Systems Integration for Supply Chain Company

Background

Praxent created an integration solution for a startup’s technology infrastructure. The team created a solution that allowed for tracking of each piece of merchandise from receipt to resale. 

The project was delivered before the deadline and went through a smooth user-acceptance process. Praxent was able to come onto the project and immediately understand the business problem and goals. They adjusted to any changes in scope in a reliable and efficient manner.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the vice president of quality and compliance for a global electronics wholesaler; we are a startup. We source end-of-first-use electronics from around the world, intake and process them for data-clearing, as well as functional and cosmetic evaluations, and sell them to a wide variety of channels worldwide. 

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Opportunity / Challenge

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We had a large customer who wanted full integration with our technology infrastructure. That meant that needed to launch a 3-month project with that partner, in order to integrate our IT systems into theirs, at very specific points in the lifecycle of the transactions. We don’t have an in-house IT team, we only use outsourced resources. This meant that we were looking for a third-party integrator who could work with us and our new customer on the full scope of the project—the technical underpinnings and software development work. It was all done within a tight and closely managed project plan, managed by our customer. We had to take great care in selecting a partner who represented what we wanted because it was a customer-facing role. We needed to call in the professionals.

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Solution

What was the scope of their involvement?

The integration work was focused on product intake in our facility—what was inbound, how it was processed, and the timely nature of how it was processed, the cycle time for all the different work-in-progress steps required, from receiving and registration, testing and wiping, to the equipment sale. All of these were touch points along the way, which had to be fully-integrated with the customer’s systems. All of this was tightly-managed and delivered by Praxent.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

We had already identified an outsourcing partner, and they had begun the process of engaging with the customer in the planning phase of the project. It was not meeting the expectations of my company nor our customer, so we started to look for someone who could step in and transition in a very seamless and non-transparent way for our customer. Praxent was recommended by common acquaintances. Austin is a fairly small technology community. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Praxent in May 2017, with the initial project lasting 3 months. However, the collaboration is ongoing. The result of our initial engagement led to a wide variety of increases in scope and to other work we have planned.

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Results & Feedback

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

The project is on the verge of going live, so we don’t have metrics to share at this point. We do have high expectations and have completed all user-acceptance testing, which all went incredibly smooth.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

We met and exceeded the timeline set for the initial project. There was a bit of scope expansion during the project, but we delivered in less time than was expected, and to an incredibly satisfied customer. I’ve been in this industry for 42 years, and have yet to find anyone as responsive and communicative as Praxent. We have regularly-scheduled meetings, either in-person or by phone. We also use email and probably over-communicate some.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their seasoned view of the business problem. Praxent has an experienced understanding of business problems and can turn them into solutions. As I said, they took over a role which was already outsourced to another vendor and did so very diplomatically by grasping the business issue quickly. Praxent stepped in silently and efficiently, in order to pick up the project and deliver it with high marks from the customer.