How do small dairy trading companies scale without hiring more back-office staff?

A dairy trading company grows by doing more deals. The back office grows with every deal: contracts, call-offs, transport, documents, invoices and checks. Small traders scale without extra staff by removing the work that only exists because data is entered more than once, and by letting documents and invoices follow from the order instead of being typed.

Where the back office grows

With illustrative figures: a deal with four call-offs creates around 20 actions in the back office, such as transport orders, CMRs, certificates, delivery confirmations, sales invoices, purchase invoice checks and position updates. At 30 deals a month, that is 600 actions. At 60 deals, 1,200. If each action is manual, staff grows with the number of deals.

What makes the difference

• Enter once. The contract is the source for call-offs, orders, documents and invoices. Nothing is typed again.
• Documents from the order. Transport orders, CMRs and delivery confirmations are created from the order data.
• Invoices from the delivery. The sales invoice follows from the delivered quantity and the contract price.
• Purchase invoices matched automatically. Scanned invoices are matched to orders, so finance only checks the differences.
• Signals instead of searching. An overview of what needs attention, such as overdue positions or planning gaps, replaces checking lists by hand.
• Knowledge in the system, not in one head. When the process is in the software, a colleague can take over. See How does trading software preserve business knowledge when employees leave?

An example

A trader with two traders and one back-office employee handles 30 deals a month in spreadsheets and a separate accounting package. The back-office employee is fully occupied. When the company wants to go to 50 deals, the choice is between a second back-office employee or reducing the work per deal. With one system where documents and invoices follow from the order, the same employee can handle the higher volume, and the time saved goes to checks and customer contact.

What to watch out for

• Standardise first. Automation works when products, payment terms and document layouts are agreed and used consistently.
• Do not automate exceptions. Some deals stay manual. That is fine, as long as the standard flow is automatic.
• Measure the time per deal, before and after. See How do you calculate the business case for replacing Excel?

Scaling and Moo Software

In Moo, contracts, call-offs, orders, documents and invoices are linked in one online system. Transport orders and documents are created from the order, sales invoices from the delivery, and purchase invoices are scanned and matched to orders. The Workbench shows what needs attention, so nobody has to go through lists to find it.

See it with your own data

Want to see how many steps per deal Moo can take over? Book a demo or contact us.