CONSTRUCTION SUPPLY DISTRIBUTOR ACCELERATES ORDER FULFILLMENT AND EXPANDS E-COMMERCE CAPABILITIES WITH DYNAMICS 365
Western Computer Migrates ERP Platform to the Cloud and Consolidates Operational Processes
THE SOLUTION
Rapid growth can strain the IT resources of any company. And that’s the challenge Investments Hardware Limited (IHL) faced as the business consistently delivered quality construction and industrial supplies. When customer demand continued to surge online and at the IHL 40,000 square foot showroom, the capabilities of its ERP platform needed to expand to keep up.
IHL previously relied on an on-premises version of Microsoft Dynamics NAV, and the ERP system served the company well for many years. But as e-commerce, call center, and retail store activity increased, the company needed to streamline customer purchases as well as the order fulfillment processes in its 120,000 square foot warehouse.
“Over the years, we had customized NAV to a great extent, so adding new functionality to accommodate our e-commerce, point-of-sale system, call center, and warehouse processes was cumbersome,” states the IHL project manager responsible for the company’s ERP system. “We could have opted for a NAV upgrade, but we felt the better choice was to turn to a cloud solution that did not require as much customization when adding new functionality."
To solve the challenge, IHL turned to Western Computer, a trusted partner who had assisted IHL with implementing and maintaining the NAV ERP platform for several years. Western Computer recommended deploying Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management).
A key benefit of Finance & Operations is that it runs in the cloud. That means IHL receives system updates and new functions every month. IHL also doesn’t have to allocate internal resources to maintain the software—Microsoft takes care of that, which lowers the total cost of ownership.
- Improve warehouse efficiency.
- Expand e-commerce capabilities.
- Consolidate distribution operations into one application.
- Automate reporting of key performance indicators.
“Everyone at Western Computer is great to work with, and it doesn’t feel like there are two teams. We are one big team, driving towards the same goal. They are flexible to handle change management easily, and they want to succeed as much as we do in making the process easy for our customers to order and receive products.” IHL Project Manager
- Migrated ERP platform to the cloud with minimal business interruption.
- Integrated ERP with e-commerce system.
- Digitized warehouse workflows to reduce paperwork by 80%.
- Automated flow of ERP data into Power BI reports.
“It’s easy to make mistakes when manually looking through paperwork; the scanners Western Computer connected to Dynamics 365 help the warehouse team verify product counts and product types.” IHL Project Manager
- Speeds up warehouse processes for receiving inventory, picking orders, and shipping products.
- Allows e-commerce system to provide order status updates to customers.
- Consolidates sales transactions across web, retail, wholesale, and call-center channels.
- Provides management with real-time performance data on inventory, sales, and product margins.
“We reduced our average fulfillment time so customers now receive their orders sooner, and we can ship more orders per day. We also decreased the amount of paper we print in the warehouse by 80%. The warehouse team used to rely on paper orders, but now they just carry their scanners to see what they need to do.” IHL Project Manager
THE BENEFITS
By deploying Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations, IHL and Western Computer teamed up to accomplish two primary objectives at the beginning of the project: expand the capabilities of the company’s Sana e-commerce platform and enable the warehouse to run more efficiently.
Within the e-commerce platform, IHL enhanced customer experiences by linking sales order numbers to order tracking within Dynamics 365. This makes it possible for customers to track their orders and know when to expect products to arrive. Western Computer streamlined the backoffice process for these capabilities by configuring changes to both the e-commerce and ERP platforms.
In the IHL warehouse, Dynamics 365 connects to scanners used by resources to identify their tasks and to verify products as they are received, picked, and then shipped to customers. “We reduced our average fulfillment time so customers now receive their orders sooner, and we can ship more orders per day,” the project manager says. “We also decreased the amount of paper we print in the warehouse by 80%. The warehouse team used to rely on paper orders, but now they just carry their scanners to see what they need to do.”
To help complete the project on-time to launch at the beginning of 2020, Western Computer delivered services and provided consultation during evening hours and on weekends. IHL values Western Computer not only for its technical knowledge of Microsoft solutions but also for its expertise in the distribution industry.
“Western Computer understands how our business operates and the challenges we face running workflows as efficiently as possible,” the project manager says. “This combination enables them to adapt technologies to the way we prefer to run our business.”
Another key attribute IHL appreciates is the chemistry between IHL and Western Computer. “Everyone at Western Computer is great to work with, and it doesn’t feel like there are two teams,” the project manager says. “We are one big team, driving towards the same goal. They are flexible to handle change management easily, and they want to succeed as much as we do in making the process easy for our customers to order and receive products.”
With a first-year focus on tweaking the system and getting the company’s 250 end-users comfortable on the new ERP platform, IHL is now looking to take advantage of additional warehouse and e-commerce features offered by Dynamics 365.
“Western Computer is the perfect partner to guide us on what’s practical to deploy and the best way to implement new functions,” the project manager says. “We look forward to continuing our trusted partnership.”
Investments Hardware Limited (IHL) provides clothing, gear and supplies that enable construction companies to help their crews work efficiently and to protect them from head-to-toe. Launched in 1985, the Canadian family-owned business operates an outlet and offices in Ontario, featuring a 120,000 square foot warehouse and a 40,000 square foot showroom—with all the needs of construction professionals underneath one roof. The company also sells products to customers online and through a customer call center with a product catalog that includes more than 500 pages of construction and industrial supplies.
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