Updated: Sep 26, 2022
In a prior BLOG article,"Top 4 Reasons That Lead to Operational Inefficiencies", we explored the types of detectable issues that, if allowed to continue, could trigger inefficiencies in your operation causing grief and losses to the company:
Growing number of disconnected workflows and manual processes
Growing silo's between internal departments without critical communication processes in place
Increasing mishaps caused by bad decision making
Sales are growing but margin is starting to shrink
In this BLOG article, we provide real case studies where VNCTech Group provided solutions to all 4 of these issues.
Case Study #1 Growing Number of Disconnected Workflows and Manual Processes.
A medium-size Background Screening firm provides thousands of daily employment and criminal screening for large retail outlets and box stores. The firm operates in the USA and western Europe running fast, low cost criminal, employment and motor vehicle searches as well as drug testing.
Problem Statement Over 10 years ago, the firm developed software to handle thousands of daily transactions into invoices as well as accepting and tracking payments. Over the years, as customer expectations rose, privacy and regulation laws changed and the company expanded. New processes now required financial experts to manually review and process these documents and invoices creating bottlenecks, poor customer service, and increasing costs. Change was necessary to effectively support the newer business and technology processes and improve speed, customer satisfaction and control costs.
Approach VNCTech Group leveraged the original software and expanded the business solution to handle new regulations while also integrating and customizing off the shelf third party applications to handle payments and invoices within their work flows. Our focus was to deliver the following:
Increase efficiency and effectiveness of business operations
Provide easy access to real time data
Allow for transparency in business processes
Improve internal and external customer service
Migrate from a manual review to an fully automated
Outcomes
Both Payments and Invoicing process are now fully automated
Customer satisfaction improved 100% going more than 14 months without complaints
Realtime data is available to financial experts and mgmt through real time reports & advanced analytics
Full automation now allows 100% paperless in entire process
Firm saved $5 per invoice with thousands processed each day
Firm was able to downsize its finance depart from 30 to 10 people without losing efficiency
Case Study #2 Growing silo’s between internal departments without critical communication processes in place
A mid-size firm specializing in life and annuity insurance for people over 60 is a fast growing company in the heart of Atlanta GA. They have created unique insurance programs that are easy to understand by the technically challenged and are fully automated and extremely easy to use online services.
Problem Statement Over the 15 years in business the firm developed over a dozen different departments and dozens of sub departments to support its multiple insurance products and complex variations. Although there are many products, it's not uncommon to have 1 client purchase multiple products across these departments - so it's critical that departments can fluidly work across lines. The firm used Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, Access) to validate data, do reporting and communicate internally. Over time, this became too large to properly manage slowing down communication, increasing cost, and decreasing customer satisfaction. The firm therefore initiated a new technology program aimed at connecting groups across departments, improving productivity and customer satisfaction.
Approach VNCTech Group implemented a Salesforce CRM system in phases. The initial phase provided access to marketing and sales departments with subsequent phases extending to other departments and some access to actual clients (securely). Other items included customizing workloads for their business process, scalability, training, and deployment. The system was also configured to securely be used remotely online or offline (synch-able) when sales people are visiting clients.
Outcomes
Improvement to efficiency and productivity immediately noticed
Streamlined business process between departments
Centralized system to manage referral network
Remote access for the sales team with the ability to automatically sync once online
Access to reporting tools with real time data
Expanded referral territory to include surrounding counties
Case Study #3 Streamline process to make better and smarter decisions
A Private Equity firm in Ohio is responsible for investing in technology companies that produce children’s environmental education software acquired and integrated over a dozen small companies over the last 2 years to become a fairly significant player in the consolidation of this industry.
Problem Statement The PE firm has experienced significant “misses” related to integration of technology, skills and people post acquisition. These misses are largely due to poor decisions made during pre acquisition due diligence in regard to technical complexity and people costs; so the firm is seeking more consistency in their decision-making process as it pertains to technology, skills and people integration.
Approach VNCTech Group performed an in depth audit and analysis of the existing due diligence procedures that resulted in issues found and actionable recommendations for improvements to their current policies and procedures. With “low hanging fruit” implemented first, modifications and updates were applied to the procedures along with performance metrics to ensure better and smarter decisions were being made moving forward.
Outcomes
Streamlined technical due diligence process end-to-end established
Roles and responsibilities of all acquisitions clearly defined with proper scoring model of those to include and not include for integration
Updated formal policies and procedures to ensure repeatability for all acquisitions
Provided insight and guidance for integration of technology and people with smoother and cost effective results
Case Study #4 Operational process improvements leads to growth and margin
A mid-size warehouse produces electronic components used in various applications from PC boards to automobiles. The firm has grown from $25M to $50M in YoY revenue in less than 24 months due to large demand.
Problem Statement Over the last several years, and especially during their growth sprout in the last 2 years, executives started seeing their margin shrinking. As additional machines, software and people were added to assembly lines and delivery, the firm started experiencing much more scrap, inaccurate quantities being produced, many more quality issues, and in some cases incorrect customer orders being delivered. Although sales were up, this was significantly shrinking their margin.
Approach VNCTech Group performed an in depth audit and analysis of the existing manufacturing process, machines, people, and software - resulting in issues found and actionable recommendations for improvements. With many parts of improvement needed across all factors, phases of improvement were based on priorities and impact, with phase 1 focused on simple process modifications, phase 2 focused on improving delivery routes through better data and analytics, and final phases focused on automation and technology to remove human error, manual process and legacy systems causing problems.
Outcomes
Improved Margin by 30% over 9 months
Implemented tools to allow better communication in warehouse to decrease human error
Reorganize warehouses for maximum accuracy, automation and efficiency
Install software and coding system to improve order accuracy
Rationalize delivery routes by analyzing current routes and implementing best practices
Instituting a quality control system based on ISO guidelines
