Luba Freeport has implemented the Finance and Distribution modules of the Sage X3 business management solution to automate its business processes across finance and operations. Sage X3 business partner Synergy Group is serving as the consulting, implementation and support partner for the project.

Luba Freeport is a logistics centre for the burgeoning oil and gas industries in the Gulf of Guinea. This natural port is situated in a large secluded bay on the southern side of Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea. It is a joint venture between Government and Lonrho.

The company relied heavily in the past on manual business processes, an approach that was becoming increasingly unviable for the growing traffic passing through the deep water port. These paper-based processes were inefficient, expensive, slow and prone to human-error. 

For that reason, the company decided to put in place a business management solution that would help it to better track the services it delivered to clients; invoice them in an automated, electronic process; and gain more visibility into and control over its operations.

Luba chose Sage X3 because it offered the best-fit for its business in terms of price, performance and functionality. It also selected Sage X3 based on its flexibility and its proven success in other logistic environments.

Less prone to human error

Today, Luba Freeport benefits from a high level of automation across its business. It is now able to capture sales orders, produce invoices, track client service delivery, and manage workflow approvals in an electronic process that is faster, smoother and less prone to human error than the manual processes used in the past.

Sage X3 is delivering especially important advantages for Luba Freeport when it comes to invoicing. Luba can now create invoices from sales sheets rather than capturing data manually. The business management solution makes it simple for the company to generate invoices from multiple sales orders rather than needing to capture the data and do the calculations on an Excel spreadsheet.

Furthermore, Sage X3’s multi-currency support makes it easy to display totals in Central African Francs and US dollars on each invoice. In the past, the former needed to be added to each invoice by hand. With Sage X3, Luba can also set up a recurring invoice for clients on a contract who pay the same amount for their services each month.

Increased visibility

The company also benefits from better visibility into its business, thanks to Sage Intelligence. Where it used to capture service sheets to an Excel key performance indicator (KPI) report, it can now extract reports straight from the business management solution. This means that it can now produce more accurate service delivery reports in a fraction of the time that it used to take.

What's more, Sage X3 allows Luba Freeport to use permissions to limit access to certain functionality only to specific staff members. This strengthens financial controls and supports segregation of duties in the company.

“To better serve our clients, manage our cost base, and drive efficiencies, we knew we needed to automate our core business processes. After evaluating a number of solutions, we decided that Sage X3 would support us with an integrated, agile platform for the future growth of our business,” says Nick Hollowell, CFO at Luba Freeport. “Transactions are processed faster and we can address queries quicker, to the benefit of our clients.”

We are now able to do invoicing faster than ever while reducing the errors in our process. When human errors creep in, we’re able to pick them up faster and rectify them before we invoice the client. This is saving us a great deal of time and inconvenience because clients are coming back to us less often with invoice queries that need to be addressed with credit notes.”

Adds Keith Fenner, Chief Sales Officer, Sage X3 AAMEA at Sage ERP Africa: “Luba Freeport plays a central role in the regional economy and is enjoying rapid growth as a leading logistics hub for the oil and gas industry. Our solution is helping them increase visibility, efficiency and accuracy in their business processes, in turn supporting the company’s growth objectives and the government’s economic strategy.”

“Sage X3 gives Luba Freeport a combined solution that manages both the operations of the port as well as the financials in one online system. The system is giving the company a foundation for continuous improvement of efficiencies in all departments, strengthening controls, and giving it better visibility into its business,” says Ashley Regenass, CEO of the Synergy Group.