Online food portal Just-Eat has signed an exclusive co-operative marketing agreement with Andromeda, the provider of the award-winning Rameses EPOS system.

The two companies will work together to offer restaurants a full service, from when a customer orders food from the Just-Eat website through to Andromeda’s in-store system, which controls the cooking, dispatching and delivery of the food to the customer’s door.

The organisations have integrated their systems so that web orders will automatically appear on the Rameses system in the restaurant.

David Buttress, Just-Eat UK’s managing director, said: “We have more than 3,000 restaurants online and are processing more than 35,000 meals every day. In Andromeda, we saw a company with the same commitment as ourselves to being constantly innovative and the best service provider in the market. With our new agreement, we can offer fantastic benefits to our customers, whether they are single operators or multi-unit chains.

“Andromeda also has an expanding European presence, offering even more areas for co-operation.”

Andromeda ceo Ben Portsmouth added: “We pride ourselves on providing the very best in-store system for delivery restaurants in the UK and Europe.

“We work with selected partners, and we saw that Just-Eat is the perfect online portal company to partner with.

“Our mutual clients will benefit from the additional revenue provided by Just-Eat, coupled with the best in-store system on the market to enable clients to run their businesses more efficiently, and to provide superior service to their own customers.”

Andromeda, with headquarters in London and offices in Dallas, Texas, claims to be Europe’s leading delivery EPOS provider.

Its Rameses delivery point-of-sale software is suitable for delivery, counter service and restaurant operators, including Papa John’s Pizza, Bombay Bicycle Club, Itsu Sushi and Lupa.

Just-Eat.co.uk, pictured below, was formed less than two years ago, and has already succeeded in gathering almost 1,000 takeaway restaurants in an online food ordering network.

MARCO PACKS A PUNCH

Marco will be demonstrating its capabilities in packhouse solutions at Fruit Logistica in Berlin next month. Already tried and tested by many leading UK and European fruit-packing companies, its TRAC-IT MES packhouse system provides comprehensive packaging and traceability technology for all types of soft and stone fruits.

The TRAC-IT MES is a blend of software and hardware modules, including conveyors, portion control scales, high-speed labellers, check weighers, metal detectors, packing tables and barcode scanners. The automatic optimisation software, developed by Marco specifically for this application, continually adjusts target weights based on real time pack weight trends and operator performance. This process is invisible to the operators, but dramatically reduces giveaway.

TIME FOR AN MOT

Software ag is calling for companies to MOT their business-critical operations, following research revealing that one in two UK companies admits they have problems with the majority of their critical business processes.

Software AG, Europe’s largest business infrastructure software company, asked 160 IT directors from a range of industries a series of questions, and found that 52 per cent admitted that more than half of their current strategic business processes could not be easily shared across the organisation. A further 27 per cent said that between 25 and 50 per cent of their critical business processes suffered in this way.

Customer service was most affected by this lack of transparency, as 47 per cent of those surveyed identified problems with processes specifically related to customers. Other respondents said that processes relating to day-to-day operations, such as cash-to-order activity and the supply chain, were not working effectively.

Software AG wants companies to perform a full MOT of their critical business processes and identify where and when processes stall or fail.

“As industries become increasingly competitive, the most successful companies do not just compete on the products they sell, but on how effectively they can run their business operations,” said Jim Close, senior vice-president and country manager (UK) of Software AG. “For example, poor customer service is all too often the result of out-of-date business rules and systems that support the customer processes.

“For me, this is a major indicator of a company’s long-term viability, to the extent that it should be considered a significant indicator for investors,” he added. “If a company cannot measure its business operations and adapt as the market changes, then will it survive? Investors should be asking their operational executives about the adaptability of their operations.”

AAW STARTS A RIOT

AAW Control Systems will be introducing the latest revision of its RIOT system, which aims to reduce a food processor’s carbon footprint, at EFI Food Processing & Packaging Show, Newark, on January 29-31.

This enhanced system allows food processors to quantify precisely the energy and natural resources used in their facilities, as well as monitor temperature and humidity, as the system now includes extensive power and flow measurement capabilities.

This capability combined in one system allows engineering to monitor their processing facilities for compliance with Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) legislation, but also to analyse how energy is used in their facility and thereby make decisions that will reduce their impact on the environment.

Increasingly, food processors must pay for the water going into their facilities and for the waste output from it. By using the AAW system, this can be accurately quantified, and processes improved. Refrigerant gases must now be accounted for, and any leakage reported. The AAW system allows these leaks to be recognised quickly, repaired and QA records raised. RIOT provides all benefits in one system, said AAW.

IT’S A KEY ELEMENT OF INTERNATIONAL GROWTH

In this month’s column, Anglia Business Solutions outlines how cross-border acquisitions can be challenging to manage, especially with regards to IT processes, and suggests how to implement changes in a way acceptable to all parties involved.

The spate of consolidation rippling through the fresh produce industry means that the sector is facing a new challenge. This concerns the alignment of systems and processes across international boundaries. The driver for this change is the need for many organisations in the supply chain to operate on an international scale, to guarantee supplies to the major retailers. Overseas acquisitions are becoming more common as a means of achieving this.

