Packaging and Fulfilment

Company Profile 

A UK-based company that provide a wide range of packaging equipment and consumables to business customers in the UK, EU and the US. They provide some of the UK’s largest fulfilment centres with technology and packing equipment which provide real efficiency improvements. 

CEO’s Mission 

The business had grown by more than 25% per annum over the previous 3 years however the IT systems were unstable and not effectively supporting the growth. New business resources were added to support the growth and whilst this helped to support its customers it had a negative impact on the margin 

An experienced IT Director was appointed to conduct a full audit and make recommendations to the board. 

IT Director Objectives 

• Conduct a full audit to identify risks and opportunities 
• Build and execute a plan to improve IT systems, processes and organisation 
• Improve IT systems and services for customers and internal resources.  
• Improve business efficiency. 

What the associate did 

Conducted a detailed IT audit which included application, database, infrastructure, technical partners, security, IT controls, incident management, disaster recovery and organisation. Produced a report with recommendations which was fully approved by the board. 

Executed the audit recommendations 

• Selected and onboarded new ERP and managed service partners 
• Recruited a small IT team to build internal capability and reduce dependence on external resource 
• Implemented a set of IT controls, processes and service management tools  
• Reviewed and documented some key system and business process improvements which were then developed using the core applications. Provided full training to business users. 
• Focused support resource on resolving some stability issues with system integrations 
• Leveraged some of the standard Microsoft tools to improve business efficiency 

 The Results 

• Automation of some key functionalities led to a reduction in workload and improved efficiency for the business  
• New partners were successfully onboarded.  
• Support to the business improved along with the availability of the systems 
• The New IT team had a positive impact with application support, process improvement and development.  
• New IT controls, processes and service management tools provided full visibility of deliverables 

• Improved automated communication between sales, operations, logistic partners and customers 
• Changed the IT culture from a reactive to a pro-active mindset. This resulted in IT driving system enhancements rather than waiting for someone in the business to ask.