Case Studies
Case Study - Global IT manufacturer
Q3 helps Global IT manufacturer reduce operational costs through process automation
Q3's global sourcing model gives the maximum benefit to customers in terms of cost savings, improved quality, access to highly talented professionals, flexibility of operations and reduced time to market.
Company Profile
The client is an $80 billion company whose offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing, imaging, printing and IT services.
Business Situation
The Procurement Services division of the client procures components from the suppliers, which are then shipped to the Original Design Manufacturers (ODMs) and Contract Manufactures (CMs). ODMs and CMs assemble finished goods and the client procures finished goods back from these manufacturers. The procurement division uses Baan ERP primarily for order management and warehousing.
As the client operated in an environment that was subject to competitive global pricing trends and dynamic market forces, it was looking at ways to optimize the existing ERP system to reduce costs and improve operational efficiencies
Solution
After analyzing the client's existing business processes, Q3 proposed a detailed plan for helping the client achieve its objective. Initially, individual business processes were taken up based on the productivity gains they would provide. Subsequently, processes were analyzed by conducting time analysis. This included analyzing the number of clicks, number of data entries, and number of sessions navigated for a business process in Baan. Opportunities for major efficiency gains were analyzed and a development plan was prepared. Technology solutions were then devised for each of these opportunities.
These individual solution stacks were later integrated with each other to achieve end-to-end automation.
For achieving end-to-end automation of the order-to-invoice process, Q3 used a combination of multiple technologies such as ASP, EDI, AFS, BOI and MS Excel VBA.
Benefits
The entire solution was developed in a record timeframe of only two months using an offshore model. This enabled the client to drastically reduce development and deployment costs.
Other significant benefits include:
- The end-to-end automation of the buy-sell process reduced the processing time by one third. This also subsequently reduced the operational costs
- Improved resource utilization through the capability to handle increase in business without subsequent increase in manpower
- Substantial improvement in customer experience and turn around time
- Standardization and automation in business processes helped the client in shifting its business across global locations
Customer Speaks
Faced with the need for more resources, we were initially hesitant about how it would work to outsource some development work. Q3 has been an ideal partner; we now think of them as an extension of our development team, and appreciate all their efforts to learn about our people and our products. They have been excellent at seeking clarification on design questions, and have increased the knowledge and depth of their team in response to our needs. We particularly appreciated their willingness to document their work using our internal systems, saving us administration time. We would not hesitate to recommend Q3 to anyone seeking a reliable, knowledgeable and conscientious development partner.
President, Breakwater Designs Limited.