Tracking tanzanite from mine to sales with Zoho Creator

The company

Established in 2015, The Tanzanite Experience was founded by Hasnain Sajan. The company's extensive growth and exclusivity are a reflection of the dedication and support of their team, suppliers, and local and international stakeholders. It aims to establish a prominent presence in the local gemstone industry.

Beyond local positioning, The Tanzanite Experience also holds claim to being the "only tanzanite museum in the world," located at the Blue Plaza in Arusha, Tanzania.

The company usually appraises tanzanite using the 4Cs system: color, clarity, cut, and carat weight. The Tanzanite Experience also supports female empowerment and rural development by running initiatives like the Maasai Ladies Project, where Maasai tribe women are involved in crafting pieces of jewelry. This project appreciates their skills and supports women in generating revenue for themselves.

The challenge

The Tanzanite Experience confronted a considerable challenge as its operations expanded, necessitating a solution for tracking the journey of tanzanite from mining to the final retail destination.

The rarity of tanzanite, despite its undeniable allure, remained largely unknown. The company found itself entangled in traditional methods, relying on pen and paper, resulting in a maze of cumbersome data collection and repetitive entry. Managing multiple platforms, including Excel and Google spreadsheets and stock management systems, led to complications, increased errors, and a laborious copy-paste routine of paperwork.

This challenge underscored the need for an integrated system capable of handling the complexities inherent in gemstone processing.

The solution

In response to these challenges, The Tanzanite Experience adopted Zoho Creator with the help of Zoho Partners (EPLS Cloud Solutions);embracing the platform's adaptability and crafting tailored solutions to meet their challenges.

By introducing a centralized point of entry and consolidating data, from the laboratory to retail, on a unified platform, their operations underwent significant streamlining. This not only simplified complex processes but also empowered the team to shift their attention toward elevating client satisfaction and overall well-being.

Zoho Creator empowered The Tanzanite Experience to create specialized forms, workflows, and reports for each processing stage. This resulted in a comprehensive system that significantly enhanced efficiency, accuracy, and visibility across their operational processes.

The adoption of Zoho Creator allowed The Tanzanite Experience to overcome the challenges posed by the complex gemstone processing journey.

Benefits and ROI

Zoho Creator had a profound impact on their business model. TTE witnessed substantial efficiency gains, with operations becoming smoother, more direct, and time-efficient.

Zoho Creator didn't just optimize operations; it became the key for a more customer-centric approach, propelling The Tanzanite Experience forward in their commitment to delivering a seamless and enriching experience for their clients.

Accurate data entry became the linchpin for precise pricing, and their streamlined 4Cs system saw the integration of a crucial 5th C—confidence.

Zoho Creator has significantly impacted The Tanzanite Experience's operations, bringing numerous benefits:

Reduced turnaround time

Using Zoho Creator apps, stone evaluation time was drastically reduced to an impressive 15 minutes per stone, empowering the processing of 90-100 stones daily. Previously, evaluating one stone took 30 minutes or more, allowing for only 30 stones to be completed in a day.

Better accountability

By improving accountability, TTE increased customer loyalty with accurate data, helping to establish fairer pricing.

Centralized operation

All certifications and invoices found a unified home with Zoho Creator, providing a robust and secure foundation for the company's varied business operations.

Data security

Beyond operational enhancements, the implementation of Zoho Creator fortified their data security, ensuring the delivery of correct information to clients, and fostering heightened customer loyalty.

Looking forward

Buoyed by these advancements, The Tanzanite Experience now looks to the future with optimism and purpose.

They plan to use Creator to make their work easier, improve how they serve customers, and keep up with industry changes. Sajan hopes this partnership will help them share their product with the world. The company hopes to ascend to the forefront of tanzanite supply and retail, using Zoho Creator to ensure accurate inventory and appropriate pricing, and set parameters for tanzanite products, to add value for buyers while also expanding in parallel with the platform.