ALLPRO is a company that works with independently-owned decorating products businesses and paint dealers. These connections are located in the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Europe. The global purchasing groups work with over 200 vendors to leverage better deals for all 292 paint shop members. These more affordable paint products make it possible for ALLPRO members to compete with the largest paint manufacturers across the world. ALLPRO relied on a homegrown system for several years to manage daily operations for their business.
Business Challenge
However, ALLPRO faced a challenge. The company was unable to upgrade its software and had to find another alternative. ALLPRO took a proactive approach by deciding to implement SAP Business One (Systems Applications and Products in Data Processing). Unfortunately, the company they chose to work with could not deliver the system to meet their needs best. The SAP partner couldn’t get the software to perform unique functions. They eventually canceled the partnership. This created an expensive bill and an incomplete system that included inaccurate data and manual processes.
ALLPRO was about to walk away from its initial investment and use a new accounting system. But, they chose to reach out to another consulting company. They needed one to help them make SAP Business One more operational and better meet their needs. The consulting company, Clients First Business Solution, played a crucial role in assisting ALLPRO to fix existing problems with their system. For instance, Clients First took the time to understand the entire business and the employees at ALLPRO. Investing this additional time and focus into ALLPRO made a big difference in building confidence and trust.
Finding the Technology Solution
Using the SAP Business One system, the team members at Clients First were able to fix pre-existing problems. This was a big plus for ALLPRO. Once everything was stabilized, Client First focused on helping ALLPRO fully take advantage of all the capabilities of SAP Business One. This included automating transactions as well as reducing the number of manual accounting tasks. ALLPRO was able to save a lot of time and effort while significantly decreasing redundant tasks.
Clients First also delivered extensive training and support. This allowed ALLPRO to fully take advantage of the system. Offering hands-on training to each staff member while conducting seminars played an essential role in assisting employees, helping them learn the system. Clients First also created an ALLPRO Book of SAP. This was to provide additional assistance while also equipping two users to create queries for SAP.
Eventually, Clients First was able to convince ALLPRO to upgrade its system to SAP Business One 9.1. This allowed them to increase their ability to run their company and provided room for growth. They also challenged employees to use various resources from SAP to find additional information and deliver even greater value. The upgrade process was relatively seamless. Without causing any disruptions to business operations, everything happened behind the scenes within a week.
With Clients First always looking out for their best interest, ALLPRO feels that Clients First was a part of their team. Clients First would only make suggestions to help increase efficiency without making an extra dollar or a quick sell. The focus was more on how the company could maximize success for ALLPRO.
The Final Result
Before partnering with Clients First, the manual processes and handling multiple reports for account balance reconciliation took up the vast majority of their time. Typically, the accounting team took anywhere from 10 to 14 days to finish the month. However, assistance from Clients First significantly reduced these reconciliation issues. ALLPRO can now easily close their books in 5 to 6 days instead of taking nearly two weeks.
Problems with data inaccuracies were another primary concern in the previous SAP system. However, switching over to SAP Business One 9.1 greatly increased the accuracy of underlying accounting information. It also provided a much-needed confidence boost.
Clients First continue to play an essential role in helping the ALLPRO team with various business functions. ALLPRO can always reach out to Clients First at any time. They made a significant investment in getting to know their unique business operations and developing a great relationship. The partnership with Clients First made it possible for ALLPRO to operate much more efficiently and make employees’ job tasks much more manageable.
