Download Barter Trader Integrates Barter Management and

Microsoft Business Solutions
Customer Solution Case Study
Barter Trader Integrates Barter Management
and Accounting Processes
Reduces operating costs by 40 percent
Overview
Country or Region: India
Industry: Professional Services
Customer Profile
Net4Barter, an Indian trade exchange firm,
facilitates trading transactions through a
member network. It also markets products
and services to its members, as well as
maintaining records and accounts, and
underwriting transactions.
Business Situation
With the absence of an integrated business
solution it was impossible to monitor and
manage the business efficiently.
Consequently, Net4Barter needed a
solution to manage the barter exchange
and monitor the transactions of each
member.
Solution
Net4Barter deployed Microsoft® Business
Solutions-Navision®, with the help of
Headstart Business Solutions, to manage
its commissions, barter balances, and
credit management processes.
Benefits
 Accurate barter statements.
 Barter transactions managed more
efficiently.
 Consolidated business processes
 Reduced operating costs by 40 percent
“Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision has provided
us excellent integration between our barter
transaction management and accounting.”
Rakesh Bhatnagar, Chief Executive Officer, Net4Barter
Net4Barter pioneered the Indian corporate barter industry, when it
commenced operations in June 2000. The company developed a
huge opportunity for barter transactions among Indian companies.
It enabled companies to buy products and services—without
spending cash— by paying in kind, which in turn can resolve their
excess stock problems.
The solution Net4Barter needed revolved around the creation of an
organized trade exchange at a national level which facilitates trade
among a network of companies.
The implementation of Microsoft® Business Solutions–Navision®
has helped Net4Barter to restructure business processes. It has
enabled the company to automate its bartering transaction
processes and also to integrate transaction workflow and
processes with accounting. The company is now competent to
maintain its barter balances and manage transaction status
updates in real time, which has helped the company to save as
much as 40 percent on operating costs.
Situation
Net4Barter is an Indian barter and trade
exchange where buyers and sellers can meet
and exchange their product and services, as
barter and cash transactions. Net4Barter
acts as an exchange and collects
commissions on the transactions.
A typical example of barter would be Dainik
Jagaran, India's most read daily newspaper.
Dainik Jagaran buys products for running
reader contests, incentives for distributors,
gifts for advertisers in its newspaper. It also
buys services such as conference facilities,
hotel rooms for internal consumption. All it
has to offer is advertising space which is
what it sells on a daily basis. It chooses
products and services from any of the
thousands of members of Net4barter and in
return offers similar value of advertising in
Dainik Jagaran.
It has built a strong base of loyal and
satisfied clients across a number of
industries over the years, which include well
known Indian and international companies
such as Business India, Business World,
Godrej, Grand Hyatt, Hindustan Times, Hotel
Radisson, Helene Curtis, MTV, Kinetic,
Sahara Airlines, Timex, Indian Express,
Britannia, Monte Carlo, Amar Ujala, Cadila
(EverYuth), Epson, Eureka Forbes, CavinKare,
G.M. Pens (Reynolds), Vijay Karnataka, Polar,
Nomarks, Nike, Oyzterbay, Symphony, and
Rasna.
With its corporate office in New Delhi, the
company has grown to an 80-member strong
team of sales and marketing professionals
over the last three years, with operations
across 14 locations in India including New
Delhi, Mumbai (Bombay), Bangalore, Chennai
(Madras), Kolkata (Calcutta), Chandigarh,
Ahmedabad, Cochin, and Hyderabad.
The company was using Tally, a financial
package by an Indian software company and
the Microsoft® Office Excel® spreadsheet
software for managing accounts.
Each member’s transactions were recorded
on Microsoft Office Excel to track their barter
balance. Net4Barter has to ensure that no
one company buys too much in comparison
to its sales. It is critical to monitor the
process of barter transactions and to ensure
that there are no violations in the nature of
exchange.
The challenge with such a process was that
the company was unable to track the
transactions effectively. The barter processes
could get skewed in favor of some customers
if not monitored closely, because it was
difficult to track the buying, selling, and
customer balances.
In addition, Net4Barter used to provide
statements to its members giving transaction
details of both the buying and selling. In the
future, it wanted this information to be
available in real time to its members as well
as to its employees so that it could check the
buy versus sell limits, and take corrective
steps.
The second issue that faced the organization
was billing its members for the services of the
exchange. Net4Barter charges a fee for each
transaction. This was managed using the
financial solution, Tally. There was a need to
provide a single solution that integrated the
sales, finance and barter balance all into a
single solution. Thereby, the company could
monitor each transaction at every stage of a
transaction. The company could then raise
invoices for the fee as soon as the
transaction is completed.
An efficient control and process monitoring
was required to create checks and balances
for healthy barter exchange.
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Rakesh Bhatnagar, Chief Executive Officer,
Net4Barter
Solution
The company evaluated several products,
including 3i’s Orion and Computer Associates
product ACCPAC.
“We chose Microsoft Business Solutions–
Navision® instead of the other products due
its flexibility, scalability, and the Microsoft
brand, which ensures that the product will
have longevity and a clear product plan,”
points out Manish Dutta, Chief Operating
Officer, Net4Barter.
