The verdict in three sentences
A distribution group with four subsidiaries that waits 12 days each month for consolidated figures is steering margins, stock and receivables a month late. An executive dashboard of 35 KPIs, fed automatically from Sage and subsidiary Excel files and refreshed overnight, brings that lag down to 24 hours and works on a phone. At Kolonell this is a medium application, 4,000,000 to 7,000,000 FCFA, and the working-capital gain alone often covers it within a quarter.
Why reporting takes 12 days
Many London-based groups trading into West Africa grew through acquisitions: a food distributor in Dakar, a building materials business in Abidjan, a cosmetics importer in Accra, a logistics platform. Each runs its own Sage company, sometimes on different versions, and some data still lives in Excel: depot stock counts, sales targets, mobile money collections from retail outlets.
The group financial controller in London exports, copies, fixes product codes that differ between subsidiaries, converts FCFA and GHS into GBP, consolidates in a 20-tab workbook and emails a PDF to the CEO. By the time it lands, a stock-out or a receivables drift has already cost tens of thousands of pounds.
| KPI family | Examples among the 35 | Source | Target frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales and margin | Revenue by subsidiary, gross margin by category, top 20 customers | Sage sales | Daily |
| Stock | Value, days of cover, stock-outs, stock idle over 90 days | Sage + depot Excel | Daily |
| Receivables | Total, overdue over 60 days, DSO by subsidiary | Sage sales ledger | Daily |
| Cash | Bank balances, mobile money receipts, 30-day forecast | Banks, Wave and Orange Money statements | Daily |
| Purchasing | Supplier lead time, price variances, imports in transit | Sage purchasing + forwarder files | Weekly |
| People | Headcount, payroll, revenue per sales rep | Payroll | Monthly |
Options and 2026 costs
There are three routes. Self-service BI tools are powerful but need an in-house profile to model data and maintain connections; in London, a BI consultant typically bills 500 to 900 GBP a day as a 2026 order of magnitude. The ERP vendor's reporting module is simple but handles Excel files and multi-company consolidation poorly. A bespoke application covers extraction, cleansing, currency conversion, consolidation and display, with screens built for a CEO checking figures on a phone between meetings.
| Option | Indicative 2026 cost | Consolidating 4 subsidiaries | Mobile reading | Main limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consolidated Excel workbook | Controller time, 8 to 10 days a month | Manual | Delay and copy errors | |
| Self-service BI tool | 8 to 16 GBP per user per month + 15,000 to 40,000 GBP of consultancy, order of magnitude | Possible | Fair | Needs in-house skills |
| ERP reporting add-on | Extra licence, order of magnitude 2,000 to 6,000 GBP a year | Partial | Limited | Excel poorly covered |
| Kolonell bespoke, simple application | 2,500,000 to 4,000,000 FCFA (3,810 to 6,100 EUR) | 1 to 2 sources | Yes | About fifteen KPIs |
| Kolonell bespoke, medium application | 4,000,000 to 7,000,000 FCFA (6,100 to 10,670 EUR) | Yes, Sage + Excel | Yes | Scoping the 35 KPIs |
| Kolonell bespoke, complex application | 7,000,000 to 15,000,000+ FCFA (10,670 to 22,870+ EUR) | Multi-country, multi-currency | Yes, with alerts | 5 to 8 month project |
With subsidiaries in several currencies and countries, the multi-currency consolidation usually places the project in the complex bracket. Bank connectors, hosting and history migration beyond two years are priced in the quote. Maintenance follows the 35,000, 75,000 or 120,000 FCFA monthly grid.
Rules that make a dashboard trusted
A dashboard is only as good as the trust it earns. That means a shared master data set for products, customers and categories across subsidiaries, a written definition of each KPI (is margin before or after year-end rebates?), a fixed exchange-rate rule (daily rate or monthly average), and automatic checks on overnight loads, alerting the controller when a subsidiary has not reported. Access follows the hierarchy: each managing director sees their company, the group CEO sees everything.
Mini case study
David, CEO of a London-based distribution group with four African subsidiaries, reports revenue of 24 million GBP. Average DSO is 75 days. With daily alerts on invoices more than 60 days overdue, the credit team targets 65 days. Ten fewer days of DSO free up 24,000,000 x 10 / 365, about 657,000 GBP of cash.
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On stock, weekly visibility of idle items helps clear 200,000 GBP over the year. The group controller gets 8 days a month back for analysis. Against a complex build of around 10,000,000 FCFA (about 15,250 EUR) and Standard maintenance at 75,000 FCFA a month, the cost-to-gain ratio is clear.
FAQ
Do we need to replace Sage?
No. Data is extracted from the existing Sage companies every night without changing the ERP. Four companies on different versions consolidate without difficulty.
What about data held in Excel?
Depot files are dropped in a shared folder or entered through a small web form. The system validates them and rejects files that break the template, removing around 90 % of copy errors.
Can the CEO read it on a phone?
Yes, screens are designed mobile first, with 6 to 8 headline KPIs on the home page. It works on 4G when travelling to subsidiaries.
How quickly is it live?
Allow 3 to 5 months for a medium application, including 3 weeks to define the 35 KPIs with management. A first version with 10 KPIs can be live within 6 to 8 weeks.
Is the data protected?
Yes, with strong authentication, per-subsidiary permissions and access logs, compliant with UK GDPR and local data laws such as Senegal's Law 2008-12. Hosting is agreed in the quote.
Let's scope your project. List your subsidiaries, Sage companies and the KPIs you track today, and we will scope a first version and a phased rollout plan. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
