Case Study
Foodservice giant boosted market competitiveness with strategic technology revamp & ecommerce deployment
CLIENT
Our client has been a dedicated partner to restaurants, breweries, and distilleries for over 90 years. They ensure immediate and ongoing success for their clients by providing strategic guidance and essential products for peak performance.
CHALLENGE
Overcoming obsolete systems in a fast-paced ecommerce race
Our client grappled with outdated systems and inefficient processes that severely limited operations. In particular, the IT team struggled to integrate ecommerce solutions with legacy systems. Despite attempts at digital transformation in the past, they had difficulty keeping up with the rapid shift towards ecommerce. This led to delivery delays, decreased customer satisfaction, and an inability to handle increasing online traffic. Additionally, their lack of sophisticated analytics tools and underperforming CRM systems prevented them from making informed decisions and effectively managing customer relationships.
TRANSFORMATION
UST’s comprehensive digital solutions propelled the company into an ecommerce future
We addressed our client's challenges by launching a strategic transformation, combining expert advisory services with cutting-edge technological enhancements. Our advisory team set clear goals and performance indicators, creating a roadmap to overcome the client's challenges. The initiative included:
- A modern ecommerce platform—UST overhauled the client's outdated technology infrastructure and deployed an enterprise-grade customized Magento (now Adobe Commerce) ecommerce platform that seamlessly integrated with their existing systems. This initiative widened the client's digital presence and market reach, helping them compete more effectively in an ever-increasing digital business landscape.
- Advanced analytics tools—By integrating data analytics tools with the new ecommerce platform and business systems, company and line of business leaders can analyze data in real-time. This strategy directly addressed their previous analytics shortcomings, created a data-driven culture, and enabled more accurate product pricing, faster market responses, and more informed decision making.
- Enhanced CRM and product information management (PIM) systems—By upgrading these applications, the company can better manage customer interactions, contacts, cases, and marketing campaigns, and track product information. This solved issues with their prior fragmented customer experiences and inefficient relationship management.
- Employee workflow management tools—Systems, like group calendars and task scheduling, helped employees better manage increasing workloads and improve productivity. These enhancements also helped the company overcome operational issues to improve delivery speeds and customer satisfaction.
IMPACT
UST’s transformation yielded massive gains in revenue and operational efficiency
The successful engagement contributed to these impressive results:
- 20% increase in ecommerce revenue—This significant growth within the first year clearly highlights the enhanced capabilities of the client's digital platform and demonstrates the transformation's effectiveness.
- 52.38% reduction in development cycles—We significantly enhanced productivity by streamlining the development process and reducing cycle times by 11 days. This improvement accelerated innovation to respond to market changes, crucial for maintaining a competitive edge in a fast-paced ecommerce-driven economy.
- 2.1X increase in operational productivity—We've more than doubled the efficiency of critical operations, particularly in processing orders and managing inventory. These areas have seen faster turnaround times and increased service capacity, enabling the client to handle greater transaction volumes from a wider variety of sources with more precision.
- Improved customer satisfaction—Our enhancements to the ecommerce platform delivered a smoother, more seamless shopping experience, significantly boosting customer satisfaction. This has solidified existing customer relationships and attracted new customers, expanding the client’s market presence.
- Enhanced employee morale—The operational efficiencies significantly lightened employee workloads, reducing the strain of repetitive and cumbersome processes. This shift increased employee morale and productivity, creating a more engaging and fulfilling work environment.
RESOURCES
https://www.ust.com/en/what-we-do/digital-transformation
https://www.ust.com/en/what-we-do/digital-transformation/agile-transformation