Tapping into an ERP

Opportunity

A malt manufacturing and distribution company which serves distillers, brewers, and other users of craft brewing ingredients globally, had embarked on a business transformation project.

The client’s existing systems did not provide a cohesive financial solution for the manufacturing and distribution business units. A global solution would allow them to operate on a single digital platform. The project’s goal was to select and migrate the company to a new global ERP solution. Previous efforts of the organization to align on a single solution were not successful.

Pepper Foster assembled a team including a Managing Consultant with an extensive background in software selections. The team also included a Consultant / Business Analyst with a focus on delivering the overall goal of guiding and assisting the organization to select a best practice ERP solution for global operations.

Solution

The consultants developed a selection framework by collaborating with global stakeholders and subject matter experts to define key project goals and objectives. They created future state process flows and gathered business requirements. They also prepared an RFP and solicited feedback from selected ERP vendors.

Vendor demonstration sessions were conducted in order to allow for a greater understanding of the solution’s capabilities for specific business needs. The consultants created a best practice methodology to ensure objective scoring of demonstrated ERP solution capabilities.

The project’s main challenge surfaced when the organization determined it was difficult to select a single finalist. To address this, the consultants then facilitated additional deep-dive meetings with each of the vendor finalists and internal SMEs. This provided additional clarity in alignment with the global objective of the organization, and allowed the client to make a final selection with confidence.

Outcome

The consultants facilitated working with several ERP solution vendors for final pricing and contract negotiations. The client successfully selected an ERP solution that was the best fit for their company. The organization gained a greater understanding of their global business processes and requirements. The client also gained the knowledge and tools to become more efficient moving forward, and provide a more consistent, high-end customer experience.

Because of the work and partnership during the selection phase, Pepper Foster was retained to continue with the implementation work, which will be a multi-year effort!