Case Study · Systems Integration
Univest Business Machines — From Spreadsheets & QuickBooks to ERP
- Client
- Univest Business Machines
- Sector
- Technology & systems integration
- Region
- Abu Dhabi, UAE
- Scope
- End-to-end ERP implementation — sales, inventory, projects
- Status
- Implemented — QuickBooks retired
The pain point
A leading UAE systems integrator ran quotations and sales orders in Excel and Word, tracked salesperson targets and performance manually, and maintained inventory in spreadsheets. QuickBooks handled the accounts, but it could not connect sales, stock and project profitability.
- Quotations and sales orders were prepared in Excel and Word, with no central system.
- Salesperson targets and performance evaluation were tracked manually.
- Inventory lived in spreadsheets; quantity and value errors — or a missed update — made the whole sheet unreliable.
- QuickBooks gave company accounts but no project-level P&L or operations–finance integration.
Our independent assessment
We reviewed the sales cycle, inventory control, salesperson performance tracking and the QuickBooks setup. The constraint was the fragmented system landscape, not the team.
What we proposed
We replaced the spreadsheets and QuickBooks with one ERP covering quotations, sales orders, inventory, salesperson performance and project accounting — connected to finance and technical support.
Central quotations, approvals and sales orders — no more Word or Excel versions.
One stock ledger with quantity and value accuracy across the business.
Targets, commissions and performance visible from the same sales data.
Real-time project P&L, receivables, cash and QuickBooks migration in one ERP.
Alternatives considered: We considered keeping QuickBooks and adding a separate sales and inventory tool. It would have left the spreadsheet hand-offs and double entry in place, so we recommended one ERP.
How it resolved the pain
Spreadsheets and QuickBooks were retired. Quotations, sales orders, inventory, salesperson performance and project P&L now come from one system.
- Quotations and sales orders centralised.
- Inventory accuracy restored with one stock ledger.
- Salesperson targets and performance visible.
- Project P&L and cash visibility live.
Benefits generated
The business moved from Excel/Word and spreadsheet stock to one system, with project-level profitability and sales performance visible to leadership.
“For the first time, our CEO had project-level profitability in real time. The ERP paid for itself in the first quarter.”
— General Manager, Univest Business Machines
Frequently asked questions
Why move from QuickBooks?
QuickBooks is an accounting package, not a sales, inventory and project ERP. It could not centralise quotations, sales orders, stock or salesperson performance without manual work.
Did you migrate historical data?
Yes. Master data and opening balances were cleansed, reconciled to control totals and signed off by finance before go-live.
How long did it take?
The implementation was delivered in a focused mid-market timeline. The blueprint set the scope and sequence before configuration began.
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