Learn How a Large Retailer Transformed its Fragmented Suite of Legacy Applications into a Unified Solution

The retail landscape today is changing faster than ever, requiring businesses to stay ahead of the curve by embracing modernization. Legacy systems that once served their purpose now inhibit growth. We are seeing increased activity in companies seeking help to remove inefficiencies, data silos, and increased costs associated with such systems. In this blog post, we will explore the challenges faced by one of our retail clients with a fragmented suite of legacy applications and how we helped it overcome them with a unified solution. By delving into their experience, we aim to highlight the merits a unified solution can bring to retail operations.

Download PDF

Client Background

Our retail client was grappling with a complex environment consisting of multiple legacy applications for managing their financial processes. These applications meant for supplier audits, working capital analysis, and capital expenditure analysis were used in isolation by different departments across the organization. It led to limited visibility during audits and reduced transparency as well as productivity due to unnecessary follow ups. Reconciliation challenges between these disparate systems further compounded the client’s difficulties.

Contact Us to Learn More

Challenges

Limited holistic view: The client struggled to gain an end-to-end view of their financial processes due to the fragmented nature of existing applications resulting in delays and productivity losses
Higher manual intervention: Cross-system dependencies necessitated manual intervention, leading to increased workloads and potential errors
Unorganized data silos: Data was scattered across multiple systems, hindering collaboration and data sharing

Characteristics of the Legacy System:

The client’s legacy system possessed the following traits that exacerbated the client’s challenges:

Disparate: The solutions were individualized and lacked integration capabilities, requiring human intervention for seamless operation.
Diverse: Multiple technologies were employed, resulting in data duplication and collaboration issues.
Usability: The user experience was suboptimal, making it difficult to identify bottlenecks in the end-to-end process.
Operations: Reconciliation issues and high operational costs were prevalent, along with concerns about lineage, traceability, and ownership.

Our Problem-Solving Methodology

We used design thinking methodology to ensure that the solution is better aligned to user needs and primed for high user adoption. Leveraging Apptad’s proven design thinking methodology, we conducted workshops focusing on active participation and consensus building to drive decision-making giving the stakeholders a sense of ownership.

Solution Details

We addressed our client’s challenges and transformed its retail operations with a unified insights application. Here are the solution’s key features and benefits:

Unified

The solution provides a single window access to all major financial analytics with end-to-end view of the financial process
Workflow management capabilities streamlines operations and reduces manual intervention
Self-service options empower users to configure and access analytics without help from IT

Future Ready

Leveraging cloud-native and big data technologies, the solution is scalable and flexible
Metadata-based configuration facilitates adaptability to changing business requirements
The container-based platform solution enables seamless deployment and management

Operations

Cost control has been achieved through automation, reducing the need for extensive human resources and infrastructure
Security has been enhanced through single sign-on (SSO) integration, ensuring a robust authentication mechanism
Auditability features enable transparency and compliance with regulatory standards

Technical Details with Choices

Benefits Experienced by the Client:

The adoption of a unified solution yielded significant benefits for our retail client, including:

Financial

The ability to identify and rectify invalid deductions associated with our client’s CPG suppliers helped it to save millions of dollars
Our client recovered a significant amount of money from its LATAM vendors with more accurate post-payment audits
Our solution accelerated the client’s procurement lifecycle by 30% and improved its cash flow
Accounts receivable, accounts payable, and cash liquidity processes improved by more than 35%

Cost Savings

Automation and time savings reduces costs associated with human resources, as well as hardware and software infrastructure
Cloud-based end-to-end solutions enables easy maintenance and cost savings through pay-as-you-go pricing
Leveraging advanced technologies minimizes resource requirements while delivering optimal performance

Future Opportunities

Easy integration, deployment, and enhancement of the solution helps in meeting evolving business needs
Reusability of components and multi-tenant architecture maximizes the benefits and scalability of the solution
Seamless integration of customer-based Okta authentication facilitates secure access and user management

To thrive in a rapidly evolving retail landscape, it is essential to improve productivity by transforming legacy systems made of multiple applications into a unified persona-based insights application engineered to prescribe actions.. The above case study illustrates the transformative power of a unified solution in overcoming the challenges posed by fragmented legacy applications. By adopting a user-centric, unified, and future-ready approach, retailers can unlock operational efficiencies, cost savings, and pave the way for future growth. Embracing a unified solution is key to thriving in today’s competitive retail environment, enabling businesses to stay agile, responsive, and customer-centric.

Book your 15-minute free consultation with Apptad’s modernization and design experts to explore how we can help with your legacy system challenges.