3 success factors in moving to a single global ERP instance for CPG companies

Written by Cem Item, Vice President at Sunrise Technologies.

Managing multiple ERP instances is common for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies who inherit a system through business acquisition, or have customized legacy systems for each business unit, channel, location, and or department. As old technologies lose their effectiveness, customizations are made and patches are created to keep the systems working. This can lead to a growing mess.

Companies that are considering consolidating to a unified platform for ERP, CRM, and business intelligence know that the process will be time consuming and costly, but the benefits of global visibility and universal business processes throughout the organization will immediately show a ROI. For many, consolidating and moving to a single instance of a modern platform is key to their very survival and being able to support the solution for the long term and keep it up-to-date. (Want to dive deeper into the reasons? Check out the Top Benefits of Standardizing Global CPG Manufacturing with a Single Instance ERP Solution).

There are three critical success factors to consider when planning to move to a single ERP instance:

1. Infrastructure Plan and Management
With any ERP implementation, you need to assess your existing infrastructure and make sure you have good plan in place. This should be your starting point. What does your existing infrastructure look like? How will the organization be accessing the solution – in the cloud or from a datacenter? You will need to examine the full range of your IT architecture, including data network equipment, telecommunications, servers and storage, data center efficiency, end-user technology, physical security, and support strategy. Will your current network be able to support the additional demands of the new modern unified platform so that you get the security, reliability, and cost savings you expect? Is it time to consider a cloud strategy that will allow you to always stay fresh on the latest version without the management of infrastructure?

2. Master Data Consolidation and Management
The master data which is spread across various business information systems will need to be consolidated and moved into a single data management hub. Take a look at the entities and processes and create consistency in the way the master data is managed or what is called Global Master Data Management. For example, look at how the company is going to define products, customers, and vendors across the organization and standardize that data up front. You will need to make the global design decisions early in the process and stick to it throughout implementation, as well as after you are up and running. The quality of this data will be a critical driver to the success of the implementation.

3. Process Standardization
You can realize significant cost savings by standardizing processes across the entire global supply chain, whether you own it or not. The goal is to integrate your processes and standardize them as much as possible which will lead to common parameters for comparison, reduction in costs and a single internal view of the organization. Such process standardization is the foundation for enabling shared services across the enterprise. For example, you can standardize key global procurement processes, which can ultimately provide greater transparency, and increased procurement speed and efficiency along the supply chain, by consolidating and managing procurement resources spread around the world under a centrally shared procurement center.

Selecting an ERP application and implementing a global single instance can be challenging, but the benefits and return on investment can be considerable. Be sure to keep these factors in mind as you go through your evaluation process and work with an experienced partner familiar with your industry who can carefully walk you through your options and alternatives.

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Whether you’re exploring your options for new business platforms, or ready to get started, we are trusted business partners for some of the world’s most well-known brands. With over 25 years of experience with the Microsoft stack, we can help you understand all the capabilities Microsoft has to offer.

Why Sunrise? 5 reasons you can count on Sunrise

Why Sunrise? 5 Reasons You Can Count on Sunrise

Trust Sunrise to implement the last ERP you’ll ever need. This factsheet outlines 5 reasons you can count on Sunrise Technologies to implement Microsoft Dynamics 365 and support it for a lifetime. In a nutshell, we speak your language and have exclusive industry solutions so you can hit the ground running. Plus you’ll enjoy the affordability and elasticity of the Microsoft Cloud, and a global consulting and support presence. See the backside of the factsheet for a quick overview of our industry solutions.

Sunrise Global Support for Microsoft Dynamics 365 / AX and Power BI

Our commitment to clients

Our Commitment to Clients

Our promise to support you long after go live.

We’ve always believed in long term relationships. And long after go live, you can count on us as an extension of your IT team.

You’ll receive access to 24×7 support, made possible by our team of functional and technical team members all across the globe.

Learn more about our support services

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Invasive roots: Code overlays vs. extensions in Dynamics AX

Anyone who has ever visited the American South has probably encountered kudzu…how can you not? It’s EVERYWHERE.

If you aren’t familiar (lucky you), kudzu is a species of climbing vine native to Asia. Locally, it is known as “the vine that ate the South.” When it was first introduced to the United States in the late 1870s, it was considered a miracle plant with a wide variety of uses — as long as it was managed properly. However, decades of neglect have left the South engulfed in kudzu, which is estimated to spread at a rate of about 150,000 acres per year. On average, Southern communities spend about $6 million per year to combat this killer weed.

