Dataflow - Press Releases

 

PRESS RELEASE: 1st August 2001

Europe's PCB leader bases financial operations on dataflow~32

Isola, Europe's leading manufacturer of base materials for Printed Circuit Boards, chose a dataflow~32 accounting system from Dataflow UK Ltd over rival products to provide tight financial control and support for its move into e-Commerce. Based in Cumbernauld, Scotland, and with offices in Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland and the USA, Isola has a world-wide customer base and an annual UK turnover of £50M

Originally a Sage customer, Isola used Dataflow's DOS-based software, dBFLEX, successfully for six years before seeking a Windows® based replacement. Recalling the search, Colin Smithson, Financial Controller at Isola, says, "We investigated all the main players, including the traditional market leaders Sage and Pegasus. After lengthy research of the market, we found that dataflow~32 best met all our requirements. It stood out from the rest in its functionality and flexibility for present and future needs."

He continues, "A number of features differentiated dataflow~32 from the competition. For example, we were particularly impressed with the ease with which data could be manipulated and integrated with our bespoke production package that generates all our sales invoices. Being a true 32-bit Windows product, it is also very easy to use. Many of the systems we checked out were old technologies with a Windows look and feel bolted on. They lacked the power and flexibility of an end-to-end Windows solution."

Extensive support from Dataflow was an important factor in the purchasing decision. Colin Smithson emphasises, "Strong back up is as important as the product itself and having dealt with Dataflow in the past we knew they would be highly responsive to our needs."

The installation of the 10-user dataflow~32 system at Cumbernauld took place in January 1999. The change over was painless and automatic. The Isola accounts department now runs dataflow~32 Sales Processing, Nominal Ledger, Purchase Order Processing and Stock Control modules, all of which seamlessly integrate with Isola's the in-house manufacturing management system.

Colin Smithson's confidence in the ability of Dataflow to provide the necessary support has proved well founded. He explains, "In a month when we had 7,500 sales invoices and 1,000 purchase orders, the system began to slow down. Dataflow reacted very quickly and the problem was solved. It turned out to be a minor data-indexing problem and the software now deals quickly with that sort of volume."

Isola has been particularly impressed with dataflow~32's simple drag-and-drop transference to and from Excel spreadsheets, a time-saving function of the system that is in constant use. Another benefit is that at period end, closing down through dataflow~32 can be done in seconds. "With some of the other systems that we looked at it would have taken up to a day to do this," says Colin Smithson. "With dataflow~32, you just point and click and it's done."

With dataflow~32 well established at the Cumbernauld plant, a five-user system at a subsidiary in the Philippines is now being rolled out. Isola also plans to further exploit the power of dataflow~32 by integrating the system directly with its e-Commerce system and its Extranet, a recent award winner at the prestigious Winners at the Web awards.

For more information, contact Sales at Dataflow UK Ltd:
Tel: 01784-454171
e-mail sales@dataflow.co.uk
www.dataflow.co.uk

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Notes for editors

About Isola

Isola was founded in 1912, shortly after the invention of Bakelite and has since then been a pioneer in the field of laminate technology. Its Cumbernauld plant employs 415 staff and has a 10,000 square metre production area. The company's manufacturing activities comprise materials for the production of printed circuit boards (PCBs), industrial laminated plastics, moulded articles made of thermosetting materials and high-performance composite materials.

About Dataflow UK Ltd and dataflow~32

dataflow~32 for Windows 95/98 and NT environments, supports Microsoft SQL Server and is scalable from 1 to over 200 users. For international companies such as Isola, dataflow~32 provides not only euro compliance but full multiple base currency support. This allows sales and purchases to be posted in any currency and also enables accounting and reporting in any number of base currencies simultaneously.

Dataflow's early success was founded on the popular dBFLEX accounting system and the more recently released dataflow-32 suite of software is recognised as one of the most powerful new generation 32-bit solutions. Dataflow systems are installed in over a thousand sites worldwide, including Chamber of Shipping, De la Rue, Transoft, Advanced Digital, Thomas International, Institute of Chemical Engineers, Agricultural Mortgage Corporation and the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Society.