Phenomenex moves to Dynamics 365 to support biotech innovation and gain operational efficiency

Phenomenex is a global technology leader committed to developing novel analytical chemistry solutions that solve the separation and purification challenges of researchers in academic, pharmaceutical, biotech, environmental, clinical research, government, and industrial laboratories. From drug discovery and pharmaceutical development to food safety and environmental analysis, Phenomenex chromatography solutions accelerate science and help researchers improve human health and wellbeing. Phenomenex is an operating company within the Life Sciences group of Danaher Corporation.

The company needed to upgrade its aging technology environment, which was soon to be out of support, and it had to find a better way to manage increasing compliance requirements. To meet these goals, Phenomenex moved to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management to centrally manage key business functions including sales, procurement, customer service, manufacturing, and finance. The new solution helps Phenomenex strategically position itself for future growth while reducing risk. It streamlines customer order processing from days to minutes, and significantly expedites both financial reporting and invoice management.

Seeking to accelerate innovation 

Phenomenex is a leader in developing technologies for chromatography—the science of separating chemical mixtures. The company is a part of Danaher Corporation, a leading global life sciences and diagnostics innovator helping to solve many of the world’s most important health challenges, ultimately improving quality of life for billions of people today while setting the foundation for a healthier, more sustainable tomorrow. 

Phenomenex specializes in the development and production of high-value consumables for separation sciences, supporting a wide range of applications including drug discovery, COVID-19 testing, food safety, and forensic science.

Headquartered in Torrance, California, with manufacturing and distribution facilities in the US, China, India, and Europe, Phenomenex manufactures analytical chemistry solutions technologies, including: HPLC Columns, which are widely used in pharmaceutical, clinical, and environmental labs for high-efficiency separations; GC Capillary Columns, used in gas chromatography for volatile compound analysis; Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) Devices, used for sample preparation across various industries like food safety, toxicology, and clinical research; and Biozen biologics LC columns, used for biological molecule analysis.

In early 2022, Phenomenex recognized an opportunity to elevate its operational and compliance capabilities by transitioning from Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 to a more modern platform. For many years, the company relied on Dynamics AX as its ERP system to manage key business functions such as accounts payables and receivables, procurement and sourcing, inventory and warehouse management, and production. Although Dynamics AX had served the company, Phenomenex knew it was time to embrace the cloud. 

Phenomenex also faced an evolving business landscape and increasing regulatory demands, including the need to meet Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance requirements around internal controls for financial record keeping and reporting. “Our primary focus was risk mitigation, but we also wanted to help the business understand that to really embark on a digital transformation journey and take advantage of the latest technology, we had to move platforms,” says Jignasa Singh, Chief Information Officer at Phenomenex. 

Because it sought to enhance integration, automation, and reporting while reducing costs and accelerating innovation, Phenomenex wanted to find a new foundation to enable growth and operational effectiveness. “In terms of our digital journey, having a strong technology foundation is key, because it forms the basis of our future road map and architecture and opens up all kinds of possibilities for us,” says Thiruvallur Srikanth, Corporate CIO and Vice President of Enterprise Digital Solutions at Danaher Corporation and the former CIO of Phenomenex.

Designing a better solution in the cloud 

To meet its requirements, Phenomenex chose to upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, hosted in the Microsoft Azure cloud. The implementation covered legal entities in the US, Australia, and New Zealand, with plans to eventually merge with the European instance for streamlined intercompany operations. “With Dynamics 365, we were able to move from an aging infrastructure to a modern platform that we could build on into the future,” says Monique Minner, Director Global ERP Operations and Automation at Phenomenex.

Phenomenex now uses Dynamics 365 across multiple departments, including Sales & Marketing, Procurement, Customer Service, Inventory Management, Manufacturing, and Finance. The organization centrally manages processes and streamlines the processing of all online or phone customer orders in Supply Chain Management. Most recently, Phenomenex integrated its ecommerce solution with Dynamics 365. As a result, customer order data now flows in near real time between the ecommerce environment and Dynamics 365. The company also recently implemented AP Invoice Automation in Dynamics 365 Finance, which uses AI to automate invoice data extraction.

Additionally, Phenomenex is using process manufacturing and discrete manufacturing capabilities in Supply Chain Management, with process manufacturing, focusing on batch processes such as chemical solutions, and discrete manufacturing, focusing on the production of individual items using bills of materials.

User adoption of Dynamics 365 was rapid, with employees quickly up and running on the new solution. “Even though Dynamics 365 gave us new capabilities, there was not a big learning curve,” Minner says. “The transition was easy, and we didn’t have to spend a lot of time training employees.” 

Mitigating risk and reducing technology debt 

By moving to Dynamics 365, Phenomenex achieved one of its primary goals: mitigating risk and increasing compliance with SOX and other regulations. “We have reduced cybersecurity risks with Dynamics 365 because vulnerabilities are actively addressed by Microsoft, and we can better meet our compliance requirements,” says Singh.

Phenomenex also reduced its technology debt by moving to a cloud-based environment, giving the company a scalable, centralized ERP platform that supports ongoing digital transformation and business growth. “This upgrade laid the foundation for our digital future. We’re now positioned to scale and innovate faster than ever,” says Singh.

Customer orders processed in minutes instead of days 

Phenomenex has increased operational efficiency through automation and integration that has streamlined workflows and reduced manual effort. For example, the integration between the ecommerce platform and Dynamics 365, which is based on modern architecture, significantly reduced processing times for customer orders. “The move to Dynamics 365 has not only modernized our infrastructure but also empowered our teams with faster, more reliable tools,” says Singh. 

With near real-time integration, Phenomenex can now deliver a better customer experience. “We were using an outdated technology stack, but modernizing our architecture and moving to Dynamics 365 has been a game-changer for us,” says Yadhav Krishnan, Senior Manager ERP Applications, Phenomenex. “We have seen order processing times drop from days to minutes.”

Faster financial reporting and invoicing 

Through the automation in Dynamics 365, Phenomenex has streamlined key month-end reporting and foreign exchange adjustment processes. Part of the month-end close process, for instance, was reduced from three hours to 10 minutes. “The month-end close is typically a very tedious process that used to involve a lot of manual steps, but it’s fully automated now in Dynamics 365,” says Krishnan. “Similarly, the foreign vendor currency exchange adjustments process was manual and took a lot of time. Accelerating these processes has been a major win for our finance department.” Phenomenex also automated its process for reporting vendor payments to banks, which reduced the need to develop custom integrations. 

Phenomenex also anticipates benefits from AP Invoice Automation in Finance. “We’re really excited about AP Invoice Automation for accounts payable, and we already have close to 2,000 invoices trained so far in our AI engine,” Krishnan says. “Invoice processing used to take several people and up to one week to get invoices processed and approved. We anticipate AP Invoice Automation will bring that down to a couple days, saving us thousands of hours annually.”

Overall, faster processing and reduced reliance on manual reporting have lowered operational costs for Phenomenex and freed up resources for strategic initiatives.

Continuing the modernization journey 

Phenomenex is now planning the next phase of its journey to modernization, beginning with implementing advanced warehousing and planning optimization capabilities in Supply Chain Management to enhance current processes. “We hope to use these features to manage forecast and demand,” Minner says. The company also wants to use AI agents to further optimize processes.

In addition, Danaher is in the process of establishing a Center of Excellence (CoE) for Dynamics 365, as several subsidiaries have moved or are in the process of moving to Dynamics 365. “Having a CoE will give us a cohesive way to share best practices and improve overall efficiency,” says Minner. “We’re looking forward to expanding this in the future.”