Profit Magazine - February 2008

system, they decided, would be a centralized sales order system that could help the company simultaneously oversee several types of manufacturing processes.

The software worked as advertised. All financial processes are now integrated into one central database. This has allowed Hunter Douglas to consolidate its order entry, finance, customer service, and IT management processes—reducing head count significantly. Implementing consolidated business applications also gave Hunter Douglas greater insight into its expanding enterprise. “We now have all our businesses on a single computer system, with one database, which means we can quickly analyze data and make better decisions,” says Ken

Dixon, group IT manager at Hunter

Douglas. “We’ve reduced manufacturing lead times and improved quality by more accurately producing products to specifications.”

Dixon credits the JD Edwards

EnterpriseOne Sales Order

Management applications for these measurable gains in efficiency, calling the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Sales

Order Configurator the “lifeblood” of his firm’s make-to-order business. The configurator simplifies order entry activities by combining information from multiple channels, helping sales reps to configure products, verify delivery dates, calculate freight, and check customer credit. Managers use the associated business intelligence software, in conjunction with the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne reporting tools, to evaluate pricing history, calculate the profitability of individual sales lines, and track product quality. “Rework is a big issue in this industry,” explains Dixon. “We make up to 1,200 lines per day and they’re all accurately configured with the JD Edwards tools.”

Hunter Douglas now has a more-cohesive technology platform for new ventures, yet it has reduced its overall head count significantly. Most of these staff reductions resulted from eliminating duplicate back-office functions in accounting, IT, order entry, and customer service. Additionally, the company used to run five different hardware and software systems. Now it has just one cohesive system, and three-and-a-half full-time equivalents managing the entire JD Edwards infrastructure. According to Dixon, the new system enables the company to provide better customer service as well as to generate significant savings in transaction costs.

As Oracle’s Keever says, the key is to make it a business project, not just a technology project, and to engage partners who understand the domain at hand. “Involve business stakeholders from the outset, and make sure that the core business processes and long-term business objectives are reflected in the software,” he notes.

Part of the reason Hunter Douglas has been so successful is because of the company’s insistence on involving users from all areas of the business during the implementation cycle. These experts worked closely with Hunter Douglas’ in-house IT staff.

Meanwhile, the IT pros conferred

“We now have higher plan- with application consultants provided by Oracle’s JD Edwards to

ning quality, better coordi- ensure they were correctly installing,

deploying, and using the new busi-

nation and better financials, ness applications.
^with ^{profitability} ^by ^part ^BREG’s ^Romeo ^cautions ^ITmanagers to consider the cultural
_number, _by _customer, _by aspects of an enterprise resource _planning _{implementation,} _not _justmonth, and so forth.” the raw mechanics of installing new
software. He also stresses the impor-
^—Norbert ^Mayr, ^CFO, tance of installing standard software
^HOPPE ^Holding ^AGwith minimal customizations. “We
find that Oracle offers such robust
solutions that we don’t have to acquire other software to fill
perceived gaps,” he explains. “By keeping the processes within
Oracle E-Business Suite, we can leverage the data throughout the
company and create a more-cohesive set of business processes.”
If a custom function or module is necessary, Romeo says
to look to the surrounding ecosystem for guidance. “There’s
a thriving customer base that has rallied around Oracle’s
software applications,” he adds. “Oracle has done a phenom-
enal job of understanding the core business requirements for
our industry.”

As these companies demonstrate, Oracle’s business applications can help midsize companies deploy the type of sophisticated back-office business systems that larger companies have long enjoyed. “We aspired to be much more than we were when we made the strategic decision to adopt Oracle software,” concludes Romeo. “Having the right technology behind the business has helped us grow up very quickly.” <>

DAVID BAUM is a freelance business writer based in Santa Barbara, California.

LESSONS LEARNED What’s the take-home point for midsize business owners? Although implementing an enterprise resource planning system is a major commitment, with the right technology and expertise, it’s a commitment that can yield enormous returns.