Management Center Türkiye Success Story

Management Center Türkiye (MCT) Achieves a First in Its Sector and Moves All of Its Processes to Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Management Center Türkiye, the official representative of Management Centre Europe — the largest and most comprehensive management development center in Europe — and also the head office for the four MEMC (Middle East Management Centre) offices in the Middle East and North Africa, runs its financial operations across all countries on Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Thanks to Microsoft Dynamics NAV’s multi-company, consolidation, and dimension-based analysis capabilities, MCT has also made it possible to easily monitor the financial performance of all countries both individually and on a consolidated basis. The detailed approval mechanisms developed also strengthened senior management’s ability to oversee business processes. MCT, which plans to roll out the CRM module of Microsoft Dynamics NAV in the near future, has also made its training programs accessible to customers through a SharePoint portal. As a result, information such as the names and number of people attending training sessions, which trainer will lead a given program, and the training topics can easily be tracked online.

Situation

Founded in Istanbul in 1992, Management Centre Türkiye (MCT) provides Turkish business with high-standard Management Development and Training Services. With an internationally established identity, MCT operates as the official representative of Management Centre Europe, the largest and most comprehensive management development center in Europe. MCT’s areas of expertise cover Company-Specific Training Consultancy, Organizational Development, and Human Resources Management Consultancy services. Aiming for a business life that leads rather than follows the global business world, MCT, with its broad range of services, is one of Turkey’s leading training and consultancy institutions. The organization offers Company-Specific Training and Consultancy Solutions and Executive Conferences with international participation, held both in Turkey and at major centers around the world. MCT is also the head office for the four MEMC (Middle East Management Centre) offices in the Middle East and North Africa. The organization runs 780 training programs and conferences each year, attended by a total of 18,000 executives. MCT’s consultants deliver training programs primarily in Turkey, as well as in the Middle East and the Turkic republics.

MCT, which was set to celebrate its 15th anniversary in 2007, decided — after years of success in the training and consultancy sector and the growth that came with it — that local packages or the eclectic solutions recommended by its head office abroad no longer met its needs. MCT Finance Director Erhan Feridun emphasizes that what they needed was a solution that would manage not just financial processes like accounting and finance, but all of their processes: “We set out to find an ERP solution that could manage all of our processes. The solution in question needed to be an ERP package suitable for mid-sized organizations like ours.”

Solution

Given the nature of the sector it serves, MCT believes in continuous learning and development. MCT Finance Director Erhan Feridun notes that the same perspective applies to the technology infrastructure of organizations, and that they realized, particularly after the door they opened with the transition to ERP, that they would move into a new dimension by tapping into the boundless possibilities of computer technology: “At first, organizations might think that making a certain technology investment — say, switching to an ERP system — will be the end of the matter. We know that technology never really ends, and that to make a difference in competition, we need to keep developing our technological infrastructure just as we develop ourselves. Among the software we examined, Microsoft Dynamics NAV opened up a new horizon for us. With Microsoft also announcing its new policy regarding its Dynamics products, we realized we would be able to serve our customers much better and work much more efficiently with our existing resources. This infrastructure will also be of great help to us in meeting our future expectations.”

Erhan Feridun explains that, alongside Microsoft Dynamics NAV, they plan to set up a SharePoint Portal to turn their knowledge base into something they can share with customers. Customers will gain access to an environment where they can find the information they’re looking for through a web-based infrastructure, and will be able to view training content and the trainings they have attended through the portal.

MCT Finance Director Erhan Feridun says that the next stage they plan to reach with Microsoft Dynamics NAV is being able to obtain online reports using the Microsoft Enterprise Reporting tool. MCT’s goal with Microsoft Dynamics NAV was to take the first step toward an infrastructure supported by a SharePoint portal, in which the 2007 Microsoft Office system and reporting tools would be integrated with this system, and through which internal users and international partners could connect online. Erhan Feridun therefore emphasizes that they are aiming for a long-term collaboration with Microsoft: “This is the kind of beginning where what we can do after reaching our current goals is limited only by our imagination. MCT sees Microsoft as a business partner it can walk this path together with.”