At this point, you may be thinking, “That’s fascinating, but has nothing to do with Dynamics AX or Dynamics 365.” Not true! Dynamics AX had its own problem with invasive activity in the form of overlaid code (which can impact the move to Dynamics 365). And like kudzu, it was initially viewed as a good thing.

Until the introduction of Dynamics 365, overlaying code was the only way partners and customers were able to offer customizations for industry requirements due to AX’s 3-tier infrastructure. By the sheer nature of the software, some invasive overwriting was bound to occur. However, the degree of invasiveness really boiled down to a fundamental split in philosophy about Dynamics AX.

Some partners (like Sunrise) celebrated what Microsoft Dynamics AX is at its core. Solutions offered by these types of partners offered additional functionality to the software while minimizing customizations to what came out-of-the-box (because the long term maintenance and upgradability was just as important as the added industry capabilities).

Other partners were not as satisfied with the core functionality of Dynamics AX and tried to force a different structure onto the software. These partners’ add-ons, while providing legitimate benefits, often overwrote key features standard to AX. The more customization that occurred, the more deeply these ‘roots’ become entwined with the source code. When it came time to upgrade, untangling everything became just like trying to get rid of kudzu — frustrating, time-consuming, and expensive.

With the introduction of Dynamics 365, developers are required to create extensions that interact with, but don’t alter, Dynamics 365’s source code. This way customers and partners can still incorporate industry-specific tweaks and still take advantage of the regular platform and application updates released by Microsoft. Another great benefit is that code extensions don’t break after you run an update. Dynamics 365 simply searches for the existing extension and picks up right where it left off.

(If you’re interested in the nitty-gritty details, this is a great article that dives into what overlays and extensions can and can’t do.)

So what does this mean for you? It depends. If you are new to Dynamics 365, this is great news because you can rest easy knowing that you can always take advantage of the latest and greatest in Dynamics 365 without having to worry about any customizations interfering with an update.

If you are planning to migrate or upgrade from an older version of Dynamics AX to Dynamics 365 you’ll need to plan to do a little homework. First, take a hard look at your customizations and see if you still need all of them, since new functionality is being added regularly. For those customizations you decide to keep, you need to check with the ISV developer to ensure that they have been converted to code extensions. If they have, make sure to ask how the ISV has adapted/plans to adapt to keep up with more frequent Microsoft releases. Also, depending on how invasive previously implemented customizations were, you may also need to allot additional time to untangle your data to prepare it for migration.

Unlike the South’s on going war with kudzu, Microsoft has managed to get to the “root” of invasive code overlays and has found a permanent solution to the problem. While legacy Dynamics customers may see the repercussions of code overlays for a few more years, the end is in sight!

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

When good orders go bad: Part 2

In part 1 of our mini-series How Did We End Up Here? The Impact of Dysfunctional, Fragmented Systems on Customer Perception and Brand Reputation – and Ways to Fix It we explored a common scenario of a frustrated consumer trying to find out what happened to an order, how fragmented systems can be the primary inhibitor to good customer service (and higher revenue), and touched on the benefits of a Unified Commerce system. But we ended on an ominous note. There is still one major element that is keeping major retailers from making the switch to a Unified Commerce solution: fear.

The prospect of replacing an organization’s ERP, POS, CRM, BI, SCM, PLM, WMS, and productivity solutions is enough to make even the most prepared executive shudder. Not only does the prospect of failure loom over such a project, but it also typically involves coming face-to-face with less than ideal business practices. Not to mention fighting the inertia of “but we’ve always done it that way.”

These systems essentially represent an organization’s respiratory system and replacing them is suggesting multiple organ transplants. And, like true organ transplants, while there is potential for pain and risk, there is also the potential for innumerable positive outcomes. In fact, according to a report by IDC, organizations that replace outdated, disparate solutions stand to gain up to $3,700 in revenue annually per employee in increased productivity and agility.¹

If you’re considering such a ‘transplant’ for your own organization, consider the following to ensure that the operation goes smoothly and your systems aren’t rejected:

Give yourself plenty of time.
Instead of waiting for a crisis (sun setting of current systems, angry customers reaching critical mass, etc.) start your search now. Having a clear, systematic, organized plan of action will make the transition all the easier.