Headstart Business Solutions, a Microsoft
Business Partner, customized Microsoft
Business Solutions–Navision to create a
bartering-focused solution that would
manage the needs of bartering transaction
accounting and also build a deal approval
and management process. The solution helps
in monitoring the transactions, acquiring
updated information on buyers and sellers,
applying set buying and selling limits, and
generating accurate transaction statements.
The company implemented the Microsoft
Navision modules for sales and receivables,
purchasing and accounts payable, fixed
assets, general ledger, inventory, human
resources, and payroll.
The sales and receivables module has helped
in generating updated bartering account
balances and to control receivables.
The purchasing and payables module is
integrated with sales and general ledger
modules.
The inventory module helps in working capital
management and also provides a virtual tool
for managing trade and logistics of the deals
in transit.
The payroll module is localized to scenarios in
India to include: employee details, wages,
reimbursements, wages in arrears, pension
fund, employees’ state insurance, tax
deductions, and tax planning for individual
employees.
The general ledger helps in managing
profitability statements, balances, and bank
details, and it provides a snapshot of the
entire client organizations' accounts. It also
helps in managing various reporting
requirements through accounting schedules.
“Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision has
provided us an excellent integration between
our barter transaction management and
accounting systems,” comments Rakesh
Bhatnagar, Chief Executive Officer,
Net4Barter.
Net4Barter is in the process of developing a
Web portal based on Microsoft ASP.NET for
the retail market. This will help the company
to manage the deals, create account
summaries for customers, and help in the
execution and logistics management of the
deal fulfillment for smaller retail outlets. The
portal will also have a product and services
catalogue, to offer customers the best deals
for them, and a range of barter business
opportunities. The portal will be integrated
with Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision
for the centralized master records on
customers, vendors, terms, balances,
accounting management and back-office
operations.
Benefits
“The Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision
has made the entire barter process simpler
and far more efficient.” notes Ashish
Chaturvedi, Head-Corporate Projects,
Net4Barter.
Provides Accurate Barter Statements
“The Microsoft Navision solution provides us
accurate account statements. The solution
also integrates transactions for all business
areas of a single client's organization, to
provide real-time, consolidated transaction
information for the entire company—and
makes it available online,” notes Rakesh
Bhatnagar, CEO, Net4Barter.
Manages Barter Transactions
Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision helps
monitor each deal. It also helps to build
checks and balances in the bartering
marketplace and make corrections in
policies, based on the information processed
at a consolidated level.
Consolidates Business Processes
The back-office operations are automated to
avoid re-entry and repetition of tasks, thereby
increasing productivity, managing operations
at multiple locations, and reducing
consumption of office supplies. And, in
addition, the back-office systems help
Net4Barter efficiently manage working capital
by providing accurate and timely accounts
receivable statements.
Reduce Operating Costs by 40 Percent
The company has been able to manage its
head count and make its staff more
productive. Earlier, Net4Barter had 13
employees managing the accounts for the
company. With the implementation of
Microsoft Business Solutions – Navision, this
has been reduced to seven employees.
About Headstart Business
Solutions Private Limited
Headstart Business Solutions is a Microsoft
Business Solutions Partner. Headstart has a
core team of people from multi domain with
qualitative and quantitative experience in the
areas of IT strategic and tactical operations
both at national and international arena.
Headstart offers IT and process related
services with an objective to leverage the
strengths of these individuals through forging
alliances with Microsoft Business Solutions
for ERP solutions successfully.
For More Information
Microsoft Business Solutions
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products and services, call the Microsoft
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Microsoft subsidiary. To access information
using the World Wide Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com
Microsoft Business Solutions offer integrated
business applications and services that allow
small and midsize organizations and divisions
of large enterprises to connect employees,
customers, and suppliers for improved
efficiency. The financial management,
customer relationship management, supply
chain management, and analytics
applications work with other Microsoft
software, including the Microsoft Office
System and the Windows® operating system,
to streamline processes across an entire
organization. This gives businesses insight to
respond rapidly, plan strategically, and
execute quickly. Microsoft Business Solutions
are delivered through a worldwide network of
channel partners that provide specialized
services and local support tailored to a
company’s needs.
For more information about HeadStart
Process Consulting Private Limited
products and services, call +91 11
29224244 or visit the Web site at:
www.headstartconsulting.com
For more information about Net4Barter
products and services, call +91-1129532963 or visit the Web site at:
www.net4barter.com
For more information about Microsoft
Business Solutions, go to:
www.microsoft.com/businesssolutions
Software and Services
© 2003 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved. This case study is for informational
purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft,
Excel, Navision, Windows, the Windows logo, Windows
Server, and Windows Server System are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation,
Microsoft Business Solutions ApS, or FRx Software
Corporation or their affiliates in the United States and/or
other countries. Microsoft Business Solutions ApS and FRx
Software Corporation are subsidiaries of Microsoft
Corporation.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned
herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Document published December 2005
Hardware
Microsoft Windows Server System™
 Hewlett Packard desktops Pentium III and
− Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003
IV, 256-megabyte RAM, 80-gigabytes Hard
Standard Edition
Disk Drive
 Microsoft Business Solutions
− Microsoft Business Solutions–Navision
