rf IDEAS #1 (NetSuite)
The direct materials team leveraged automation and collaboration to significantly reduce discrepancies and their overall workload.
“SourceDay is a seamless integration with NetSuite. Now we can log onto SourceDay and in a matter of minutes, update our POs for price and split-line deliveries, knowing the supplier has bought in to the changes.”
-Keith Johnson, Materials Manager at rf IDEAS
The Customer
Meet rf IDEAS. They’re the industry leader in identity access management, targeting customers who need to protect their data through secure access. They began in 1995 as an early pioneer of authentication solutions. Today, they partner with top tech companies to provide logical access, passwordless single sign-on, secure print management, mobile authentication, and time and attendance solutions. In short, they’re the experts in digital authentication.
And they are committed to their customers. Their quality management system covers every aspect of their operations, ensuring that processes, quality, and management always deliver excellence. This commitment applies to the training and support they provide their partners and customers every day.
The Situation
Keith Johnson oversees a buying team consisting of eight people:
- Two in receiving
- Two in shipping Two coordinate production at contract manufacturers (CMs)
- One works on pre-production items and suppliers
- One works to ensure that all transactions are completed properly
They endured a BIG clerical workload. Once they created a PO, they sent it in a separate email and waited patiently for an acknowledgment. When (let’s be honest—if) they received that acknowledgment, the team then manually updated the PO with the correct info. This step was a particular sticking point because it was often left uncompleted, which led to costly errors.
The labor cost associated with maintaining POs for price and delivery was simply too high. Something had to change.
“We had high amounts of labor going into maintaining POs for price and delivery. POs were sent to suppliers by attaching them to a separate email, then we had to update the PO manually if and when we received an acknowledgment. If a PO was past due, we had to search through emails for the acknowledgment date. Once a product was received, if the pricing didn’t match the invoice, accounts payable had to reach out for approval.”
- Keith Johnson, Materials Manager at rf IDEAS
The Change
Keith wasn’t specifically looking for a solution when he came across SourceDay at SuiteWorld. He attended a presentation with his supply chain manager and they were immediately intrigued. After a personal presentation, they knew the solution would be great for them.
Along with the supply chain manager, the business improvement manager, and the VP of operations, Keith pulled the trigger on SourceDay, and since then they’ve seen great results.
- Invoice discrepancies have been reduced significantly
- Potential delays or supplier bottlenecks are communicated earlier
- “Real” delivery dates for parts are hit more often
- Time spent reviewing acknowledgments has dropped from hours to minutes
- POs from suppliers who use SourceDay have correct pricing and value dates in NetSuite
Implementation and customer success are critical.
Keith was selected to manage the SourceDay rollout at rf IDEAS. He found the system intuitive and extremely easy to understand.
“SourceDay is a seamless integration with NetSuite. Now we can log onto SourceDay and in a matter of minutes, update our POs for price and split-line deliveries, knowing the supplier has bought in to the changes.”
- Keith Johnson, Materials Manager at rf IDEAS
The SourceDay solution
SourceDay’s solution has been a hit. Keith is happy to report that enough buyers have bought in to equal about 90% of their total spend.
“If SourceDay didn’t exist after tomorrow, it would be extremely disappointing, as many of the tasks we do would revert back to manual processes and would create a large opportunity for errors in NetSuite.”
- Keith Johnson, Materials Manager at rf IDEAS
Supplier Adoption & Feedback
As with many new implementations, there was some initial resistance to SourceDay from rf IDEAS’s suppliers. When we asked Keith about his experience with SourceDay’s customer success team, here’s what he had to say:
“The customer success team was nothing short of amazing. The SD team was right there to help us with issues or concerns that popped up from our suppliers. Many times, [they called] the supplier directly and walked through the process to ensure they full understood what was required of them.”
The Conclusion
Keith and his team are performing at the top of their game, thanks in large part to the reduction in clerical work they’re experiencing. The number of price discrepancies is down and acknowledgments are processed automatically in the SourceDay solution. Instead of spending hours reviewing acknowledgements, Keith now spends minutes. He’s now free to work on more critical items that help the success of the business.
Who We Are
SourceDay
SourceDay provides PO Collaboration solutions to manufacturers, distributors, retailers and supply chains all over the world. We do more than save time and money; we transform procurement’s value proposition within the company.
rf IDEAS #1 (NetSuite)
rf IDEAS empowers secure access and authentication solutions across any device: proximity cards, smart cards, mobile credentials and soon solutions for multi-factor authentication. rf IDEAS provides the leading platform for identity acquisition. Our innovative technologies are used around the world to ensure virtually any credential type can be used. And our WAVE ID® (formerly pcProx®) product line protects printers, healthcare devices, process controllers, and data records for healthcare, manufacturing, government, and enterprise. As business and technologies change, we work with partners to turn trust into productivity.
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