Go unified or go home.
If you’re experiencing multiple system failures in your organization, then replacing them with more unintegrated systems is maybe not the wisest decision. Similarly, if you replace a damaged heart (ex: ERP) but still have lungs that are only working at 25% capacity (ex: WMS) then you will most likely still have problems. Look for a unified platform of business applications that were built to work as a team, but can stand on their own as well. Flexibility and mobility are a must across your entire organization.

Pick with the future in mind.
Make sure you don’t end up in a systems conundrum again. Choose a solution from a company with proven longevity and a strong forward vision. Companies like Microsoft aren’t going out of business anytime soon. Research product timelines and R&D budgets to be sure solutions are on the cutting edge.

Find the right partner.
This is directly related to giving yourself plenty of time. Just like you wouldn’t want Doogie Howser doing your heart transplant, you’ll want to spend time working with an experienced partner that knows your vertical like the back of their hand and has a history of successful implementations to draw from. Specific solutions for your industry are always a plus too.

If you’re wondering what happened to my order from part 1, it took over a month for all of my items to be delivered and in the end so much of my order had been refunded that my total spend was $1.15 — for a total discount of nearly 99.5%. At this point I feel pretty confident that I have cost this leading brand money because of how my order was handled. On top of that, although I loved this store previously, I never want to do business with them again. I’m not alone in this feeling either.

Don’t let these customers be your customers. Stop asking yourself, “How did we end up here?” and start telling yourself, “I know how we’re going to fix this.”

Sunrise Technologies has over 20 years of experience helping organizations tame unruly systems. As a preferred Microsoft implementation partner with hundreds of successful Dynamics AX implementations, we have unparalleled experience working with apparel, footwear, home furnishings and consumer products brands. If you’re ready to take the bandages off your business applications, reduce the number of interfaces you have to maintain, improve your customers’ experiences, and see increased revenue through increased productivity and agility, contact us today or head over to our resource library for customer success stories, white papers, and factsheets.

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

When good orders go bad: Part 1

We’ve all been there at one point or another. You place an order online and things seem to be going well. The transaction goes through correctly, you receive a confirmed order email, and when you check a few days later, an estimated arrival date has appeared on your account. Then the arrival date comes and goes. No package. You wait a few more days. Still no package.

So you call customer support – all you want to do is talk to a real, live person. Ten, twenty minutes pass. Forty minutes go by. At this point it’s a matter of principle to stick it out and talk to someone.

Finally, it’s your turn! You do a little happy dance, knowing that nearly an hour on hold is finally going to pay off! Until it turns out that despite having four different systems that should (theoretically) be able to track your items from order, to fulfillment, to shipping, this rep still has no idea where your order is. Don’t worry though, your request is being escalated to someone who should be able to give you a better answer—can you call back in 24 hours?

When presented with a scenario like this (which, unfortunately, is based on a recent experience I had with a leading brand), it’s easy to feel like large retail organizations are run by faceless goons who only care about making a profit. However, we all know that is simply not the case. No CEO, CIO, or COO sets out to create such a hellacious customer experience because they know that 95% of dissatisfied customers share their experiences¹, and that U.S. companies lose billions of dollars annually due to poor customer service ².

If the stakes are so high, why do so many companies end up in such dire straits? While there can be a variety of reasons, there is a vital clue to one major problem for this particular retailer. Can you spot it?

This is part 1 of a mini series that will explore what actually happens when customers face this kind of trouble with an order, the potential impact that could have on a business’ revenue, operations, and most importantly, customer service.

So, did you spot the problem? It’s the four different systems. Instead of having a single integrated solution that would show the customer service rep the entire story of my order, including the history and current status, she was flipping between systems that were communicating with each other about as well as a sullen teenager when asked about his or her day. In other words: not well. It’s the kind of nightmare scenario that makes most executives wonder, “This is so bad…how did we end up here?”

This isn’t an isolated, or particularly recent issue either. According to a 2013 Forrester study, “42% of service agents are unable to efficiently resolve customer issues due to disconnected systems, archaic user interfaces, and multiple applications.”³ As companies continue to grow, whether through acquisitions or the addition of new channels, product lines, or locations, new problems crop up. The common reaction is to stick a band aid on these issues. New financial system here, different warehousing tool there, 3PL integration over yonder—pretty soon the only thing holding all these systems together is some chewing gum and a prayer.

