For everyone who lives in Curaçao or visits regularly, Center Supermarket is a household name on the island. Started in January 1986 with a small store, Centrum has grown into a major player in the supermarket industry.

Back in 1986, all transactions were still done manually and without cash registers, but after a few years the transition to computers and cash register scanning took place. Growth continued and in 1995 a second branch was opened in Piscadera. The company now has nearly 500 employees and the possibilities with regard to financial accounting grew with it. But in some cases it was still difficult to measure productivity.

On the recommendation of the accountancy and consultancy firm Grant Thornton Dutch Caribbean, with which Centrum has had good cooperation for many years, the management of Centrum has started to delve into the possibilities that Twinfield Caribbean offers. After an introduction and a number of exploratory discussions, they joined forces at the beginning of 2019 and now both branches of Centrum Supermarket are working fully with the Twinfield software.

Yvette Ribeiro, CFO at Centrum Supermarkt:

“With the arrival of the Twinfield Online Accounting software within our company, an enormous change has been brought about within our financial administration. The system is set up in such a way that the various steps in the process follow each other logically, so that it is possible to see at a glance what is still open at the end of the process and therefore still needs to be done. This allows me to respond much better and faster to the workload and therefore to the personnel planning. I can also immediately see where a mistake was made and by whom thanks to the scanning system.”

Working with the Twinfield software has removed a huge frustration from the management of Centrum Supermarket. Not too long ago they found themselves in a situation where they perished in work where it was a challenge to get a correct state from the system because the current status was hard to monitor.

“Fortunately, the time of manually putting together Excel files every month and making mistakes is over for us.”

“I would advise anyone who experiences frustration with their current accounting system and runs into obstacles every month, look for other options and do that as quickly as possible. Yes, it may be challenging because it’s unfamiliar in the beginning, but in the end it gives you incredible benefits. Fortunately, the time of manually putting together Excel files every month and making mistakes is over for us.”

In the initial period of the collaboration there was a lot of personal guidance from Twinfield Caribbean, which ensured that the transition went smoothly despite the size of the project. The fear was that during the transition the accounts and payments from suppliers would fall behind, but luckily that was not the case.

A widely heard argument for working with Twinfield software is that all required information is available and therefore extensive, but the system is nevertheless very well-arranged and easy to use. With the push of a button, all journal entries are updated and automatically linked to the accounting system.

“Since we are completely over to the Twinfield system we saved at least 40% time in the accounting department. Purely through efficiency and time saving.”

“Of course it is always exciting when you start working with a new financial software system, let alone after 30 years. It is the heart of the business and the transition must be smooth and accurate. Especially in our business because the transactions take place on a daily basis so there is no room for a calm and controlled transition. For many years that was the reason to postpone the transition to working with Twinfield. But so far I have not regretted it for a second and we should have done it much sooner, given all the benefits it brings us. Since we are completely over to the Twinfield system we work with 3 FTE less within the financial team as a result of which we were able to deploy these people for other related functions within the organization. Purely through efficiency and time saving.

Another big advantage of working with the Twinfield system is that we no longer have to store so much paperwork. In our case, that meant that we needed a space the size of 30m2 to store all the paperwork. This is of course not only a waste of the paper itself but also of the use of space. Now I use this space to store goods that generate revenue. This form of digitization gives us more peace of mind and also gives us the possibility to retrieve documents from the system in just a few clicks.

The next step that we are currently working on is to make all operational efforts clear from the information that the Twinfield system provides us through a complete report in Ezora. For example, the costs of the various departments versus the turnover. This allows us to look even more closely at the personnel planning and also the buying process. We now even base our policy on this. This is a hugely valuable and transparent tool that I didn’t even think was possible when we started with Twinfield Caribbean earlier this year.”

Entrepreneurs in the Caribbean region often think that the options offered by the Twinfield and Ezora systems are not possible here. “That is only possible in America or Europe” is often thought. But this example shows that it is indeed possible to apply all these efficiency benefits within companies on Curaçao and beyond.

The technology and knowledge is there. Now only the will and decisiveness to allow change within your company and you will be surprised what kind of growth it will bring you.

Do you want to know specifically what the Twinfield software can mean for your company? Then contact us today at info@twinfield.cc