Finance and operations. 

Core Finance and Accounting Module: It has advanced capabilities around logistics handling.  

Retail Management: Allows handling retail management out of the box. 

Manufacturing, Material, and Production Planning: It has advanced capabilities in Manufacturing (Product Lifecycle Management, Complex and Agile Manufacturing Support, Complex MRP (Material Requirement Planning) and MPS (Mass Production Schedule) Support, Highly Scalable solution)

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central  

Microsoft Dynamics Business Central is cloud-based, all-inclusive management software that allows customers to upgrade from their legacy ERP to a single, comprehensive solution. It managed finances, operations, sales, and customer services. It has a variety of specifications, which may include: 

Capabilities: It grows past your basic accounting software and integrates your business to aid more logical decisions.  

Analytics: BI tools including reporting, dashboards, and ad havoc analysis.  

Users: Even one user can use this system. 

Organization Size: Organizations with 50-200 employees can opt for this software.  

Payroll and Administration Specifications: Complete HR and payroll solutions will be third-party ISV solutions designed and developed on Dynamics 365 Business Central.  

Core Finance and Accounting Module: Business Central meets the requirements of Taj Holdings as per the current scope.  

Logistics, Inventory, and Product Management: Extensive logistics capabilities can be deployed with the Trident ISV logistics solution. Business Central meets the requirements of Taj Holding as per the currency scope.  

Retail Management: Advanced capabilities in handling retail and F&B solutions using LS Retail. As of today, combined solutions of Business Central + LS Retail called LS Central are not available in the GCC Region and might take 2-3 months. 

Manufacturing and Material & Production Planning: Business Central fulfils the current requirements of Taj Holding.  

How did Taj Holding Benefit from Microsoft Dynamics 365? 

Microsoft Dynamics 365, being a comprehensive ERP solution for SMBs and enterprises, empowered Taj Holdings to work effectively, manage change and compete globally. It made it easier to supervise all the businesses located in different countries. Some of the other benefits Taj Holding witnessed are as follows:  

Increased Productivity: With familiar, easy-to-use tools, role-tailored information, and task-enabled personnel to work faster and make smarter decisions.  

Managed Changed and Growth: Scaling became easier with a single ERP solution which supported their strategic initiatives and helped them manage the marketplace, like new product launches, mergers, and acquisitions.  

Global Competitive Edge: With a single ERP Solution, they could successfully manage the complexities of global organizations. It also helped them standardize processes and gain visibility across all their organizations while keeping on top of changes in local regulations.  

Simplified Compliance: Microsoft Dynamics 365 helped them comply with global regulations and reduced the risks and liabilities associated with corporate governance and customer initiatives.  

Automation with Cloud: Cloud infrastructure automated software deployment and provisioning, operational monitoring and reporting, as well as seamless lifecycle management.  

Different Microsoft Services: Dynamics 365 uses several Microsoft services to enable a “One Microsoft” solution where Taj Holding can manage a single sign-in, subscription management, and billing relationship with Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Office 365, and other online services. 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 uses various features of the Azure platform such as Microsoft Azure Storage, monitoring, networking, and SQL Azure. This ERP Solution benefited Taj Holdings Tremendously. They could now scale easily and leverage the many benefits of Microsoft services. Since there are 19 different companies under them from different industries located in different countries, D365 made regulatory compliance easier for them. If you want to streamline your operations like Taj Holdings, you can Contact Trident Information Systems, a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Gold Implementation Partner.