Odyssey Consulting Group, an international consulting company, has upgraded the ERP-system of COMFY, operator of Ukrainian retail trade by using Microsoft technologies
COMFY is the second largest chain of household appliance stores in Ukraine. The company currently has 76 stores in 36 cities in the country, and the number is constantly growing. COMFY offers its customers a wide range of products, including more than 10 000 different models of home appliances, electronics and accessories.
The rapid growth of the COMFY retail chain required optimizing business process management by building an integrated corporate IT-system. The ERP-system Microsoft Dynamics AX was chosen as the platform for its implementation, which has proven itself worldwide as an effective tool for business development. The Odyssey Consulting Group, which has extensive experience automating retail businesses on the basis of Microsoft Dynamics solutions, was the project partner.
Before implementing the ERP system, we had 15 software products. We had serious problems with the integrity and timeliness of information for management decision-making. The rapid growth of the retail chain forced us to build more and more complex controlling mechanisms
Odyssey Consulting Group specialists automated the main working areas of COMFY: assortment management, pricing, purchasing, logistics, accounting, wholesale, retail network management, financial accounting and reporting according to the international standards. The launch of the new system allows COMFY to maximize the efficiency of COMFY and gave this Ukrainian retail chain a number of competitive advantages.
The project results included:
receiving a holistic, prompt and reliable information on business activities;
comprehensive analysis and timely decision-making on the current competitive situation;
flexible change of business processes in the development of new activities;
creating a tool to obtain a high-quality external audit report.
After launching the ERP solution, the company was left with 5 software products. We have received a closed control system, combined the financial and logistics loops in a single information system. This solution will allow COMFY to qualitatively pass international audits and implement the strategy of development of the retail chain for the next 5 years
For maximum convenience and efficiency, integration with the previously implemented in COMFY solutions "1C" (accounting, payroll and personnel, POS-system) is made. It also provides unloading of ERP-system data into the analytical reporting system that allows to analyze the details of the company.
Andrey Pokotilov, COMFY IT director, names risk and change management as the main difficulties of the project: "Risk management is the hardest part. It is important to prepare the company to implement a new system, to create an effective project team. We were able to attract the company's top management to the project and create a team that has sufficient knowledge and leadership skills. We also had to constantly manage change. Business does not stand still and some solutions were modified during the implementation phase and even in the period of stabilization of the system".
In the course of further cooperation of COMFY with Odyssey Consulting Group, the warehouse processes of the retailer (warehouse and supply chain management) were automated, which will minimize the current time and production costs and achieve optimal use of company resources .
TogMoreover we have already started the project of IBMCognosTM1 implementation, which will solve the number of issues related to analysis, commercial planning, and financial budgeting of the Ukrainian retailer. A positive history of implementation and knowledge of the consultants in retail has determined our choice in favor of Odyssey Consulting Group. We were not mistaken. The project was implemented within the planned time and with budget savings
