Benefits
- 1.Faster Processing Time: Adeptia’s data exchange solution gave the company the ability to order the order processing time from 3-5 hours to only 1530 minutes.
- 2.Reduced Costs: By allowing the company to bring the order-handling process in-house, Adeptia’s solution enabled them to eliminate the costs of outsourced interactions
- 3.Empowered Internal Sales Team: Adeptia’s self-service model enabled them to create their own test and sample orders, speeding the process.
- 4.Increased Market Share: Thanks to Adeptia, the company was able to stop turning down business and take on additional customers, opening a new market share.
The Challenge
The company was struggling with an outdated, manual data exchange system that caused delays in processing and put a burden on its IT experts. Processing a single manual purchase order could take as long as 3-5 hours. What’s more, though the company wanted to take ownership of the smaller custom integrations without having to involve a third party, because of the long order processing times involved, it was forced to outsource this development. That meant it took as long as two months for those integrations to be fully tested.
The company’s database is kept on lockdown, and it bulks together a CSV sheet for acknowledgement through an FTP folder. The problem was that in large custom integrations with thousands of order lines, this process couldn’t happen in real time and instead would take weeks to complete.
Dealing with small customers was difficult and time-consuming due to the manual process the company was using. Some of the customers were one-off, bulk orders who would just send them a sheet every few months. But even for those, processing the manual purchase order took hours. The custom development team was sometimes forced to just say “no” to some customers, especially the smaller ones, because they couldn’t handle the workload with their existing data exchange solution.
As one of the company’s representatives said, “We want to give customers the option to integrate into our systems however they want to integrate, regardless of format or file type.”
Problems that the Company was Facing
Due to long processing times, the company was forced to outsource, adding to expenses and time required. Using a CSV sheet for acknowledgement through an FTP folder took weeks to complete given the volume of order lines. Dealing with small customers who sent order sheets every few months was difficult and time consuming, forcing the company to turn down business.
Partnering with Adeptia
The company utilized Adeptia to reduce order processing time and bring the process in-house. Adeptia’s solution empowered the internal sales team with a self-service model and allowed for quicker order processing.
The Business Value
Initially, the company utilized Adeptia for order creation into API for some of its smaller customers. Starting with just two or three customers, it was eventually built out to 15-20 customers who go through an order creation process via Adeptia. Because they don’t have the technical team to do API submission, they provide the CSV file, then process that through Adeptia.
Thanks to Adeptia’s data exchange solution, the company was able to “massively reduce” the time it took to process orders, from the previous 3-5 hours to just 15-30 minutes. The company was thus able to bring the process in-house, with no need to rely on third-party providers. This cut the time required from two months to just three days – and it removed the cost of those outsourced interactions, reducing expenses.
Adeptia’s software also empowered the company’s internal sales operations team with a self-service model so they’re able to create their own test and sample orders. Before, it was done in the company’s original order management system and involved many complex steps. Now they can put those orders in a spreadsheet that takes just 5-10 minutes to create.
With the company’s previous process, the customer SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) were string IDs set up in the company’s systems and tied to a certain image or product. This was all done on a manual basis through the use of spreadsheets, and took as long as 7 to 10 days. With Adeptia, the process is automated – and much faster. The data is loaded into an FTP folder, and the process only takes an hour. Also, thanks to Adeptia, the company was able to take on more customers, including smaller ones, rather than turning down business. This opened up a whole new market share for the company.
With Adeptia’s solution in place, the company is able to free up time for in-house resources and re-allocate its IT resources to focus on priority projects. The new data exchange process removes blockers for rapid business growth and gives the company the freedom to avoid hiring to scale to handle the workload, reducing employment costs.
The investment has paid off for the company. Two of the top 20 customers on the Adeptia solution are top customers for the company. Without Adeptia’s solution in place, these would have to be established through a custom development team, adding more work and increasing expenses.
Partnering with Adeptia
Customers of the company say the Adeptia solution has had a positive impact for them, too. They find the process easy to use, and many appreciate the ability to use their own APIs and then have everything done for them, resulting in increased customer satisfaction.
For example, one customer has an FTP folder set up with the company featuring pictures from newborn baby photo shoots. The client is able to drop the picture files into the FTP folder, which is a simple process even considering the amount of manual work on the client side. Other customers, who are working with APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), don’t have to do any of that work. The process is now automated.
Thanks to Adeptia’s AI-powered, self-service solution, the printing services company was able to take on more customers, including smaller ones, rather than turning down business. This opened up a whole new market share for the company.
By the Numbers
- 15 to 20 of the printing company’s customers use an order creation process through Adeptia
- The time required to process orders was reduced from 3-5 hours to just 15-30 minutes.
- Without the need for third-party providers, the complete process time was reduced from two months to three days.
