Enavate participated in a Wine Industry Network (WIN) panel alongside our client, Darioush Winery and partners InnoVint and Commerce7. In this post, we’ll touch on some of the main takeaways from the panel. Watch the panel discussion below to learn more about the winery business benefits of modernizing technology.
The wine business has existed for thousands of years, but that doesn’t mean it’s stuck in the past. In fact, more and more wineries are embracing modern technology—including the Cloud.
Darioush Winery’s Journey to the Cloud
Darioush is a successful Napa-based winery that has been using Navision for about a decade. Their founder, Darioush Khaledi, was inspired by the wine culture in the ancient city of Persepolis, but he has always had an eye toward the future at the same time. As Viktoriya Kobzar , Darioush’s IT Manager, put it, “We’ve always been looking for something that can help us, in a business way, simplify our lives here.”
With Microsoft soon ending mainstream support for Navision 2017, Kobzar and her team realized that they wanted to jump away from their on-premises solution and onto the Cloud as soon as possible. By consulting with their long-time partners at Enavate, they were able to make a smooth transition from Navision to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Darioush found many benefits from migrating to the Cloud, including:
- Reduced costs due to no longer having to maintain an on-premises server
- Easy access to programs and information from anywhere in the world, which is key for when their reps are on the road
- The full cybersecurity might of Microsoft—Kobzar refers to Microsoft and its partners taking care of their data as they would “their own babies”
- A huge library of applications that can be integrated with Business Central, including automations for AP and AR processes, which will help them go 95% digital
According to Kobzar, they’ve noticed a big increase in efficiency since jumping to the Cloud. While old ways die hard, the transition has led to people changing their habits and performing tasks in a more efficient way. While some team members expressed misgivings about the difficulty of adapting to a new platform, they quickly realized that it was actually very easy. “A lot of team members gave us positive feedback on how the modernized platform improved their day-to-day routine,” Kobzar reflected. Needless to say, they’ve come a long way since what Kobzar called the “Stone Age of technology for wineries” about 15 years ago. And a big reason the transition was so smooth was because they were able to work with a technology partner they trusted and who knew their business.
How VinPoint Wine Management Modernizes Winery Technology
Enavate layered Enavation Cloud: VinPoint Wine Managment on the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central platform to help verticalize it for the unique challenges that wineries face. Thanks to Business Central’s application program interface (API)-based model, VinPoint Wine Management can integrate with other applications and leverage the rest of the Microsoft stack, including Office 365 and the Azure platform.
VinPoint Wine Management can bring in sales data from best of breed direct-to-consumer (DTC) websites and winemaking solutions and make sure the inventory is reconciled. It can handle everything from finance to commerce to warehousing, all while giving you the flexibility you need to put the right systems in place for the problems you’re trying to solve.
Additionally, to meet client needs, VinPoint Wine Management can leverage the over 2,000 applications that are fully vetted and validated by Microsoft. No matter what challenge presents itself, VinPoint Wine Management is flexible and agile enough to give you a great ROI.
Why Should Wineries Embrace Cloud Technology?
Darioush has a history of being progressive when it comes to embracing tech solutions, but it’s been a process of trial and error to get to where they are today. As a result, they have a pretty good perspective on modernizing technology.
When asked if she had any advice for other wineries who may be considering a move to the Cloud, Kobzar said, “This is not as hard as you think it is. The best way for you to move to the Cloud right now is when you already have people who can share their own knowledge base and help you. Don’t be afraid.”
In other words, if you have a partner that knows both the tech and the wine business sides of implementation, it’s well worth the effort and upfront costs of educating your staff on the new systems.
At Enavate, we know the wine industry just as well as we know Microsoft’s platform architecture. We can help your winery implement different parts of the system at different times, so that you can continue to produce and sell wine while getting some quick wins and innovating your technology stack. We can help you build a roadmap to a quick ROI and get you set up on financials, DTC integration and finished goods inventory, and build it out from there. You’ll be able to get in the new system quickly, and then as your business grows, we’ll help you scale up your VinPoint Wine Management solution to match.
Darioush found that on an annual basis, the cost savings of switching to Business Central and VinPoint Wine Management were considerable. And when you factor in the increased productivity of their team in a multi-office and on-the-go work environment, they’re very satisfied with their ROI.
VinPoint Wine Management also assists with the data you need for tedious reporting, such as excise tax movements for compliance reports. The platform helps you make sure your data related to movement between bonded and non-bonded locations is accurate and available to you in real-time. You’ll be able to know exactly how a particular product is doing at any given time with enough data to make informed business decisions moving forward. The ROI of embracing this sort of technology can really spread to all areas of the business.
Modernize Your Winery with Cloud Technology Today
Modern technology is advancing quickly. Moving to the Cloud is going to be a “need to have” instead of a “nice to have” for any small to medium business, including wineries, to scale and improve efficiency. The longer you delay the inevitable tech modernization, the more of an advantage your competition who is modernizing will have in the marketplace.
Contact one of our beverage industry experts today to discuss your unique business process and find out how Enavation Cloud: VinPoint Wine Management will benefit your winery.
