Issue link: https://insights.oneneck.com/i/1285673
The Challenge Several years ago, Targus was making cri cal decisions about the future of their business. Company execu ves needed to eliminate their paper and manual processing systems, ghten visibility to and management of their supply chain, create a communica ons environment that extended beyond employees' personal email accounts and centralize three separate applica ons to truly globalize their systems. The company also wanted to shorten the me to close their monthly financials. Targus had no IT department. Plus, regionalized deployment and management of the company's IT environment created inefficiencies that were cos ng the company precious me and cri cal human and financial resources. Targus knew they could not fully realize their growth ini a ves and strategic plan to become a true global player with decentralized technology infrastructure, systems and support. Targus decided they needed to select and implement an ERP solu on as a means of fixing the iden fied problems. The company also wanted to centralize their IT environment without crea ng a tradi onal IT department. This goal was cri cal since the company could not realize their globaliza on strategy without core systems and centralized management and support of their IT environment. Targus needed a technology partner that not only understood ERP so ware and implementa on, but had significant business process experience. In addi on, Targus' partner had to be skilled at effec vely bringing disparate technology and systems together. The company considered many providers, and selected OneNeck® IT Solu ons because of its mid-market focus and ERP implementa on and applica on management experience. The OneNeck IT Solutions Answer To be er understand their business, OneNeck specialists traveled the globe with Targus execu ves. They visited each site to assess the exis ng technology infrastructure, user requirements and business objec ves specific to those regions. Once the OneNeck team completed its assessment, they quickly went to work establishing Targus' global technical environment. OneNeck developed and deployed a centralized technical environment including a global network as a backbone for Targus' corporate-wide email system. The new environment facilitated improved communica ons among Targus employees, partners and associates. Several months later, OneNeck configured and implemented Baan Finance at Targus' headquarters. Shortly therea er, the Baan distribu on/logis cs were brought online. An important component of this was OneNecks' integra on of two significant add-ons to the Baan implementa on. The first focused on streamlining Targus' supply chain management. At the me, Targus' trading partners were using a manual-entry EDI system. Roughly 10 percent of sales volume was entered this way. OneNeck implemented a Baan-integrated EDI translator to reduce human error via the manual EDI input system and to increase efficiency. The Company Targus is the leading global supplier of mobile compu ng cases and accessories. The company is universally recognized as the world's best-selling notebook carrying- case brand and the leading provider of accessory products for the mobile lifestyle. A truly global enterprise, Targus has 45 offices worldwide and direct distribu on in more than 145 countries. Targus' distribu on channels and customers include major retailers, corpora ons, government and educa onal ins tu ons. In addi on, they provide 90% of Fortune 1000 companies and are custom OEM for eight of the world's top ten notebook computer manufacturers. "Targus had no organized IT infrastructure — even at the regional level. We were challenged with crea ng a scalable IT environment that could be centrally managed and supported in order to serve as the founda on for globalizing our communica ons, supply chain and financial systems. We wanted to do all of this without crea ng a significant in-house IT department. We reviewed all the big players and decided a middle-market specialist with deep ERP exper se and global experience would be the best fit for us. We chose OneNeck, and we're very glad we did." Mark See CIO, Targus Group Interna onal Customer Case Study Targus Worldwide offices and multiple systems go global