IT GuidePoint Corporation Verified Company

IT GuidePoint Corporation evaluated a company's product lifecycles and fabrication process needs and then designed a custom ERP. They uploaded thousands of products into the system and supported the launch. The client received enhanced internal bandwidth thanks to the efficient new ERP. Critical processes like pricing and ordering are smoother than ever thanks to IT GuidePoint Corporations' extensive experience designing ERPs. Their transparent project management allowed for internal executive buy in. BACKGROUND Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m the CIO of a mid-sized, privately held, manufacturing company in Chicago. I also have some responsibility for supply chain. OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE What challenge were you trying to address with IT GuidePoint Corporation? The company was on a very old manufacturing system ERP that was way past end of life. They brought me in to assess their environment and make recommendations that would increase their value for possible sale in the future. SOLUTION What was the scope of their involvement? First, they assessed the ERPs available in the marketplace to see if they were fit for the organization. From there, we conducted workshops and ran the executive team through the evaluation process to narrow down a final recommendation. From there, we dovetailed into ERP planning (securing the budget and resources), implementation, and go live. The solution we chose was an Oracle JD Edwards implementation because of its manufacturing focus and configuration flexibility. We have manufacturing facilities here, as we handle everything from the shop floor to ordering and cash. The solution’s multi-mixed mode allowed us to account for all those processes. They used a cloud-based tool called IBM Blueworks to map out all our core processes and then printed them and pasted them onto our wall. The executive team came to review the information, which included complete engineering product lifecycles, and they identified problems in their time-to-market pipeline. IT GuidePoint then guided us through a deconstruction and reconstruction process, resulting in a bill of material changes that they moved through. They developed a system that allowed us to group our 7,000 sellable products into marketing groups based on numbers automatically assigned during fabrication. Finally, IT GuidePoint put all our products into the new ERP configurator. What is the team composition? IT GuidePoint assigned a project manager for the assessment process, and when we were ready to implement our solution, a team of ERP resources came in. We worked with probably one dozen members from their team at that time. How did you come to work with IT GuidePoint Corporation? I had done some work with David (Founder & Managing Partner) in the past at a prior organization. That business was a SAP shop, and I engaged IT GuidePoint to help us with some SAP upgrades. We’d acquired a business in Mexico and wanted to bring them on to our sales and distribution module. IT GuidePoint went and got the resources for me. It was a very good experience. How much have you invested with them? The total cost for our organization was $15 million. What is the status of this engagement? The work kicked off in early Q1 2012 and ended in Q3 2015. RESULTS & FEEDBACK What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? With the new system, pricing products went from taking weeks to minutes because of the information compiled in the ERP. Our ability immediately increased on the order-entry side, as did our data organization. IT GuidePoint gave us a streamlined structure to our process that delivered insights into our bill of materials and other business data. This was the most valuable part of the engagement. Regarding timelines, we went live a full month earlier than expected, saving the company almost $2 million related to burn rate and loss of revenue. IT GuidePoint’s execution was very good and very fast. How did IT GuidePoint Corporation perform from a project management standpoint? I was very pleased with their work in this aspect. I was always kept up to date on the hours we were using per person so I knew how to project our spend every quarter. This information was then communicated to our leadership team at the beginning of each phase. What did you find most impressive about them? IT GuidePoint brought with them experience in knowing how the ERP process would work based on their projects with other organizations. This translated into knowledge about project methodology and management. They led our executive team through off-site workshops at the beginning of every phase, and they prepared me for the board of director’s meetings. In those instances, the IT GuidePoint team provided a slide deck with details about the project’s burn rate and financials, as well as beneficial changes made to date. Are there any areas they could improve? They were spot on. Any advice for potential customers? You can’t turn your ERP over to anybody without being hands-on, especially at the CIO level. You have to hold the line and be visible, partnering with them in an authentic manner. An ERP is going to transform your business. Unless you're doing something that’s so markedly different in the marketplace as to make you a differentiator, then shift your business to fit the existing ERPs. Additionally, you have to align the executive team on what's going because introducing a new ERP is going to ruffle feathers. People have to understand the data and the process, both in the present and how they want those aspects to operate in the future.