Air Zermatt – Quality and efficiency at all levels

Air Zermatt was founded in 1968 with the aim of ensuring air rescue in the region. As alpine tourism has grown and the range of services has expanded, IT requirements have increased continuously. Before deciding on Proffix's ERP system, the company used three separate systems for administrative business processes: an order processing system developed on an Access database, Sage 50 for accounting, and a custom solution with its own database for membership management. The main goal in implementing the new ERP system was to find a unified system that would consolidate the various databases in a single master address file and map and digitise all administrative processes. The real challenge was the integration and management of Air Zermatt rescue cards in the form of memberships.

When a membership request is made, an invoice is created, assigned to a document template in the CRM, and linked in order processing to the membership recorded as an item. Once payment is received, the invoice is automatically converted to a debtor, the payment is noted in the CRM, and the cash inflow is posted. After one year, members receive a reminder letter directly from the CRM to renew their membership. If payment is made, the process repeats. If the invoice is not paid, the member receives a reminder letter. If no payment is made, the subscription is not renewed – the debtor posting is eliminated. This prevents the creation of outstanding debtors. The various types of memberships are recorded in inventory management as items, as is the billing of flight operations. Depending on the type of flight – whether rescue, transport, sightseeing, or individual passenger flights – a per-minute rate or a flat rate is charged. The majority of invoices are created automatically in the Proffix ERP, VAT is settled at the click of a button, and after the payment deadline, unpaid invoices are automatically dunned. Both the online webshop and the WATO cash system at the helicopter bases in Zermatt and Raron are fully integrated into the Proffix ERP.

Our business is the same as it was before, and the quality of our services remains unchanged, but behind the scenes and in our processes we now work much more efficiently and professionally. Thanks to the connection of the cash system to the ERP, we can now retrieve turnover figures daily, which previously often required manual posting due to missing interfaces. This data and financial transparency represents an important innovation step. The company is already working on a service catalogue for integrating Microsoft Power BI – one of the leading business intelligence solutions. Previously, they filled around 50 lever arch files annually with invoices and bank statements. Today, creditor documents are digitally scanned, recorded in Proffix, and filed in the document management system (DMS). Over 200 wage records for permanent employees and freelancers are managed centrally, wage payments are processed and posted monthly. Wages are reported to social insurance institutions at year-end using the ELM procedure.