At 1Ci, a global provider of ERP solutions, our primary goal is to build products that will help customers accelerate results, reduce costs, and earn more by automating crucial processes, eliminating manual labor, and increasing their business efficiency. Today we offer you an Interview with the Head of the Department of Development and Implementation of Business Applications at SPLAT - a market leader in the segment of cosmetics and hygiene products to give you an insight into how the company successfully implements ERP solution in the face of 1C:Drive for the automation of its foreign offices'.

Natalya, can you please tell us more about your company and the goals you had before implementing 1C:Drive?

Sure! SPLAT group is the leading European toothpaste manufacturer, other oral hygiene products, cosmetics, and household chemistry. We have over 2000 employees and offices throughout Europe and Asia-Pacific. Speaking about the goals, we needed to build unified business processes across the group's international offices and ensure the high quality of data provided to the decision-makers in real-time.

Got it. And you`ve just mentioned the specific business processes, what were your main challenges there?

We faced the problem of collecting and managing business-critical data across all company offices in multiple countries. Business processes in each country were different, sometimes poorly automated. As a result, data discrepancies occurred and high volume of manual labor was required, which in its turn led to errors and lack of transparency.

So, our main goal was to get a single entry point for corporate data for customer service, financial accounting, and supply chain management. We needed to create an IT system that would solve the following tasks:

  • Shift inefficient and dispersed business processes to a unified flow implemented in the headquarters.

  • Integrate these new business processes with the IT systems implemented in the main office.

  • Fully automate all functional and organizational perimeter of the companies within the Splat group.

  • Make the business processes transparent and manageable.

  • Fuel the creation of the consolidated service center covering the entire Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

  • Allow implementing an internal control system for the entire group, including financial management and cost control tools.

And which business processes were automated as a result?

The accounting system for our international offices was designed based on the 1C:Drive configuration.  We've automated eight business processes, including:

  • Sales planning

  • Sales Management

  • Procurement

  • Warehouse management

  • Treasury

  • Receivables management

  • Financial reporting

  • Expense requests control system

That's quite tremendous, indeed. Now let`s talk a bit about the timing, what was your timeline for this project?

The implementation project was divided into 4 stages. The first one included the collection of business requirements and specifications design for each functional block. Next, the business processes modeling, which was conducted to design the specifications of the technical requirements. The third stage was dedicated to the system's development and testing. And the final phase included employee training and running a pilot project with real business data involved. So, in overall, the  project lasted for  9 months, and in the end 30 seats were automated.

I see. And what about the results? Are there any particular figures you could share?

After the implementation, our foreign offices' activities were automated via a single 1C: Drive system. A shared service center for Europe and the Asia-Pacific region was organized based on the office in Latvia. Legal entities in England, Germany, and Hong Kong were included in the pilot project scope. A shared service center for Europe and the Asia-Pacific region was organized based on the office in Latvia. The system interface supports English and German languages allowing native-speaking users to use the system without any inconveniences.

We were able to reduce labor costs in foreign offices by 20%. The management reporting became faster by 50%,  inventory turnover increased by 15%, while order processing speed increased by as much as 35%. Other figures I can mention are:

  • reduction of time for order execution and service provision amounted to 30%

  • accounts receivable reduced by 10%

  • profit growth for 20%

  • acceleration of regulated reporting of 25%

That sounds really amazing - significant progress! ! A final question about how you see the future of Splat and 1C:Drive ERP implementation - any further plans already?

Sure! Our vision for 2022-2023 is to include other European offices of the EMEA and APAC regions into one single system. So, soon we hope to cover Latvia, Switzerland, and Turkey, as well.

Enjoyed the story? Read more about the successful ERP implementation and find Your way to automated business at 1Ci Website.