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Among competitive downhill and cross-country skiers, one brand usually stands head and shoulders above the rest in quality and innovation – Austrian-made Fischer, the top ski manufacturer in the world.
The Fischer brand has become the top ski equipment choice of the Alpine and Nordic Ski Teams. At the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, 58 medalists from around the world swished downhill and cross-country on Fischer Skis, sparking increased interest in the brand throughout North America. Fischer Skis runs on Everest Software.
The
Challenge
Five years ago, Fischer Skis U.S. became the sole marketer and distributor of Fischer Ski equipment in North America. Running the regional operations within the larger Austrian-based Fischer GmbH
presented many challenges to David Allely, Fischer Skis U.S. controller and operations manager. While the ski industry suffered an overall decline in sales of about ten percent in this recessionary economy, over the past three years Fischer has bucked current economic trends and grown by a dynamic 47 percent. With projections indicating continued growth, there was a clear business case to evaluate the back office technology supporting the operations of the company.
“We were running three different applications
on a UNIX based DOS system that was unable to integrate
data and processes,” said Allely. With such
an increase in volume of orders, the company’s
operational staff was spending too much time reconciling
data among applications and was unable to accurately
analyze customer data to forecast sales and inventory
projections. As Allely began forecasting growth
of 10-15% this year, he realized he was going to
need to make a significant software investment to
track sales and inventory, as well as manage profitability.
Fischer began its search for a cost-effective, fully-integrated
solution that could streamline back-end operations
including inventory control, sales and accounting
functions. Fischer evaluated accounting and retail-focused
solutions before narrowing its field to three potential
choices – Everest Software, Microsoft’s
Navision and e by Epicor.
After examining the features and functionality of
each of these solutions, the Everest solution became
the natural choice for Fischer. In addition to the
technological advantages of a fully-integrated
'all-in-one' solution, Fischer found the Windows-based
system easy to use and liked the extensive configurable
reporting functions.
The
Solution
The high level of customer service throughout the sales process, as well as being able to get a close feel for the solution through the extensive demonstration CD and sample software license also contributed to Fischer Skis selecting Everest over other alternatives for a 20-seat license. “We’re not a huge company, and knowing that I can get the answers I need directly from Everest Software was incredibly important to me,” said Allely.
Fischer was impressed that Everest Software would enable them to be up and running on Everest in less than 90 days including some customized development and implementation. This process can take 6-8 months with many alternative ERP solutions.
Allely noted that Everest would allow Fischer to better serve its more than 800 retail customers including REI, Eastern Mountain Sports and L.L. Bean, as well as specialty ski shops. “By having accurate information about our orders and inventory by models and size, we know what to forecast and budget for the next year – this is a definite competitive advantage for our company and translates into increased customer satisfaction,” explained Allely.
Allely soon realized that in addition to streamlining back office operations, Everest would allow Fischer to enhance customer service and enable future growth in e-commerce for the company.
This includes taking advantage of the e-commerce capabilities of Everest by building a website designed to empower customers so that they can track orders and check inventory firsthand without needing to contact a sales representative. “We’d like to really build an online community and stop tying up phone lines.”
According to Allely, Everest will help Fischer save money by taking their retail accessory business online, something they currently outsource.
The
Result
Operational staff productivity increase
by 25%, due in large part to eliminating
data entry
redundancies and errors inherent in
disparate, multi-system environment
Improved sales managers’ operating
performance to run numbers the way they
want and reports
that used to take two days to run,
now take two seconds through Everest’s
daily financial reports
Increased customer satisfaction with
real-time information on orders and
inventory
Fischer continues to receive the great customer service experienced during the evaluation and implementation
phases of the relationship. “Everest Software listens to what customers have to say and plans to implement suggestions into updates and future versions of Everest,” noted Allely.
