LEADING B2B COSMETIC MANUFACTURER

The Challenge:

FACING COMPLEXITY AND CHANGE IN ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST PROMISING BEAUTY MARKETS

India is a critical market for the cosmetic manufacturer’s global growth strategy and it’s easy to see why. The nation is home to one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, yet consumer spending on beauty products is five times lower than in the U.S. The potential for growth is undeniable, but the unique nature of the market created challenges for the company.

“India is a country where every 100 kilometers, the language changes, your food changes, what you wear changes and your culture changes,” stated the Manager of IT Projects and Operations. “You cannot apply the same thing at every place and expect it to work in a culturally diverse country like India.”

The company is built on a culture of innovation and customer-centricity but recognized that while consumer behavior is shifting rapidly worldwide, the rate of change is even faster in India. The country’s beauty landscape is also evolving in the wake of the pandemic, which has prompted many young adults to return to their hometowns in rural areas. The shift has resulted in a ripple effect, opening new markets and driving demand for new beauty products and brands.

While working to embrace these opportunities, the cosmetic manufacturer also faced external disruptions that tested its agility;  regulatory shifts, trade issues and geopolitical tension in other markets added pressure to manufacturing operations and supply chains.

As part of its expansion into India, the company acquired a factory that was using an older version of QAD ERP. True to the company’s innovation-driven mindset, it immediately prioritized upgrading the solution and knew doing so would help the company tackle disruption and the growth opportunity in India with speed and agility.

The Solution:

UPRADING TO QAD ADAPTIVE ERP FOR LONG-TERM SCALABILITY AND EFFICIENCY

“We love innovation and we love technology. We don't want to rely on something that is outdated,” explained the Manager of IT Projects and Operations. “The first thing we did was upgrade the facility’s ERP to the latest and greatest at that point in time and that’s why we chose QAD Adaptive ERP with QAD Adaptive UX.”

While many of the company’s other facilities rely on another global ERP solution, the Manager of IT Projects and Operations had spent many years working with QAD ERP at another company and knew firsthand how it could support the company as it expanded in a rapidly evolving, high-innovation environment. 

“I have worked with both QAD and another global ERP solution. QAD is very easy to tailor and everything is in our control,” explained the Manager of IT Projects and Operations. The team also felt that QAD outperformed the competitor in terms of the expected return on investment. QAD also has deep expertise in Consumer Products, which was a must-have for the cosmetic manufacturer and makes QAD unique in the market.

Employee familiarity was another differentiator. “The employees at the acquired factory were much more familiar with QAD. I didn’t want to give them new software and a new company,” continued the Manager of IT Projects and Operations. Upgrading streamlined the transition process and ensured the team was supportive, which is a critical success factor for implementing any type of technology. 

The Manager of IT Projects and Operations explained that QAD has a few features that are particularly powerful. No-code, low-code capabilities provide a core set of personalization tools, making it easy for the team to customize their experience and add new functionality. The collaborative process with QAD has also been great: “If we want to add some functionalities, we develop our programs and give them to QAD Cloud to deploy, so they run on our servers. That’s worked really well for us,” said the Manager of IT Projects and Operations.

As part of the move to QAD Adaptive ERP, the leading B2B cosmetic manufacturer deployed the web-based Adaptive User Experience (Adaptive UX) and is upskilling employees who were accustomed to a legacy UX to enable maximum efficiencies.

The Benefits:

GAINING VISIBILITY AND AGILITY WITH A FUTURE-READY ERP

The cosmetic manufacturer is effectively using QAD Adaptive ERP as its central system and the strategy has delivered unparalleled visibility into and control over every step of the production process, from incoming materials to final product dispatch. 

“We’re very dependent on QAD right now. All our end-to-end manufacturing processes are mapped with QAD only. We’re not using any third-party applications or software — everything is running on QAD, and it’s working fantastic,” said the Manager of IT Projects and Operations.

The company's India operations are becoming more complex as it scales and QAD Adaptive ERP is integrated into new processes continually to support digital transformation. Low-code, no-code features provide powerful, unintrusive extensibility, allowing users to pull reports with ease, while KPI dashboards and action centers are developed to support rapid, data-driven decisionmaking. 

The company has also found a trusted partner in the QAD Customer Success team. “The issues get resolved so I’m happy. Whenever there is an emergency, we receive immediate support from QAD,” explained the Manager of IT Projects and Operations. 

Looking ahead, the company plans to expand Adaptive UX across the company’s operations by enabling business users with training. Leadership continues to keep an eye on emerging technologies at QAD, with an interest in maintaining the company’s dedication to innovation with the latest enhancements.

Advice from the Manager of IT Projects and Operations to other leaders wondering if it's time to upgrade? The decision is simple: “ERP is the heart of your business, so it should be upgraded. It shouldn’t be left behind.”