Invenio Customer Success Story: the Standard Media Group

CIOReview Team | Friday, 16 October 2015, 10:12 IST

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Company The Standard Group is the oldest diversified Media Company in Kenya that was established in 1902. It operates under the name, The Standard Group Limited and is headquartered in the Nation’s Capital, Nairobi. It is acknowledged and respected as the leading multi-media house in Kenya with a growing influence on matters of national and international interest. The Group is an undisputed house of talents with the majority of the country’s journalistic talent- both print and electronic - starting their career at the Standard. Its journalists have won countless international and local awards, a proof that the Group is indeed a center of journalistic excellence.

It is involved in publication, printing and distribution of newspapers and magazines; electronic broadcast which comprises of radio and television and also runs internet portal and outdoor services. The group’s portfolio includes a daily and weekly publication: The Standard Newspaper, which is the oldest newspaper in East Africa and has unrivalled history dating back to the pre-Independence era and The Nairobian, a revolutionary print product which has seen double digit growth since its launch. The electronic broadcast Services consist of; Kenya Television Network Home (KTN), Kenya Television Network News (KTN NEWS) a 24hr news channel and Radio Maisha. It also runs a Publishers Distribution Services (PDS), Think Outdoor – billboard services and the Standard Digital, the number 1 news media website in the country.

The Business Challenge

Their journey began in 2013 when The Standard Media Group (TSMG) management made a decision to automate the business, since value was getting lost in multiple areas of the business. TSMG Management were unable to get a clear view on how the organisation was performing, information continued to be late and lacked accurate detail in the critical decision making process

TSMG wanted to move from an almost manually operated system to a highly automated and integrated organisation using SAP ERP and SAP IS Media.

The major business challenges identified included:

·Visibility of the business- there was no visibility about the sales and returns at different branches and the overall organisation had difficulty understanding the performance of all locations.

·Manual approval - approvals were paper based and there was no control to validate discounts.

·Losses from leakages and fraud- controlling the revenue leakages and fraudulent activity from internal and external customers.

TSMG quote

“Invenio is a proven specialist in the media industry and they demonstrated this with multiple workshops and client site visits. We were satisfied that Invenio knew how to modernise our media group. They certainly weren’t the cheapest but the results have vindicated our decision.”

The Standard Media Group

The Solution The decision was taken that TSMG would use SAP as their integrated solution. The project was kicked off in 2014 with Invenio as the key lead implementation partner. After 6 months and countless man hours from a dedicated project team, TSMG have implemented several SAP modules under the first ERP phase which went live in January 2015.

Business Benefits The implementation was part of a phased approach within a short six month timeline, but there have already been many benefits realised in first phase:

·TSMG have managed to control major revenue leakages by streamlining the sales and returns processes there by improving cash collection.

·Better visibility of transactions and operations to management.

·Centralised management of customer/vendor master data information across lines of business helps them to focus on customer service.

·Reduced returns from the customers and helps to increase the sales through an integrated sales planning processes at customer level, regional level and branch level helping TSMG to produce and sell the optimum newspaper quantity.

·Real time analysis helps in advanced sales forecasting to target specific regions, focused customer groups and adapt market strategy accordingly.

·Efficiency across the departments through transparency and integration between different business units.

·Better control through a single customer account and provides 360 degree view of the customers.

·Paperless workflow approval processes which are measureable and traceable.

Results One year later and with two phases implemented, (SAP ERP and SAP IS Media) TSMG managed to re-write the script. It was not easy; neither was it happenstance. It was the result of the following:

·A committed and fully engaged management team.

·A committed and experienced implementation partner.

·A motivated and tireless project team.

·Belief in only one possible outcome – a successful implementation.

“Of course, the scale of the project and the constrained timelines meant that many doubted the ability of the entire team to deliver a successful go-live! Only one word comes to mind; BELIEVE!”

- Orlando Lyomu,

Finance Director, TSMG

Why Invenio

 The Standard Media Group was keen to work with an entity that had proven experience as an implementation partner in not only SAP ERP but also IS Media, experience that seemed difficult to find in one partner. With in-depth knowledge in the media industry, Invenio provided a solution across all lines of business, through both a standardised and customised solution. This suited TSMG’s needs without overshooting budgets and within the agreed timelines.

“This was a significant transition for our business. When we selected Invenio Solutions, our primary goal for our partnership was to switch from an ineffective, manual operated system to an automated and integrated system to improve efficiency and accuracy across the group. This was made possible through having a committed and experienced partner who has an expert team available 24/7.” said Orlando Lyomu, Finance Director of TSMG

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