Lava World information bubbles to the top
In the wake of a severe restructuring, a maker of lava lamps expands its product line and keeps its competitive edge by tapping into AccessTek's Microsoft Dynamics expertise.
In Summary:
| • | An MIS-less company had to replace its ERP system fast. |
| • | It turned to AccessTek for a Microsoft Dynamics-based Business Simple solution. |
| • | The new system was up and running in 28 days. |
Tom Spain is the first one to admit he's not an IT guru.
Yet in 2005, when his company, Lava World International Inc., an Elmhurst, Illinois, maker of the always-trendy lava lamps, expanded its product line, moved its manufacturing operations overseas, refocused U.S. operations on distribution, and dissolved its MIS team, Spain and other members of the executive team knew they had to rethink the company's technology strategy.
It soon became abundantly clear that the firm's $2 million enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, "which had never really worked well," was obsolete and inadequate for Lava World's U.S. and U.K. employees. "It didn't use a single data pool, so six different people could pull six totally different reports for me [to use] to make decisions. It was the wrong product and it was cumbersome," says Spain, the company's vice president of sales, marketing and product development.
He was anxious to deploy a sophisticated application that would fit Lava World's "right-sized" model and enable users to generate accurate, targeted sales and distribution reports from numerous repositories, such as the global EDI system.
Narrow window of opportunity
But Spain was running against the clock. Though he only started looking for a solution in April 2005, it had to be in place by early July. "July is the meat of our sales season. We start to do direct shipments to our partners and it ramps up rapidly from there," he says. If he couldn't pick a product and deploy it within that time frame, the project would have had to wait till the next year, resulting in serious delays and complications with operations and shipments.
While Spain was skeptical he could accomplish this goal, Lindy Antonelli, CEO of Microsoft Gold Partner AccessTek Inc., in Chicago, considered the problem a walk in the park. At the time, AccessTek was perfecting what it now calls the Business Simple business-in-a-box offering, aimed at small to midsize companies facing time and budget crunches. "Our clients want a cost-contained yet world-class solution. They want the best, but don't have an open checkbook or infinite amounts of time," she says.
Business Simple features Microsoft Dynamics Business Essentials, a combination of Microsoft Dynamics GP and Microsoft's Business-Ready Licensing and Enhancement Plan. Rather than getting bogged down in complex enterprise software licensing, AccessTek's Business Simple agile approach lets companies pay based on the number of users accessing the system. In addition, AccessTek reduces the need for an in-house IT team by preconfiguring and installing the servers for its clients.
Quick install
Antonelli, who has almost two decades of experience, says this approach is in direct contrast to competitors that insist on lead times of six months to a year for their software deployments. In fact, AccessTek was able to get Lava World up and running within 28 days, meeting Spain's early July deadline.
The key, Antonelli says, is to go for a "quick and dirty" installation of the basic software, coupled with company buy-in. "We make it simple for them, but for this to work and us to meet the deadlines, they have to participate heavily in the process," she says.
Spain says such detailed focus on matching business processes to modules increases user adoption and productivity. "People tend to get wowed by how much a software package can do. We needed to concentrate on the parts of the data that help us run our business day-to-day," he says.
Since the implementation, AccessTek has worked with Lava World to identify additional modules to improve business processes. For instance, the company has since added Microsoft Forecaster, SmartList Builder, and Crystal Reports to its Microsoft Dynamics GP installation.
Spain says his favorite feature is the dashboard that lets him see at a glance the overall
forecast, ledger details, and what's on the docket for the day. "It's a thumbprint of how my day is going to go," he says.
And Spain is happy that he gets to focus on what he does best and not drown in IT decisions. "If we had done this rollout ourselves, we would have made mistakes that would have cost us in the end," he says. "We would have had a great piece of software, Microsoft Dynamics GP, that wouldn't have worked well. Going with AccessTek for our installation was like having an insurance policy that things would get done quickly and correctly."
 | Sandra Gittlen is a regular contributor to Momentum, the midsize business center newsletter. |
