ENTERPRISE MIDDLEWARE ENABLES THE INTEGRATION OF NEW ACQUISITION’S SYSTEMS

MIDDLEWARE ENABLES​ INTEGRATION OF NEW​ ACQUISTIONS​

ENTERPRISE MIDDLEWARE ENABLES THE INTEGRATION OF NEW ACQUISITION’S SYSTEMS

MIDDLEWARE ENABLES​ INTEGRATION OF NEW​ ACQUISTIONS​

The client, a national timber supplier, is primarily engaged in timber importing, manufacturing and retailing of timber and related products. With extensive warehousing, processing, and distribution capabilities they provide customers across the UK with a range of timber, panel, decorative surfaces, and engineered wood products. The Group has a combined turnover of over £300 million, 1,500 employees and 57 processing and distribution sites from the North of Scotland to London and the Southwest.

WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES?

  • Multiple instances of ERP for each legal entity (existing & new acquisitions)​
  • Need for ‘plug and play’ flexibility regarding new acquisitions (i.e. ERP ‘plug-ins’)​
  • Need for flexibility regarding future entity sales/exits (i.e. ERP ‘plug-outs’)​
  • Need for a centralised repository to sync data from all sources and underpin an enterprise reporting solution​
  • Need to enable secure data exposure for a digital transformation that encompasses new sales channels e.g. eCommerce websites (B2B / B2C) etc.​
  • Need for the dataset to be made available to bespoke applications (web and mobile) on a subscription and demand basis​
  • Complex data transformations per the business requirements​
  • Extremely demanding timelines to deliver a solution

SO, WHAT DID WE DO?

  • Our technology team designed a comprehensive solution that satisfied both the client’s short-term goals (i.e. mobile application) and long-term goals (i.e. modern data warehouse).​
  • New mobile app designed to transform existing paper-based processes relating to product deliveries and enable real-time sharing of delivery updates including proof of deliveries etc.​
  • Enterprise middleware hub was developed using Microsoft Azure Cloud ecosystem which was both scalable as well as extensible and consisted of the following components:​
    • Front-end: Ionic hybrid frameworks that use a single code base to target mobile and web applications​
    • Back-end (API): Node JS​
    • Database: Modern Data Warehouse (MDW) using Azure SQL​
    • ETL: Azure Data Factory (ADF) pipelines to pull data from various ERPs & refresh MDW at a regular frequency​
    • Security: Azure Key Vault and Azure API Gateway policies (API limit, DDoS prevention, Firewall etc.) to provide security to the portal data over REST APIs​
    • DevOps: Azure CI/CD Pipelines with bit bucket for easy/secure deployments to test live environments​
  • Serverless model for app services ensured the capability to automatically scale and meet the demand for eCommerce users during peak periods.​
  • MDW enabled a unified view of data across various Source Systems and encapsulated ERP sources from external components with maximum security.​
  • The new solution supports continuous changes, reimagining the relationships between process and technology to manage risk as well as maximising efficiencies.​

Results

  • More than 6,100 eCommerce orders were placed in the first few months through the eCommerce channel powered by the new enterprise middleware. This increased total sales by 8% (on a month-to-month basis) generating multi-million £ revenue improvements.​
  • Single source of truth enabled enterprise data analytics that now provides the corporate leadership with the insight on sales and product performance to properly drive business performance.​
  • New mobile technology significantly improved customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.​
  • Client now retains an offshore managed service with Panamoure for ongoing development and testing purposes.​
  • New portfolio entities are now quickly integrated within 7-14 days.​
DO YOU NEED TO DIGITALLY OPTIMISE YOUR BUSINESS?

WE’RE EXPERTS
IN OUR FIELD

We are experts in what we do. Committed professionals who are at the leading edge of our specialised field.

The client, a national timber supplier, is primarily engaged in timber importing, manufacturing and retailing of timber and related products. With extensive warehousing, processing, and distribution capabilities they provide customers across the UK with a range of timber, panel, decorative surfaces, and engineered wood products. The Group has a combined turnover of over £300 million, 1,500 employees and 57 processing and distribution sites from the North of Scotland to London and the Southwest.

WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES?

  • Multiple instances of ERP for each legal entity (existing & new acquisitions)​
  • Need for ‘plug and play’ flexibility regarding new acquisitions (i.e. ERP ‘plug-ins’)​
  • Need for flexibility regarding future entity sales/exits (i.e. ERP ‘plug-outs’)​
  • Need for a centralised repository to sync data from all sources and underpin an enterprise reporting solution​
  • Need to enable secure data exposure for a digital transformation that encompasses new sales channels e.g. eCommerce websites (B2B / B2C) etc.​
  • Need for the dataset to be made available to bespoke applications (web and mobile) on a subscription and demand basis​
  • Complex data transformations per the business requirements​
  • Extremely demanding timelines to deliver a solution

SO, WHAT DID WE DO?

  • Our technology team designed a comprehensive solution that satisfied both the client’s short-term goals (i.e. mobile application) and long-term goals (i.e. modern data warehouse).​
  • New mobile app designed to transform existing paper-based processes relating to product deliveries and enable real-time sharing of delivery updates including proof of deliveries etc.​
  • Enterprise middleware hub was developed using Microsoft Azure Cloud ecosystem which was both scalable as well as extensible and consisted of the following components:​
    • Front-end: Ionic hybrid frameworks that use a single code base to target mobile and web applications​
    • Back-end (API): Node JS​
    • Database: Modern Data Warehouse (MDW) using Azure SQL​
    • ETL: Azure Data Factory (ADF) pipelines to pull data from various ERPs & refresh MDW at a regular frequency​
    • Security: Azure Key Vault and Azure API Gateway policies (API limit, DDoS prevention, Firewall etc.) to provide security to the portal data over REST APIs​
    • DevOps: Azure CI/CD Pipelines with bit bucket for easy/secure deployments to test live environments​
  • Serverless model for app services ensured the capability to automatically scale and meet the demand for eCommerce users during peak periods.​
  • MDW enabled a unified view of data across various Source Systems and encapsulated ERP sources from external components with maximum security.​
  • The new solution supports continuous changes, reimagining the relationships between process and technology to manage risk as well as maximising efficiencies.​

Results

  • More than 6,100 eCommerce orders were placed in the first few months through the eCommerce channel powered by the new enterprise middleware. This increased total sales by 8% (on a month-to-month basis) generating multi-million £ revenue improvements.​
  • Single source of truth enabled enterprise data analytics that now provides the corporate leadership with the insight on sales and product performance to properly drive business performance.​
  • New mobile technology significantly improved customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.​
  • Client now retains an offshore managed service with Panamoure for ongoing development and testing purposes.​
  • New portfolio entities are now quickly integrated within 7-14 days.​
DO YOU NEED TO
DIGITALLY OPTIMISE
YOUR BUSINESS?

DO YOU NEED TO
DIGITALLY OPTIMISE
YOUR BUSINESS?

We are experts in what we do. Committed professionals who are at the leading edge of our specialised field.

OTHER EXAMPLES

OF OUR WORK

ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURER

Panamoure Consulting was approached by a PE fund to perform a pre-acquisition IT Due Diligence review on an upcoming lower mid-cap target who designed and manufactured electronic component boards for the defence, aviation, automotive and energy sectors.

HEALTHCHECK SAVES FIRM FROM POTENTIAL £10M OVERSPEND

PE investors in a global manufacturing and logistics firm were concerned that the Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP implementation underway was over budget and underperforming so asked Panamoure to undertake a health check of the implementation.

HEALTH CHECK RECOVERS FAILING ERP PROJECT

A small business carve-out had a transitional service agreement (TSA) to decouple itself from the parent company systems within 6 months of separation. A project manager had been hired to help get the system delivered but 4 months in, the deadline was looming and the Sage 500 ERP project was heading for failure.