In such a scenario, it is not uncommon for the acquiring and acquired companies to operate with different IT solutions. In fact, it is the norm. This creates significant difficulties, as the two organisations struggle to merge to realise the commercial benefits of the enlarged operation. At top level, the people and cultures are different. From an operational viewpoint, the way in which they carry out their business processes will vary. A simple example will be the different way in which each organisation describes their products.

From an IT viewpoint, this situation creates significant difficulties. The ideal scenario is to implement the parent company’s IT system to run the merged operation. This would provide the company with a centralised view of all operations. The result would be to provide the management with a single version of the truth on what is happening with their products, customers and suppliers. However, there are many obstacles to be overcome prior to achieving this utopian scenario.

The first of these is how fit for purpose the acquiring company’s business management solution is in dealing with the merged international operation. Here, a robust, flexible, modern international system can be a real asset in achieving the desired outcome. On the other hand, if the core legacy application comes up short of the mark, it is unlikely that forcing the acquired company to adopt inferior technology will result in a satisfactory outcome.

Even if the acquiring company’s system is an all singing and dancing flexible international world-class application, there are still major issues to be overcome. Anglia is a shareholder of Partner Power International (PPI), and is the appointed UK sole representative. PPI is the world’s largest implementation partner of Microsoft’s flagship business management system, Dynamics NAV. Throughout this partnership, the two companies have successfully collaborated on a number of high-profile solution rollouts with major corporate clients.

Anglia recently held a Cambridge Network seminar on the topic of international deployments of business management solutions. The guest speaker was PPI vice-president Henning Lund, who provided the audience with an invaluable insight into the challenges posed by cross-border deployments. His view was that, while the rewards for success were impressive, the project should be approached with caution.

“International deployments can mean different things to different organisations” he explained. “This can vary from just operating with a common chart of accounts for reporting purposes, to fully integrated uniform work processes across all parts of the operation. However, the first lesson to be learnt is that the objectives are clear and unambiguous from the start. Furthermore, they should be communicated to all parties.”

Lund went on to highlight a number of potential pitfalls to be avoided. These included cultural and legal difficulties, working differentials, project methodologies, infrastructure technology, language difficulties and the big one - political issues. The last one involves the most careful handling, as changes in working practices are challenging at the best of times, but enforced changes by the new owners are usually quietly sabotaged.

Successful deployments, on the other hand, make a significant difference to the fortunes of the enlarged operation. A uniform, well-implemented business management solution can significantly improve efficiencies by providing access to relevant, shared, up-to-date information. It reduces communication breakdowns, and also means that people can easily move around within the organisation, thus providing additional career opportunities.

Moreover, it can provide management with an invaluable aid to competing in today’s global economy, using dynamic information.

This has been the experience of a number of international organisations that have used acquisitions as a strategy for achieving their global expansion ambitions. By standardising on a single technology platform base, they have been able to use IT to leverage their value proposition in their target markets. In addition, this strategy has provided the group with a centralised control mechanism.

The Microsoft Dynamics NAV platform has become the system of choice for many companies with such global ambitions. Used by more than 65,000 organisations worldwide, the application is deployed and supported in more than 150 countries by a partner community of 3,000 solution centres. However, selecting the correct platform is just the start of the process. Successful deployment across international boundaries will then need very careful management to engineer the desired result.

According to financial pundits, 70 per cent of acquisitions fail to realise intended shareholder value. With international acquisitions, the risks can be higher due to cultural and geographical factors. Attempting to achieve economies of scale across a disparate range of information systems just increases the risk factor. In the past, there were few options, as few software authors had the global reach required. This is no longer the case in today’s consolidating business management IT sector.

Details of PPI can be viewed at www.partnerpower.biz

SENS-ING THE HEAT

Montalbano technology (MT) has launched its digital Temperature Logger, which is able to monitor the exposure of perishable goods - including fresh fruit - to heat, sudden changes of temperature and humidity.

The Italian-made technology can also be used to monitor a product’s life cycle for retail trade, test and check its temperature and give it a valuable and reliable legal support for insurance companies in case of complaint.

MT sens is an RFID smart tag, a device the shape and size of a credit card, which can be applied to boxes and pallets of goods and allows the products to be quality monitored at every stage of the logistic chain. “It is a versatile and highly programmable tool, and can be re-used at different times during shipment,” said the firm.

“The tool has been certified by an SIT (Italian Calibration System) centre, and has been adopted by important operators in different sectors thanks to its simplicity and versatility, together with an efficient price/reliability ratio.”

MT sens is also easy to use, according to MT; at the end of the shipment, the data registered can be immediately read through a reader similar to the one used to read the barcodes or by palm-top computers. Furthermore, it can be automatically read even without being removed from the box or pallet to which it has been applied.

Montalbano Technology and general manager Daniele Grosso will be at Fruit Logistica to showcase MT sens to the international produce world.

HMRC GOES POD CRAZY

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has launched the latest in its series of podcasts for tax agents and businesses.

The first podcast was created for people who are setting up their own businesses or becoming self-employed for the first time. Packed full of useful information, the podcast gives a step-by-step guide to the listener, helping them get things right from the beginning.

In the second podcast, Dave Hartnett, HMRC’s acting chairman, answers a series of questions raised by tax agents at one of HMRC’s online workshops.

The podcasts can be downloaded from www.hmrc.gov.uk/podcasts