Why the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Solution?

Erhan Feridun states that Microsoft Dynamics NAV is unmatched in terms of the flexibility, adaptability to their own needs, and upgradeability it offers. Beyond its modular structure, the fact that it could be acquired piece by piece and easily customized was an important factor in their choice of Microsoft Dynamics NAV as their ERP package.

Microsoft also helped MCT find a solution partner to work with. After a series of meetings with Microsoft partner PargeSoft, the fact that the two organizations spoke the same language made it easier to correctly understand MCT’s expectations and clearly lay out what needed to be done. After a process of a few months, the project reached a stage where it could be implemented. New phases then emerged, as MCT’s expectations were also reshaped during this process. Erhan Feridun says: “Eager for new expectations, new requests, and new horizons, we knocked on PargeSoft’s door once again. After reorganizing certain things, we began working on another project whose effects would ripple outward like the waves from a thrown stone.”

At this stage, they are working to run Microsoft Dynamics NAV’s project module entirely together with a seminar module written by PargeSoft and a web-based user interface.

Erhan Feridun points out that their training content is entirely company-specific, and that they do not prepare open programs. Eighteen of the top 20 organizations are MCT customers, and these organizations are served directly. Once trainings are scheduled, information such as the names of attendees is entered by the companies themselves through the web-based user interface. The latest status of each training — such as who will attend, the location, the number of attendees, the trainer’s name, the content, and the topics — can be viewed online at any time. If desired, short video clips from a previous training can also be added to this section. As a result, it will be possible to make full use of all the possibilities technology offers in this area.

Benefits

In addition to being a training company, MCT also stands out for its consulting functions. As a result, project costs are very important to MCT. Erhan Feridun notes that being able to track his consultants’ project costs with Microsoft Dynamics NAV is extremely valuable for making financial decisions: “The factors that affect a project’s cost matter a great deal to us. Microsoft Dynamics NAV shows us the net profitability of a project. Based on that, we can make much more accurate decisions about how to proceed with it. Beyond that, our most important asset is our people, and we now feel completely at ease when it comes to managing our human resources and making the best use of them at the right place and the right time.”

Erhan Feridun says they plan to roll out the CRM module of Microsoft Dynamics NAV in the future as well, and that they expect to gain significant benefits in terms of customer satisfaction as a result: “Once we implement the CRM module too, we will essentially have completed the full picture. Setting customer relations aside, among the benefits we’ve gained over the past two years, I’d say we’ve gained the ability to clearly see exactly where we stand. Microsoft Dynamics NAV is the number one tool for resolving the kinds of issues any growing company might face, and it helps us a great deal in seeing our financial position. We’ve also gained significant benefits in reporting. For organizations like ours that consolidate several companies and business units on an international scale, Microsoft Dynamics NAV is tailor-made. It even comes with an additional consolidation package built in for exactly this purpose. Beyond that, having an international technology giant like Microsoft behind Microsoft Dynamics NAV matters a great deal. Being able to easily roll it out at our overseas offices gives us a major advantage.”

The move to Microsoft Dynamics NAV has brought MCT resource savings that are incomparable to the past. Because the optimal management of time, finances, and human resources is directly tied to costs, its impact on profitability is significant and creates an important competitive edge.

Customer Satisfaction. Erhan Feridun states that they are very pleased to be working with Microsoft and PargeSoft, and that they view their relationship with both organizations as a long-term business partnership: “Microsoft genuinely helped us during a difficult period. As an organization that does business with people, human relationships matter more than anything else to us. Seeing this same understanding in the experts at both Microsoft and PargeSoft made us feel secure. With complete sincerity, they helped make our lives easier. We have already begun working with them to continue down this road for our future projects as well. We see the Microsoft Dynamics NAV project as the beginning of a long-term collaboration.”