As a business grows, there are always milestones. Some are exciting, like a first major customer win or opening a new warehouse – others might be daunting, like realising that your trusty accounting tool is failing and it’s time for an advanced ERP system. But your first major IT investment also usually goes hand-in-hand with your first IT partnership.
Working with an IT partner for the first time (also known as an IT service provider or managed services provider), is an important sign that your business is maturing – and that you’re taking your digital strategy seriously.
Finding an IT partner that takes time to understand your organisation’s unique requirements is crucial and can directly impact the value your organisation gets from a new ERP system.
- ERP Terra Mater’s story
- A new partnership
- The pay-off of a good partner collaboration
- Planning ahead
1. Terra Mater’s story
Terra Mater Floors is very much a fast-growing business. Since its inception in 2017, the flooring supplier had grown from nothing to a 400+ customer business, with warehouses in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and staff in every state. There was just one problem: its business software.
The small business software the company had launched with was already struggling with transaction volumes and, with only very limited inventory management, was totally unable to track stock across its three warehouses. An attempt to switch to a well-known, enterprise-level CRM had ended badly and, by the time David Temby had started as Terra Mater’s new Operations Manager in 2020, the company was in desperate need of a new business platform – and IT partner – that it could trust.
2. A new partnership
Since 2008, Adita Technologies has built a reputation for technical excellence, implementing large, often complex ERP and CRM solutions. With every new client, Adita’s local teams runs an in-depth business study to identify exactly what the business needs from its new system – and what it’s likely to need in future.
When Terra Mater enlisted ADITA as its new IT partner, in 2020, the two companies were an instant fit, with ADITA taking time to understand the flooring company’s goals.
"Terra Mater were already growing fast and wanted a solution that would help them to keep that momentum and scale faster. We knew Wiise ERP would give them the business intelligence they needed to grow, but also to do things faster, as well as integrating with the tools they needed, like Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Power BI.”
Kumar Govindarajan, Chief Architect at Adita
3. The pay-off of a good partner collaboration
To ensure the Wiise solution could deliver – and improve upon – all of Terra Mater’s existing business processes, Adita ran a series of workshops to identify which customisations, if any, would need to be made. With such a comprehensive range of features, only two customisations were made, neither of which were part of the initial scope.
One of the two customisations was the ability for Terra mater’s operations team to see different units of measure across different finance documents, from invoices to purchase orders – a seemingly simple request that created huge time savings.
"Processing orders took so long that we were losing deals and had already doubled our data entry team just to keep up. We have more than 100 shippers, many of which use different units of measure, and we’ll deal with up to 20 different shippers each day. That one, simple customisation, along with Power BI and Wiise’s native integrations with Microsoft, has totally accelerated how quickly we can get orders through the system. It’s mind-blowing”
David Temby, Operations Manager at Terra Mater
Just some of the benefits so far, include:
- 82% increase in monthly orders.
- 3x faster order fulfilment turnaround – from 72 down to 24 hours.
- 40% decrease in operational staff resourcing – with team members redeployed to higher value sales and operations roles.
4. Planning ahead
Adita launched Terra Mater’s new Wiise solution in July 2021, followed by its fully integrated new Dynamic CRM system in 2022. The team is already working towards its next set of improvements, including moving onto Wiise Payroll in just a few weeks and launching an entirely custom-built online storefront for Terra Mater’s business customers in 2024.
"Terra Mater knew they wanted to offer their B2B retailers an online store so they could place orders directly, so we went away and researched the different options, what could work, what might need customisation and the costs involved. Shopify and WooCommerce were options, but couldn’t deliver key requirements, such as a loyalty programme – so we’re moving ahead with a custom-built portal that will give them all the functionality they’re looking for.”
Kumar Govindarajan, Chief Architect at Adita
Adita checks in regularly with Temby and his team, to identify new requirements to be added to the digital roadmap – but trust is the recurring theme that ensures that every project runs smoothly. “We have a great relationship with Terra Mater because they’re nice people who are ambitious about what they want, but realistic about how it can be achieved” Govindarajan remarks. “When we collaborate, the conversations are always very grounded and transparent – everyone understands the priorities”.
Ready to find your perfect ERP implementation partner?
If you’re looking for an IT partner to help your ERP implementation run smoothly, prioritising experience, attention to detail and industry reputation is vital.
A good place to start is our free ERP partner proposal checklist, where you can rank each of your shortlisted partners side-by-side across 40+ suggested requirements, to see who stacks up.
When you’re ready to select a partner, check out our Wiise partner directory, which shows all our most trusted Wiise implementation partners in one place.
Other helpful Wiise resources:
- ERP Implementation 101 Guide Part 1: A Practical Guide to Managing the Move
- 50 key capabilities for your ERP requirements
- Finding the one: 6 red flags & must-haves in an ERP services provider
- Innovate to accumulate: 8 ways to grow your business with Wiise
Ready to learn more?
Book a demo call with one of our friendly team members.
