How Hellenic Systems automated its management reporting and runs the business end to end with Zoho One

Hellenic Systems Limited is a UK provider of MES hardware and software for food and manufacturing. It has been trading since 1988 and serves more than 130 sites across the UK and Europe. Customer records, price lists and trackers were held in Excel and Word, and support and development ran on an old on-premise JIRA.

Axithorn delivered Zoho One for Hellenic, starting with Zoho CRM and Zoho Books in 2023, then configuring Zoho CRM, Zoho Projects and Zoho Analytics in depth, alongside Desk, Inventory and Sprints. Management reporting is now automated in Zoho Analytics, every installation and hardware return (RMA) job is logged in Zoho, and software development runs in Zoho Sprints.

"Hellenic has been building MES systems for food and manufacturing since 1988, and today our hardware and software runs on more than 130 sites across the UK and Europe. From the kill line with CARCASE to factory orders with FOPS and recipes with FORMIX, most of what we deliver is tailored to how each customer's plant actually runs. That's what Built Around You means to us, and we wanted our own systems to work the same way: one platform, set up around how we run, that could grow with us."

Information came from multiple users and systems, so data was not always up to date and the numbers did not always agree. In 2023 Hellenic needed a system that could grow with the business and handle everything end to end, for every department and process, and engaged Axithorn to deliver it.

• Records in Excel and Word: customer records, product price lists and the maintenance tracker were held in spreadsheets and documents rather than one system.
• Ageing JIRA: support and software development ran on an old on-premise JIRA alongside a separate ticket system.
• Paper job records: site visits and returns were recorded on paper and uploaded to internal drives, with no process to follow a job from end to end.
• Out-of-date, inconsistent data: information was not always up to date, with discrepancies between what different users and systems held.

"The same customer could look different depending on whose spreadsheet you opened. Site visits and returns were on paper and uploaded to our internal drives, which took a lot of time and admin, and there was no process to follow a job from end to end. We spent too long reconciling numbers and chasing paperwork."

Axithorn recommended Zoho One so that sales, finance, support, projects and development could run on one platform under a single subscription. All-employee pricing made the full bundle cheaper than licensing apps individually. For the development team, Hellenic trialled Zoho Projects and Zoho Sprints against JIRA, and noted the apps were already included in its subscription at no additional cost. Zoho Sign was also included for contracts, where Salesforce and DocuSign signing tools were paid add-ons.

"Every account, price list, quote and opportunity now lives in Zoho CRM. Discounts go through an approval process, contracts go out for signature from the same record, and when we win a deal operations can see it coming before the order lands."

"Moving about 9,000 tickets off our old JIRA server put the whole development team on the same platform as sales and support. When a customer orders bespoke work it comes through as a Sprints ticket linked to the order, so developers see the commercial context, not just the task."

Axithorn delivered Zoho in stages from kick-off in October 2023, starting with CRM and Books and adding apps as the business was ready. Integrations include a JIRA data migration, Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&O (fields in place, integration in progress), Microsoft Outlook and GitHub. Each management reporting change came with a short how-to video saved to a Training Resources folder in Zoho WorkDrive.

• October 2023, CRM and Books: Zoho CRM and Zoho Books set up.
• Early 2024, support and projects: Zoho Desk and Zoho Projects added, the support backlog moved from JIRA into Zoho, and an upgrade to the full Zoho One bundle.
• From September 2024, management reporting: sales, PS, timesheet and revenue recognition dashboards, refined with Hellenic's operations and finance teams.
• 2025, development in Sprints: about 9,000 JIRA tickets migrated into Zoho Sprints, Sprints dashboards added in Zoho Analytics, and user training in April 2025.
• Late 2025 to 2026, contracts, RMA and orders: a contracts module, RMA processes and delivery notes, a purchase order process through Books and Inventory, and preparation for the Dynamics F&O link.
• 2027 (planned), approvals, stock and AI: sign-off and approval on opportunities as they close, the pipeline linked through to stock control in Zoho Inventory, and Zoho's AI connector (MCP) feeding Claude and ChatGPT for further analysis.

Standard Zoho configuration did not fit Hellenic's needs and workflows, so Axithorn reworked it around how Hellenic actually works. Data that came from multiple users and systems was consolidated into one platform, so everyone works from the same up-to-date records.

"Hellenic wanted one place to run the business, not another bolt-on. We started with CRM and Books, then added reporting, support, projects and development as the team was ready, and automated the routine steps as we went."

Full management reporting is in place and automated in Zoho Analytics, replacing manual spreadsheet trackers. Leadership now works from up-to-date figures in one place instead of reconciling data from several users and systems. Pete Rhodes, Hellenic's Business Unit Leader, said in March 2025 that Zoho was used "in most departments", and by December 2025 described it as running "our business end to end".

"Zoho now runs our business end to end. Axithorn didn't hand us a standard setup: they reworked it around how we work, one department at a time. A won deal now flows into a sales order, a delivery project and, where there's bespoke work, a Sprints ticket for the developers, so every department can see what's coming towards them. Our management reporting builds itself instead of being pulled together by hand, and because everything sits on one platform we can plug it straight into AI tools for deeper analysis."

• A customer order portal, targeted to go live by the end of 2026.
• Sign-off and approval on opportunities as they close, targeted for January 2027.
• The pipeline linked through to stock control in Zoho Inventory, and the Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&O link.
• Zoho's AI connector (MCP) feeding Claude and ChatGPT for further analysis, and AI in Sprints.

Published with the approval of Hellenic Systems.