Leading food importer experiences greater automation, better business insights and improved supply chain efficiency

Dubai, UAE, March  27, 2011 - Microsoft Gulf today announced that Chef Middle East, a leading UAE based food importer, has experienced significant improvements in organizational efficiency and gained increased visibility into key business processes with the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics AX, the comprehensive enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for midsize and larger organizations.

According to Mike Lewis, Regional General Manager, Chef Middle East: "Considering we have a transaction-intensive supply chain process, we were limited by our previous ERP solution, that resulted in a lack of insights into key processes. Having Microsoft Dynamics AX in place has been a critical factor in satisfying our complex business requirements, leading to improved automation and greater visibility into vital data , thereby leading to improved business efficiency."

According to Tamer Elhamy, Dynamics Lead from Microsoft Gulf, "Businesses today need access to a comprehensive ERP solution that can seamlessly integrate business processes with technology to gather, manage and use vital information to deliver greater productivity and enhance competitive advantage. In such a scenario, Microsoft Dynamics AX is the ideal ERP solution that can help customers such as Chef Middle East strategically leverage their IT investments and enables them to thrive in a constantly dynamic business environment."

In terms of business benefits, Microsoft Dynamics AX has helped Chef Middle East automate its entire supply chain process, which has seen highly increased shipments every week received from around the world. Stock visibility has greatly improved and Chef Middle East has also put in place new processes for purchase planning. Key processes such as expiry tracking and lot traceability through Microsoft Dynamics AX has helped improve the management and movement of inventory.

Following the implementation, Chef Middle East has unified their item coding structure and inventory processes across different branches, and this has had a strong impact on the management of inventory. The automation of intercompany transactions has also eased the administrative burden of buying and selling between the branch offices within UAE and GCC.

Month-end financial closing has now become much easier, and Chef Middle East is able to close its books on an exact date at the end of each month. Before the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics AX, Chef Middle East had disparate systems which resulted in manual reconciliation and reporting

The implementation of Microsoft Dynamics AX was completed in just three months by Microsoft implementation partner Levtech Consulting, giving Chef Middle East the capability to support more than 550 sales transactions at Dubai branch alone in a day. The ease-of-use, functional fit and close integration with other Microsoft technology, combined with strong project management from Levtech Consulting, helped ensure a smooth implementation with minimal project issues," said Mr. Satheesh Nair, IT Manager, Chef Middle East.

Microsoft Dynamics AX supports the process for Food Distribution of organizations who have multiple sites and Distribution Centers. In the case of supply chain management, Microsoft Dynamics AX can streamline and automate business processes throughout the supply chain to improve planning, optimize inventory levels, reduce costs and enable a faster response to changes in customer demand. In terms of Business Intelligence, the solution leverages Microsoft SQL Reporting Server to deliver extensible reporting tools and a platform that provides access to relevant, real-time data across an organization to simplify monitoring deeply analyze business performance, and enhance planning and budgeting.

For more information, please visit www.microsoft.com/dynamics/ax.

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About Chef Middle East
A specialist in importing and supplying the finest quality foods to the hotel, food services, airline and ship chandling industries. Dubai-based Chef Middle East LLC has established a solid reputation since its inception in 1995. Today, the firm sources perishable, dry, chilled and frozen items from various countries around the world and distributes the same in impeccable condition to a diverse client base in the Arabian Gulf region. A strong network in continental Europe, in particular, enables almost any food item on the European market to be obtained with relative ease.

About Microsoft Gulf
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ:'MSFT') is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft Gulf opened its Dubai-based headquarters in 1991. Microsoft Gulf today oversees activities in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE. Microsoft Corporation's address on the worldwide web is: www.microsoft.com and Microsoft's Gulf web address is www.microsoft.com/gulf

About Levtech Consulting
Levtech Consulting is a leading business consulting firm servicing organizations across the globe through deploying a range of mission-critical business solutions. With strong experience in implementing and supporting business solutions, we strive to support organizational growth and foster performance through consultatively implementing ERP, CRM and BI applications.

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© Press Release 2011