Simplifying ERP Integration with Abel Software

Key insights:

• Strategic partnership: Abel Software and Crossfire partner to provide a flexible ERP solution combined with a fully-managed integration layer for mid-sized enterprises.

• Efficiency gains: Integration automates repetitive tasks like order creation, shipment tracking, and invoice generation, removing the "manual bottleneck" for Abel users.

• Speed to market: The collaboration allows for rapid technical changes; for example, reformatting a customer's specific EDI requirements can be done in days rather than weeks.

• Competitive edge: Automating data flow between Abel ERP and 3PLs, customers, or suppliers reduces errors and ensures businesses can meet the real-time demands of an interconnected market.

Sometimes, the one thing missing is connection. For over 25 years, Abel Software has provided a flexible and affordable ERP system that helps deliver efficiencies across their customers’ businesses. Purpose-built for mid-sized enterprises, Abel has been designed to help businesses grow. 

Meeting the needs of the mid-market

Abel Software’s customers come from all ends of the business landscape, making adaptability a crucial ingredient for success. As Jay Marshall, ERP Consultant at Abel Software, explains, "We have a wide range of customers across the world, and we need to be able to tailor a system to suit their specific needs — whether it's a finance company or a manufacturer of computers or a maker of mince pies."

Offering a flexible ERP system, however, is only one part of the equation. The challenge for many of Abel’s clients is that they also need an efficient way to shuttle the data between their systems and those of their customers, suppliers and other trading partners. Without that channel, they have to rely on manual processes, restricting their ability to work with speed and accuracy. 

This is where Crossfire comes in. 

Integration: The modern version of connectivity

Crossfire’s fully-managed integration service is the conduit linking Abel ERP with all of their customers’ external systems and those of their trading partners. 

Marshall summarises some of the key advantages of the Abel-Crossfire partnership for their customers: “I think the benefits are two-fold. First, not only do they get a more streamlined interaction with Abel, but secondly, the whole process occurs behind the scenes. They don’t have to worry about it. The improvements just happen.”  

There are a number of real-world examples highlighting the tangible benefits of integration, including: 

• Automated order creation
• Real-time shipment tracking 
• Data synchronisation between systems
• Instant invoice generation
• Dynamic customer update notifications

Essentially, the integrations automatically deliver the information/data to the people who need it, in the systems and formats they can most easily work with. 

Too often, many of Abel’s customers find that their staff are bogged down in the repetitive, time-consuming activities of locating and reformatting information and data between systems. Utilising Crossfire’s increased connectivity capabilities, Abel can help eliminate the bulk of these frustrating tasks.

Collaboration is key

Recognising the diverse integration needs of their customers, Abel Software had two specific requirements for selecting an integration partner:

1. They needed a reliable integration service that would simplify the connection process between their customers’ systems and their customers’ partner systems. 
2. They wanted an integration partner who had the adaptability to implement the requirements that Abel and their customers needed (as opposed to an implementation service that would require Abel to change the way that their system worked). 

Marshall highlights the importance of having a collaborative and flexible integration partner that can quickly implement changes: “We had one customer where we needed to make some changes to the format that their end customer required. After describing the issue to Crossfire they were able to implement the changes within a couple of days. We also had another customer with a different integration provider that we were working with and for them to work through the exact same process took about three weeks.”

This close relationship has allowed Abel and Crossfire to quickly implement solutions as new requirements arise. 

Gaining a competitive edge

With the world even more interconnected than ever, integration is essential for businesses to stay competitive. "Everything's electronic, everything's online, and in order to meet the demands of the market our customers realise that they actually have to move quite quickly," says Jane Mattsen, Business Manager and Executive Director at Abel Software. "Working with Crossfire helps us do that for our customers."

Ultimately, Abel measures their success by the satisfaction of their customers. Jane adds, “The implementations that we have done with Crossfire have been very beneficial to our customers. It saves them time. It saves them money. They’ve eliminated mistakes because everything is automated. Orders come in, they go out, stock gets delivered and their own customers are happy. This is what pleases me the most. We're helping solve our customers' problems.” 

To find out more about how Crossfire can help your business gain a competitive advantage through integration, talk to the Crossfire team.