Successes in Technology
Situation
With an archaic ERP system in place, The Intec Group faced a critical decision to take a leap forward and implement a new information management system for the 21st century, or remain in the slow, paper-driven past. Efficiency was goal number one for the new Intec initiative, bringing their administrative processes and workforce up to speed and creating an opportunity to expand the technology into other key departments in the future. “The full process mapping exercise was eye opening because we had not realized how many offline systems were being utilized as an alternative to the ERP,” said Chad Archer, CFO of The Intec Group. “People were managing Excel spreadsheets, Access databases, etc. and the new system opened our eyes to the capabilities possible with a single IT source.” Through the help of IMEC, the Intec team looked at the strategic comparison for starting from scratch with a new system versus updating the existing software; ultimately making the decision to update three generations further with their existing vendor.
IMEC Solution
With an anticipated implementation timeline of 9 months, the Intec team knew they needed to work quickly and efficiently across departments. “The old system was very manual and difficult to retrieve information, analyze it, and share reports across the team,” said Chad. In order to assist the team with project plan execution, IMEC offered support through a Project Management expert who joined the Intec team has an informal employee and provided formal guidance on proper project management techniques to ensure the ERP system implementation ran smoothly – on time and on budget. “This was a critical resource for our project’s success,” added Chad. “She did an amazing job of keeping all departments on track by mapping data, sharing visibility of completed tasks, and scheduling resources to keep our folks in alignment. Everything was very ‘by-the-book’ and when the project closed, we were handed a complete synopsis with actions and feedback for Phase Two.”
After 9 months, the Intec team successfully completed the implementation of their updated ERP system; launching them into a new generation of efficiency in a technology-driven workplace. “The initial results have been fantastic,” said Chad. “Our people are getting things done much quicker than they’re used to; what once took 4-8 hours is now done in 30-60 minutes. It gives us a tremendous opportunity to spend more time managing the business versus spending time transactionally.” The new system has also provided the team with the opportunity to analyze their business in new ways and with improved accuracy. By including finance and accounting in the ERP software, they now have access to data and reports that were previously unavailable. The Intec Group is looking at Phase Two with excitement and plan to work with IMEC and the ERP vendor to revisit additional features available to them to continue their growth.
Results
- Increased task efficiency by improving time to complete from 4-8 hours to 30-60 minutes
- New investment in information systems of $350,000
- Anticipated $60M in new and retained sales
- Improved visibility and accuracy of critical data reports across multiple departments
- $250,000 cost savings anticipated from ERP system update