The band aid reaction is understandable too. In the short term, it’s the cheaper, easier option. But what about the long term costs? As Duncan Taylor, part of the Global Retail Industry arm of Microsoft, pointed out in a webinar, time, money, and energy spent on integrating a multitude of disparate systems is time, money, and energy wasted. Diverting these resources towards implementing a Unified Commerce system (a set of enterprise business tools built to seamlessly work together) would ultimately result in a better customer experience, lower overall cost of ownership, and ultimately a higher ROI.

Which is probably why, according to the IHL Group, unified commerce will be one of the biggest drivers of IT spend over the coming year with over $30B devoted to solving issues like the ones I experienced. But, here’s the thing—there’s a reason why it’s taken the industry so long to catch up with a clearly pressing problem, and why so many smart people still revert to the band aid solution.

To find out what’s keeping major retailers from making the switch to a Unified Commerce solution, how to get over it, and key factors for making sure your IT budget is spent wisely, join us for Part 2 of How Did We End Up Here?

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Forecast netting: An art and a science

In day-to-day operations we focus on demand planning. We focus on supply planning. Then… we seem to lose focus. There is sometimes a sense of wishful thinking that the demand plan that was so diligently generated will magically appear in the supply plan the way we want and everything will work out perfectly!

Unfortunately, real life rarely works that way. It comes down to a fundamental difference in the ways that demand and supply plans are generated. Demand planning tends to be at a higher level—for example, at a style or style-color by week. Supply planning is at the most granular level—say, style-color-size by day. This difference in calculation is further complicated by actual orders coming in. How are they accounted for in the demand plan?

Ultimately it comes down to forecast netting. It can sometimes be tough to realize that netting logic has an impact on how the supply plan should be developed. This brings us back to the million-dollar question: is there a magic formula for how to best net demand? Short answer—not really. Some larger companies choose to run algorithms based on years of historical data, but not every company can access its data easily, or the company may be so new that folks are still figuring things out.

The right answer is depends on how aggressive or conservative your company wants to be when it comes to planning. Deciding whether to net demand at a high level then disaggregate it to lower levels, or vice versa, is an art and a science.

Just be aware that you should be prepared with a contingency plan if your actuals come in higher than your demand plan, or vice versa—but that’s a topic for another day.

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

5 things we’ve learned from 100 go lives

One of our proudest accomplishments as a company is that we have completed over 100 successful go lives with Microsoft Dynamics AX. It’s fair to say you’d be hard pressed to find another partner with so many successful, industry-focused deployments. With all that experience under our belt, we’ve learned a few things along the way.

1. Work Hard. Be Honest. Be Nice to People. Ok, so maybe we started the business following these principles, but they are still our number one priority, and the single most important thing about our business. At the end of the day, implementations are people projects, not software projects. We’re incredibly conscious of the way we engage with people, the values of the companies we work with, and we’re asking people to make significant changes in the way they do business. It isn’t easy, and we respect that—because without that respect, projects fail.

2. Go in with a road map to success. Every implementation partner goes into a project with the goal of a successful go live—it just takes some folks longer to get there than others. We’ve meticulously studied and documented what it takes to not only go live on time and on budget, but also what documents and templates a company needs post-go live to ensure that they feel confident with the product after the implementation team has said their goodbyes. We call this toolkit QuickStart and we’ve found that, on average, it shaves about a month off of implementations. Pretty sweet, right?

3. Conference room pilots, conference room pilots, conference room pilots. We won’t pretend that CRPs are anyone’s idea of fun, but there’s a reason we insist on conducting at least three prior to going live—sometimes things go wrong! Successfully implementing Microsoft Dynamics AX is walking a fine line between an art and a science. CRPs ensure that the kinks get out of the system well before the official go live.

4. Better to do one thing well than many things poorly. We often get asked why we don’t branch out into other solutions, verticals, or product lines. The answer is simple: Microsoft Dynamics AX is the best Tier One ERP system on the market today, and we’re the best at implementing it for apparel, footwear, home goods, and durable CPG brands. This intense focus and experience in these industries has led to an intimate understanding of the complex business processes that make them successful.

