BACKGROUND
In
1997, Hartford Computer Group (HCG) was a leading IT Value Added
Reseller in an industry that had reached its peak and was facing
increasing competition and margin erosion. The industry was
becoming increasingly commoditized with many manufacturers
disintermediating the reseller and selling direct to the end
customer. Consequently, margins were eroding as resellers were
struggling to realign their business processes and cut
significant SG&A out of the cost structure.
HCG, typical of most distributors, was struggling with
traditional complex manual processes driving the business and
adding 15% SG&A cost infrastructure to any customer
transaction. In addition to excessive internal processing costs,
the cycle time associated with the key business processes were
excessive – as much as 13 days to receive an order and place it
to the selected supplier and 58 days to ship the product, invoice
and collect:
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SOLUTION
Hartford
Computer Group began a complete business re-engineering effort
which involved automating all touch points with both customers
as well as suppliers as well as redesigning the entire
fulfillment and distribution assumptions governing the business.
First, an off-the-shelf back-end financial settlement solution,
SAP, was installed. Secondly, a sophisticated customer order
entry tool, EnableBuyer and supplier communication tool,
EnableSupplier, were implemented to manage and enhance all
communication outside the organization. Finally, due to the
complex nature and volatility of the products HCG represented,
catalog content was managed using EnableContent. These
fundamental applications were all integrated using a simple
communication hub managed by Microsoft’s BizTalk. Due to these
levels of automation and complete business re-engineering,
HCG’s dependence on its warehouse operations was greatly
reduced – cutting the warehousing requirements to less than
10% its original size.
BENEFITS
BPA
has allowed Hartford Computer Group to automate hundreds of
manual internal processes, integrate with strategic clients as
well as suppliers, and eliminate the need for carrying inventory
and maintaining a significant warehouse.
Key metrics demonstrating the power of Business Process
Automation and its financial impact include:
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