Datamation’s FiNAC to nurture Citigardens growth

From left: Citigardens Accountant Lahiru Madusanka, Citigardens Logistic Manager Kasun Hiroshana, Citigardens Head of Operations Safa Arafath, Datamation Systems Software Manager Asha Kannangara, Datamation Systems Analyst Programmer Dinushika Christeen, Datamation Systems IT Executive Sadis Algama

Citigardens is an innovative organisation specialised in irrigation and agro technology in Sri Lanka. It is the brainchild of Hilru Siddeq who established the organisation in 1999 with a vision ‘To lead the way in modern agriculture towards a more prosperous, cleaner, greener, productive and healthy environment’.

They deal and supply fairly and freely with even their competitors and exchange with them the knowledge and experience related to the industry, thus ensuring the highest ethical standards in business to develop the industry. 

To keep up with a competitive market and its demands, Citigardens understood that they would require a robust ERP that will connect all their operations across all locations into one integrated system, which in return would provide them with real time information to make better trade decisions. The existing spreadsheets were unable to properly manage the evolving business and respond to the management information demands. Core operations could not be optimised nor improved due to the sales and procurement information being too rigid with too many issues arising due to insufficient real time inventory information. 

After an extensive search for an ERP system, they found that larger ERP packages were found to be inflexible and very costly to maintain while other ERP packages could not be customised to meet their unique business needs. It is during this period that Safa Arafath joins the Citigardens team as Head of Operations. Already familiar with the features and benefits of FiNAC during his previous occupation, he invited Datamation to provide them with a solution that can be customised to fit Citigardens unique business process. “Datamation fully understand their clients processes and software requirements. Different types of industries have different types of software requirements. From my personal experience I know that one software system can never accommodate all, and therefore we chose Datamations FiNAC which can be customised to fit our unique business needs like a glove,” Citigardens Head of Operations Safa Arafath.

With the implementation of FiNAC ERP, the organisation became more self-aware with real-time information being available at their fingertips. Orders could be monitored by any relevant person or department. The order process moved so rapidly through the organisation which resulted in customers receiving their orders on time and with less slip-ups than before. Datamation’s FiNAC facilitated a company-wide integrated Information System that covered all their business functions, including project costing, sales, financials, inventory management with ‘cuts & pieces’ and damage stock analysis.

Datamation Systems has been providing industry focused ERP solutions for over 30 years. FiNAC has catered to the unique business needs of more than 16 vertical industries providing them with highly customisable and scalable solutions. Specialising in providing Enterprise Resource Planning, Re-Distribution and Sales Force Automation solutions, Datamation has also successfully provided services such as Business Process Analysis, Process Mapping, GAP Analysis, Implementation Services, Customised Development Services and Rollout Services to their clients with a 360 degree support service.

With over six million man-hours of pure ERP experience, today Datamation boasts of over 1200 modules successfully implemented across six countries to more than 400 satisfied clients. Their strength lying on a team of more than 80 highly enthusiastic, energetic, tech savvy analysts and engineers, FiNAC is set to expand its presence globally, transforming businesses and enhancing efficiency.