Oracle Cloud helps a2 Milk streamline finance operations
Sydney-based milk pioneer pulls together previously siloed data and standardizes back-end processes, letting it operate as one global company.
“Oracle gives us improved and more timely information. It has really changed the way we work and is making our processes more efficient.”
Business challenges
Founded in New Zealand in 2000 by scientist Dr. Corrie McLachlan and his business partner Howard Paterson, a2 offers milk from cows that produce only the A2 protein type, which studies have shown digests more easily than milk that contains the A1 type.
Apart from liquid milk, the company’s other major business areas comprise infant nutrition and adult nutritional products. The company operates in New Zealand, Australia, USA, Canada, and China (its largest market).
The company had experienced rapid growth across geographies, with different types of data reporting and local country processes across its various geographies.
Local business entities relied on a patchwork of customized software to manage their discrete financial, manufacturing, and other back-end processes. The finance operations relied on Excel spreadsheets and older ERP applications that required increased maintenance and support costs. The a2 Milk Company realized that getting the entire organization onto a common platform was key to the growth of the business. It decided to adopt Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP, Oracle Cloud EPM, and Oracle Cloud SCM.
We chose Oracle Cloud because it is an enterprise-ready, enterprise-grade, cloud-based solution.
Why The a2 Milk Company Chose Oracle
The company chose Oracle Cloud solutions because of their enterprise-grade architecture, quarterly releases of the latest functionality, and standardized processes to support its operations worldwide.
Oracle’s willingness to provide access to senior executives—to ensure minimum disruption and faster implementation—was another reason a2 Milk chose Oracle. The company is vigilant about risks associated with cybersecurity. Oracle’s promise of robust security gave the company the confidence to select Oracle Cloud.
Results
With Oracle Cloud ERP, the company has standardized accounts payable, accounts receivable, general ledger, cash, and collections management processes across the globe, leading to faster invoice processing and freeing precious resources.
Oracle Cloud SCM has helped the operation standardize its procurement, inventory management, order management, and manufacturing processes, resulting in an efficient procure-to-pay and order-to-cash process that allows the company to react quickly to changes in the industry.
Oracle Cloud EPM’s financial consolidation module helps a2 Milk close its books faster and access timely, consistent, and accurate financial information. The company expects to cut the time taken to complete the quarterly close from nine days to four days in the near future.
Overall, Oracle Cloud applications have streamlined a2 Milk’s operations, led to better controls, and achieved significant improvements in efficiency, visibility, agility, and the ability to turn information into actionable insights quickly to support the business.
Partners
The a2 Milk company partnered with Evosys for the implementation.