CASE STUDY
FASTEST IMPLEMENTATION OF STIBO SYSTEMS ENTERPRISE PLATFORM (STEP) SAAS SOLUTION FOR MDM IN NEW ZEALAND. SUCCESSFULLY CONSOLIDATING MASTER DATA MANAGEMENT INTO ONE SYSTEM, ENABLING OPTMISATION AND STANDARDISATION OF PROCESSES REQUIRED TO SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE EFFICIENCY AND DATA ACCURACY.
CHALLENGE
With multiple teams and systems owning parts of product and supplier data; inconsistency, poor accuracy, low quality, complex processes and extended timelines were impacting sales and insights.
Rebuilding how OfficeMax created and maintained master data was a key priority which supported not only our core business but also the growth of our direct ship offering.
The need to streamline and automate processes, speed up product onboarding, building supplier self-service, and enabling better reporting and insights was critical to long-term growth.
OfficeMax needed a single tool to act as the gatekeeper with automated process workflows and the flexibility to manage all product and supplier information. This tool would become the single source of truth for the organisation.
INTRODUCTION
After 150 years, OfficeMax's commitment to New Zealand is as strong as ever. It started as a stationery company called Coulls Somerville Wilkie and a publishing company famously known as Whitcombe and Tombs. OfficeMax has grown into a team of more than 500 spread across the country.
At OfficeMax we supply workspaces across Aotearoa with the technology, furniture, safety, PPE, café, education, packaging, and cleaning products needed to create flexible working and learning environments.
We are dedicated to meeting the evolving needs of organisations and schools across the country with a diverse range of products and solutions.
SOLUTION
STEP from Stibo Systems is a complete PIM and DAM solution that streamlines the management of product data and workflows. It eliminates the need for multiple systems to maintain different aspects of product data. The solution includes data validation rules that ensure accurate information is captured the first time, reducing the need for back-and-forth emails between teams.
Workflows and supplier access create clear and consistent expectations for what is required by whom and when. This has significantly reduced the time it takes to bring a product to market. By enabling APIs through the MuleSoft supplier portal, OfficeMax's 800 suppliers can manage their product information themselves.
Ultimately, STEP reduces errors, effort, and time needed to create products, allowing OfficeMax to dynamically range solutions for New Zealand workplaces.
BENEFIT
While it is still early days, OfficeMax now has a single source of truth, streamlined workflows (that continue to be improved), approvals, and multiple solutions for suppliers to self-manage their own data.
In addition to consolidating all the master data, STEP is supporting OfficeMax in building best-in-class master data capabilities and improving accuracy, quality, and completeness.
STEP has the capability to support OfficeMax through a complete data cleanse, rebuilding hierarchies and attributes for the 50,000 products . Before implementing STEP this task was nearly impossible to consider.
RESULT
Business process workflows drastically reduced the time to market by 50%. With the new MDM solution, most of the products are created and published to ecommerce in less than 5 days, down from 10 - 12 days previously, with aim of pushing this a lot lower.
OfficeMax has achieved increased offering of product range, faster time to market with greater data accuracy through:
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Suppliers to self managing their product master data, images and cost through a web interface, file (excel) uploads, or EDI
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Onboarding, maintenance, and discontinue workflows which are implemented and allow better visibility of the work in progress
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Increased data quality has increased through validation rules and 3rd party data providers which means OfficeMax has good data.