• £35,000 per year saved on postage and stationary alone


• Age/debtor position expected to improve by 25-30%


• ‘Soft' benefits such as staff free to work on value add activities

September 21, 2001 – AXS-One, a global provider of e-business solutions, announced today that Brittany Ferries has successfully implemented an Internet-based system, using its AXSPoint™ Travel solution.  The system automates the process of issuing monthly statements and invoices, and managing queries with its 3,500 strong agent community who make over 400,000 bookings each year. 

By the end of 2001, Brittany Ferries expects 250-300 agents to be using the AXSPoint Travel solution and the company hopes that 90% of agents will be working with it by the end of 2003, ready for the 2004 season. Brittany Ferries expects to save a minimum of £35,000 per annum on just postage and stationary, plus administrative staff costs on top.  The company is aiming to improve its age/debtor query position by 25-30% thereby significantly enhancing its cash flow position.  

In the peak season of June to September, the number of statement queries received by Brittany from travel agents can be considerable with the credit control team handing some 3,000 a month. The impact on Brittany Ferries to process these queries puts a lot of pressure on the credit control team (as well as agents) to respond prior to money being collected by direct debit.  Time can be short because of delays receiving statements by post or, in the case of multiple agents, receiving information from each branch for collation at the agents' head office. Agents need to reconcile their figures, query any items with Brittany and a figure agreed before cash can be collected by direct debit.  If any changes are made, the direct debit files at Brittany have historically had to be manually updated which adds further step in the monthly cycle before the BACS collection can be processed.

Graham Harrison, company accountant admits,  “There have been situations where we have not collected money due or where cash has had to be refunded at a later date which obviously dents our cash flow.  We have always run our credit control department very tightly.  Selling is fine, but you've got to get your money in because, at the end of the day, cash is king. To move forward with credit control, and reduce financial risk, I was looking at how we could improve the situation using new technology.”

The AXSPoint Travel solution has been deployed and replicates online Brittany Ferries' ‘traditional' paper statements which are in the process of being phased out. The system allows agents to make queries about their statements online and for both Brittany credit controllers and its agents to reconcile these queries automatically.

Mark Donkersley, AXS-One's group managing director, said, “ Our approach with our AXSPoint family of solutions is to offer companies a route to linking existing systems to the Web so they can grasp the opportunities presented by the Internet, quickly and cost effectively.  Companies therefore don't need to throw away existing their existing software, they can ‘bolt on' our technology and derive more value.  The AXSPoint Travel solution allows agents and Brittany to now manage the whole financial management process online with obvious benefits.”

The AXS-Point Travel Solution installed at Brittany was licensed from AXS-One during the second quarter of this year and runs on Microsoft's Windows 2000 operating system and Dell PowerEdge servers.  At the front end, Brittany Ferries use two WebServers to offer resilience with credit control staff using Wyse WinTerm thin clients on their desktops.  The complete solution was designed, prototyped and installed within a matter of weeksthree months, with Brittany achieving live operation a few days later.

Brittany Ferries is now considering extending the AXSPoint Travel solution for use in France and the management of its 1,000 freight customers and their billing.

Graham Harrison, concludes, “I am convinced that any company who invests in the system can expect a full return of investment within less than one year.  Once you've seen the AXSPoint Travel system, there's no way a paper-based approach makes sense.”

About AXS-One Inc.

AXS-One (AMEX: AXO) is a provider of e-Business financial and information management solutions for global 2000 companies, professional service organisations (PSOs) and financial managers.  AXS-One, formerly known as Computron Software, Inc., has implemented high-volume, scalable and secure business solutions for hundreds of customers across the globe. AXS-One has over 300 employees in offices worldwide, including Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, United Kingdom, United States and South Africa. AXS-One was founded in 1978, and is based in Rutherford, New Jersey.

For further information on AXS-One, visit the AXS-One web site at http://www.axs-one.com/