5. Stay in it for the long haul. Along the way to this milestone of over 100 successful go lives, we learned that sometimes customers may not have the in-house help they need after our consultants go home. We always knew that an implementation didn’t end at go live, but for a while, we didn’t have a process to manage that post-go live relationship. As an extension of our business values and principles (see numbers 1-4) we created Sunrise Global Support. Sunrise Global Support is…exactly what it sounds like. A global network of support personnel that is available 24×7 for any of our customers technical needs, because we know business never stops and glitches don’t wait for Monday.

We’ve learned a lot over the last 100 go lives—and we’re positive we’ll learn more as we keep going. Here’s to another 100 go lives and many more after that!

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

To share or not to share, that is the question: Three considerations before sharing services

If you are a part of a large (or growing) organization, you’re probably interested in leveraging your human capital across multiple business units, divisions, regions, or brands. In a relatively short amount of time, shared services have proven to be a popular way for companies to reduce costs, improve customer service, and increase process effectiveness. In fact, in 2011 89% of global executives reported that they thought sharing services was a strategic choice for their business. ¹ Yet, these benefits have only become truly feasible in the last few years thanks to advances in business applications and information systems.

With so many advantages to implementing shared services, it may be tempting to get started right away. Before you start consolidating divisions left and right, here are few things to think about to make sure you take full advantage of shared services in your organization:

First, you should define which functions can be shared across your organization. A good place to start is internally facing functions like financials, human resources, information technology, etc. Even in a very diverse organization, these areas are most likely to have enough similarities in methodology and practice that shared services could be easily implemented.

The next thing to think about is creating clear definitions of organizational hierarchy and boundaries. Who can have access to which data? What kind of security settings are required? Can business workflows be directed to shared services for approvals? Taking time to lay out the ground rules and access permissions now could save a great deal of pain later.

Speaking of hierarchies and boundaries, this brings up the most important question. Can your business systems run both shared and segmented functions under a single platform? Shared services personnel won’t be as effective if they’re asked to jump from one application to the next to complete daily operations.

It’s clear that shared services are here to stay, but it’s also not something to rush into. Just imagine how many integrations, security setups, workflow modelings, and data synchronizations must be developed and configured to make shared services work! It’s pretty easy to see why a comprehensive IT strategy must be developed first to realize all the benefits of shared services in the long run.

If you do decide to go the shared services route, it’s worth mentioning that Microsoft Dynamics AX is particularly well suited to handling shared services. For example, take a look at the screen below (Click the image if you’d like to see a bigger version.)

In this view each shared service is clearly defined and is treated like any other organizational structure.

Whether you already have shared services or are thinking about implementing them in your company, it’s always a good idea to make sure you clearly define the functions of your services, set appropriate boundaries, and, ideally, run them under a single platform like Microsoft Dynamics AX.

¹ The Shared Services and Outsourcing Revolution is Here, Shared Services and Outsourcing Network, 2011.

Industry: Footwear

3 success factors in moving to a single global ERP instance for CPG companies

3 Critical Success Factors

Written by Cem Item, Vice President at Sunrise Technologies.

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Why Sunrise? 5 reasons you can count on Sunrise

Why Sunrise? 5 Reasons You Can Count on Sunrise

Sunrise Global Support for Microsoft Dynamics 365 / AX and Power BI

Our commitment to clients

Our Commitment to Clients

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Invasive roots: Code overlays vs. extensions in Dynamics AX

Invasive Roots

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

When good orders go bad: Part 2

Part 2
How Did We Get Here?

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

When good orders go bad: Part 1

Part 1
How Did We Get Here?

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Forecast netting: An art and a science

Forecast Netting

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

5 things we’ve learned from 100 go lives

5 Things We've Learned From 100+ Go-Lives

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

To share or not to share, that is the question: Three considerations before sharing services

To share or not to share, that is the question.

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Reach out to us

3 Critical Success Factors

Written by Cem Item, Vice President at Sunrise Technologies.

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Why Sunrise? 5 Reasons You Can Count on Sunrise

Our Commitment to Clients

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Invasive Roots

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Part 2 How Did We Get Here?

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Part 1 How Did We Get Here?

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Forecast Netting

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

5 Things We've Learned From 100+ Go-Lives

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

To share or not to share, that is the question.

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Implementing Great Ideas

Reach out to us

Part 2
How Did We Get Here?

Part 1
How Did We Get Here?