Executive Summary
A telecommunications company client was grappling with a unique set of challenges. These included consolidating reporting, limited data visibility, non-standardized practices and manual and undocumented processes. These issues were causing delays in decision-making, time-consuming month-end processes, data entry errors and increased costs.
The company used a combination of QuickBooks and Excel, leading to inconsistency and cost leakage. Withum proposed enabling improved processes, systems, data flow and user adoption to address these.
Withum’s approach was comprehensive and system-driven. The Withum team conducted an operational diagnostic to identify the client’s pain points and bottlenecks, enabling the team to propose effective solutions. Withum’s assessment of the client’s business processes aimed to establish optimal efficiency from the outset, mitigating any potential risks to the company. The assessment efforts culminated in a summary of findings document, guiding the client in their future tech stack decision-making process.
The Client
The client is a telecommunications company at the forefront of providing affordable and accessible communication solutions.
Their commitment to ensuring everyone can stay connected is commendable, as they service Affordable Connectivity Program technology, healthcare and retail industries. As a leading provider in the communications space, the company’s continued growth and efforts to connect individuals to free internet services are genuinely inspiring, bridging the digital divide throughout the nation.
From an operational standpoint, the company has multiple entities that transact with each other. They have multiple warehouses that are managed both internally and externally. The client also has different revenue streams, including drop-shipping and device repairs. They are growing rapidly and have several systems in place to support its operations. Connectivity between their systems is crucial to support future growth.
The Challenge
The telecommunications company recognized the need for a comprehensive assessment of its business processes, primarily due to challenges associated with rapid scaling. From its inception to today, the company has seen enormous growth, and its financial, inventory and project management systems have been unable to keep pace with its day-to-day operations.
The Approach and Solution
The Withum team conducted a thorough operational system assessment and identified key themes that confirmed the company has outgrown its current operational support structure and presented an Options to Consider deliverable with viable Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions.
This assessment aimed to help the company choose a robust ERP system to support its current structure and allow for future growth. To do this, Withum determined the company’s current state through informational interviews. After completing interviews, the client was presented with a “current state” deliverable, which identified key themes and challenges in key business process.
Along with these challenges Withum pinpointed opportunities for improvement that, when acted on, would allow for easy scalability and system management. Next, Withum completed a future state workshop with the client to gauge their growth capabilities based on their current operations. Once the current state assessment was complete, the client was presented with an “options to consider” deliverable with the best ERP solutions for its current needs and future goals.
Withum’s comprehensive assessment identified key themes and challenges that, when fixed, promised substantial benefits for the company. These findings were unveiled through an evaluation of the company’s organizational structure and financial systems while uncovering the pain points and bottlenecks severely hampering operations. Armed with this knowledge, Withum embarked on a mission to align the company’s strategic vision with optimized processes.
In pursuit of this goal, the Withum team:
- Gained a profound understanding of the current IT landscape, including software functionality and the root causes of operational challenges.
- Documented potential weaknesses and opportunities for improvement related to data accuracy, reporting efficiency and strategic value.
- Developed shortlisted system solutions for the client to address the identified challenges. The shortlisted solutions evaluated as the best potential options for the client included Oracle NetSuite, Sage Intacct and Microsoft Business Central. Other recommendations involved maximizing the value of existing technology, streamlining workflow connectivity and facilitating data extraction for informed decision-making. In addition, they focused on immediate fixes and long-term successes and adapted observations and opportunities based on feedback from the client.
- Presented a series of opportunities for improvement designed to boost productivity, unlock untampered software capabilities and enhance data transparency and real-time business performance.
The client’s next step in this journey is to see demos of the ERP options presented. Withum was confident in recommending three different ERPs to demonstrate for the client, with an emphasis on two ERPs that best support the inventory aspect of the company’s operations.
The Results, ROI
The company currently has limited visibility into their 3PL and kitting processes, which affects their ability to generate accurate reports and receive timely shipping alerts. This lack of visibility has led to increased labor costs due to frequent missteps and delays. Implementing an ERP system will provide the necessary data insights, improving reporting accuracy and operational efficiency. As a result, the company will optimize its return on investment through enhanced efficiency and better-informed decision-making. Over time, labor costs are expected to decrease as the ERP system is fully adopted and integrated.
Withum thoroughly evaluated the maturity of the company’s business systems and processes, leading to the formulation of valuable recommendations. Once implemented, these recommendations promise to strengthen and enhance the company’s operations. The primary objective is to implement a new ERP system to establish stability within the organization’s core activities and subsequently advance its capabilities towards long-term financial planning and analysis. Leveraging improvements in people, processes, technology and data will be pivotal in achieving these goals.
Over time, the company can automate manual and time-consuming tasks, harness valuable insights from its data, and pivot towards predictive and prescriptive analytics to inform business planning and decision-making processes. The roadmap for this transformation is anchored in a strategic orientation that incorporates quick wins to address immediate challenges. It follows a phased project approach, designates change champions, and establishes a robust project governance framework to ensure successful execution.
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and ERP Consulting Services Team today to learn how we can build innovation into your business.
