Leisure giant Sun International completes IFS roll out

African gaming and leisure brand, Sun International has completed its roll-out of the IFS Applications Enterprise Resource Planning suite. The new system enables the casino and hotel group to standardise processes and technology across its headquarters and 17 properties in South Africa. The solution supports Sun International’s business-critical processes such as finance, payroll, supply chain, facilities, environmental management systems and project management.

The successful roll-out makes Sun International the largest hospitality group to implement IFS Applications. Sun International completed the first phase of the project in April this year, when IFS Applications went live at the group’s headquarters and The Maslow Hotel, both located in Sandton, South Africa, as well as at Sibaya Casino and Entertainment Kingdom in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

The group’s remaining properties were brought online in less than eight months of the pilot implementation. The software is now in use at all South African Sun International properties including Wild Coast Sun, GrandWest, Boardwalk, and Sun City. The project, which kicked off in 2013, has been delivered according to plan.

Through the software’s configurable, service-oriented architecture, the solution will contribute to a reduction in back-office total cost of ownership.

“By consolidating our many different legacy systems into a centralised, single instance and fully integrated ERP solution, we have standardised processes at each of our properties in South Africa and gained better visibility into our business,” said Mike Wilson, the Sun International Project Manager who led the implementation.

“Now that the system is live, we can focus on leveraging it to drive better business performance. Our end-users are already enjoying transparency and the ease of use that IFS introduces into their tasks and processes.”

“We are pleased that Sun International has managed to complete this strategic project in such an aggressive time frame. Credit is due to the project team for their expertise and hard work, as well as to Sun International’s management team for its sponsorship and support for the initiative,” said IFS Africa’s Managing Director, Gawie van der Merwe. “With its flexible, multi-site support, IFS Applications is the ideal platform for Sun International to better manage business costs through the automation of business processes.”

The Sun International brand has a legacy in the gaming, hospitality and entertainment sector. Sun International is Africa’s largest tourism, leisure and gaming group and operates or has an interest in a total of 27 resorts, luxury hotels and casinos across ten countries.

This includes 15 operations in South Africa, two in Zambia, two in Lesotho, one in Botswana, one in Nigeria, one in Swaziland and one in Namibia. The portfolio includes The Table Bay hotel in Cape Town, The Palace of The Lost City hotel at Sun City and The Royal Livingstone in Zambia at the Victoria Falls.

(First published December 2015. Since then Sun International has been divesting its investments in South Africa.)