Fyffes Costa Rica: Traceability and Control in Agribusiness with Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations

Interview with Daniela Flores, Global Head of MS Dynamics CoE – Fyffes Costa Rica

In an industry as dynamic and demanding as agribusiness, having reliable, traceable, and real-time information is essential to sustain growth. Fyffes Costa Rica embarked on a technology transformation journey that has strengthened both its financial and operational management through Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (F&O).

We spoke with Daniela Flores, who shared the experience, lessons learned, and the impact this implementation has had across the organization.

What was the main challenge that led Fyffes Costa Rica to modernize its financial and operational management?

The journey began in 2012, when the company did not yet have an ERP system in place. At that time, Fyffes started searching for a solution that could help structure and standardize operations, ultimately selecting Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, an on-premises version initially implemented in Costa Rica alongside an agricultural vertical solution.

As the business expanded into additional countries, several migrations and new implementations followed across operations in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, and Ecuador. However, the biggest challenge came with the modernization of the pineapple production company, which was already operating with AX 2009 and a specialized agricultural vertical.

In this case, maintaining and enhancing robust agricultural and production controls aligned with business needs was critical. This led to the transition toward Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations, supported by a significant number of custom developments designed to meet the specific requirements of the agricultural operation.

Why did Fyffes choose Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations to support business growth?

Fyffes already used Dynamics 365 F&O across other banana operations integrated with various corporate systems, including in-house developments and global ERP environments for specific business areas. However, production operations in the Americas required a very high level of flexibility and customization.

After evaluating several solutions available in the market, Dynamics stood out because of its versatility and ability to adapt to the company’s operational requirements. In addition, the familiarity and ease of use for end users — especially through integration with tools such as Excel and Word — played an important role in driving adoption and supporting change management across the organization.

How has AlfaPeople supported Fyffes throughout this process?

AlfaPeople has been a strategic partner for Fyffes for more than nine years, supporting early migrations, regional implementations, and complex projects, including deployments carried out during the pandemic.

One of the key contributions was the support provided from the project’s conceptual phase, helping define the project scope, required modules, and the structure of the internal implementation team. AlfaPeople also provided specialized consultants and solution architects from different countries who aligned closely with the business requirements.

Although the project presented significant challenges, the continuous collaboration and business-focused approach enabled the organization to move forward with high standards and a clear long-term vision.

How did Dynamics 365 F&O improve financial and operational traceability?

The transformation was significant. Moving from an on-premises environment with limited access to a cloud-based system enabled full connectivity, including access through tablets and mobile devices from locations where real-time data capture was previously not possible.

This allowed Fyffes to digitize processes that had traditionally relied on paper, improve traceability from the field to administrative areas, and significantly reduce paper consumption — one of the company’s main objectives.

Today, Fyffes benefits from greater visibility, control, and efficiency across financial and operational processes.

What recommendations would you give to companies considering an ERP implementation?

The main recommendation is to clearly define the project scope and have a solid understanding of the desired business outcomes. Not every implementation needs to happen all at once; in many cases, a phased approach is more effective.

It is also critical to build a multidisciplinary internal team with deep knowledge of the business, including finance, production, inventory, systems, and operations. This internal alignment is what ultimately drives successful decision-making and implementation outcomes.

In Fyffes’ case, this approach enabled a highly complex project originally planned for 17 months to be completed in 18 months, delivering very positive business results.