Aptean Case Studies Ahlsell and Aptean make it easy to do business

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	Ahlsell and Aptean make it easy to do business Aptean

Ahlsell and Aptean make it easy to do business

Aptean

Technology Category	Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms
Applicable Industries	Construction & Infrastructure Retail
Applicable Functions	Logistics & Transportation Sales & Marketing
Use Cases	Inventory Management Supply Chain Visibility
Services	Software Design & Engineering Services System Integration
Challenge	Ahlsell, a leading trading company in plumbing, heating, and electrical supplies, faced several challenges as it sought to expand its business. The company's aggressive growth strategy involved acquiring local businesses in strategic geographies and product segments. Each acquisition brought new business practices and established IT solutions, making it difficult to achieve synergies. Ahlsell also struggled with creating uniform business processes across different countries and customer types. The company lacked integration between sales, order processing, purchasing, logistics, invoicing, and distribution. Additionally, Ahlsell had to manage an extremely broad product assortment, which was becoming increasingly complex as the company expanded. The company needed a solution that could support its growth, streamline its operations, and provide transparency across its sales and supply chain. Read More
About Customer	Ahlsell AB, established in 1877, is a leading trading company that specializes in plumbing, heating, and electrical supplies. The company caters to construction and installation professionals, providing them with the tools and materials they need. Ahlsell also supplies do-it-yourself tools and materials to consumer retail chains. The company operates in the Nordics, Estonia, Russia, and Poland, with a sophisticated logistics network and a business-to-business store chain with 200 promarts. Ahlsell's focused growth strategy has led it to a market-leading position, with sustained profitability based on a strong sales operation and highly efficient supply chain and IT solutions. The company generates an annual revenue of more than 2.3 billion EUR and employs 4,500 people. It has more than 100,000 products in stock. Read More
Solution	To support its aggressive growth plan and help its professional customers improve and become more profitable, Ahlsell implemented the IMI Supply Chain solution. This solution integrated sales, purchasing, and logistics across all countries and product divisions. It provided real-time information about order status and inventory positions to more than 3,000 concurrent users. This transparency allowed Ahlsell to streamline processes and minimize capital tied up in inventory. The solution also supported full visibility across all sales channels, and customers could use a self-serve eCommerce solution with online product catalogs and webshop features. Ahlsell also implemented Pivotal CRM, which integrated data from several different systems and created a true single face to the customer approach. This helped the sales organization focus on developing the business with each account. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms

Applicable Industries

Construction & Infrastructure

Retail

Applicable Functions

Logistics & Transportation

Sales & Marketing

Use Cases

Inventory Management

Supply Chain Visibility

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services

System Integration

Challenge

Ahlsell, a leading trading company in plumbing, heating, and electrical supplies, faced several challenges as it sought to expand its business. The company's aggressive growth strategy involved acquiring local businesses in strategic geographies and product segments. Each acquisition brought new business practices and established IT solutions, making it difficult to achieve synergies. Ahlsell also struggled with creating uniform business processes across different countries and customer types. The company lacked integration between sales, order processing, purchasing, logistics, invoicing, and distribution. Additionally, Ahlsell had to manage an extremely broad product assortment, which was becoming increasingly complex as the company expanded. The company needed a solution that could support its growth, streamline its operations, and provide transparency across its sales and supply chain.

About Customer

Ahlsell AB, established in 1877, is a leading trading company that specializes in plumbing, heating, and electrical supplies. The company caters to construction and installation professionals, providing them with the tools and materials they need. Ahlsell also supplies do-it-yourself tools and materials to consumer retail chains. The company operates in the Nordics, Estonia, Russia, and Poland, with a sophisticated logistics network and a business-to-business store chain with 200 promarts. Ahlsell's focused growth strategy has led it to a market-leading position, with sustained profitability based on a strong sales operation and highly efficient supply chain and IT solutions. The company generates an annual revenue of more than 2.3 billion EUR and employs 4,500 people. It has more than 100,000 products in stock.

Solution

To support its aggressive growth plan and help its professional customers improve and become more profitable, Ahlsell implemented the IMI Supply Chain solution. This solution integrated sales, purchasing, and logistics across all countries and product divisions. It provided real-time information about order status and inventory positions to more than 3,000 concurrent users. This transparency allowed Ahlsell to streamline processes and minimize capital tied up in inventory. The solution also supported full visibility across all sales channels, and customers could use a self-serve eCommerce solution with online product catalogs and webshop features. Ahlsell also implemented Pivotal CRM, which integrated data from several different systems and created a true single face to the customer approach. This helped the sales organization focus on developing the business with each account.

Impact #1	Ahlsell was able to run one system across all legal entities and languages, which allowed it to restructure its supply chain with centralized warehouse operations, control the sales pipeline and demand information across regions, and centralize product management and purchasing decisions.
Impact #2	The company was able to cut inventory levels by 30% in 5 years while continuing to grow the business.
Impact #3	Ahlsell's customers had several options to interact with the company. They could work with their local sales reps, access product information, their own pricing agreements, proposals, order entry and delivery status via the integrated eCommerce solution, shop in their local Ahlsell pro-mart, or integrate with their own systems fully via EDI messages.

Impact #1

Ahlsell was able to run one system across all legal entities and languages, which allowed it to restructure its supply chain with centralized warehouse operations, control the sales pipeline and demand information across regions, and centralize product management and purchasing decisions.

Impact #2

The company was able to cut inventory levels by 30% in 5 years while continuing to grow the business.

Impact #3

Ahlsell's customers had several options to interact with the company. They could work with their local sales reps, access product information, their own pricing agreements, proposals, order entry and delivery status via the integrated eCommerce solution, shop in their local Ahlsell pro-mart, or integrate with their own systems fully via EDI messages.

Benefit #1	Ahlsell was able to cut inventory levels by 30% in 5 years.
Benefit #2	The company's eCommerce site receives more than 16,000 customer visits and over 5,000 orders are placed daily.
Benefit #3	Ahlsell processes more than 150,000 sales order lines per day.

Benefit #1

Ahlsell was able to cut inventory levels by 30% in 5 years.

Benefit #2

The company's eCommerce site receives more than 16,000 customer visits and over 5,000 orders are placed daily.

Benefit #3

Ahlsell processes more than 150,000 sales order lines per day.

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Overview

Ahlsell and Aptean make it easy to do business

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit