Challenge

Coffee retailer Jot was facing the common startup challenges of balancing inventory with escalating demand. When attempting to migrate from custom-built spreadsheets and configure inventory management software, the company ran into inaccuracies and further issues.

Jot continued to layer in additional SKUs and vendors without addressing underlying ERP and implementation constraints, which led to operational shortcomings. Management concluded they needed an overarching ERP solution that could delivery sharper accuracy to forecasting supply and demand and enable them to ship coffee faster.

How We Helped

CrossCountry Consulting’s NetSuite implementation team first addressed Jot’s dependency on Excel for financial analysis. The team designed a NetSuite instance and implemented processes that automated reports and improved the quality and accuracy of the company’s inventory reporting. This development enabled:

  • Faster month-end reporting with fewer errors.
  • Automated close and accounting processes.
  • Financial/operational insights for corporate decision-making and savings targets.
  • Time for accountants to work on higher-value projects.

The team engaged in meticulous scoping discussions and prepared the NetSuite solution collaboratively in the pre-implementation phase. Beyond just financials, NetSuite also helped deliver enhanced product freshness, as measured by the “time from when we produce the coffee to the time the bottle ships out of the door.”

Using NetSuite in parallel with an expansion in internal capabilities, Jot was able to add new product lines and reduce overall inventory carrying costs. In anticipation of potentially risky customization requirements, the team wrote additional scripts to retrofit Jot’s existing operations to their evolving business model.

Results

Migrating Jot’s ERP and MRP functions onto NetSuite resulted in:

  • 20% enrichment of mainline product.
  • A clear growth trajectory free of costly mistakes and inefficiencies.
  • A rebuilt technology and process architecture.

“Just having our employees be able to leverage such a robust system to perform their roles efficiently is huge,” one Jot executive noted. “There’s no workaround. Just a system that works the way you designed it to.”

*SCS Cloud is part of CrossCountry Consulting