Finding a new chemistry

Chemical manufacturer Advance Surfactants streamlines its business processes and gains better visibility into operations with a cloud-based solution from Emkor

KTP Radhika

Advance Surfactants India (ASIL), one of the largest surfactants manufacturers in the country, is a part of Advance Group of Companies. Headquartered in Delhi, the company runs plants in seven other locations across India. Till recently, the company was mainly known for its core business of surfactants for the detergent industry. But in the past few years, it has made giant leaps. Last year, when it announced big expansion plans, it found that there was a key technological hindrance on its way to the next level of growth.

ASIL was a highly people-driven company and most of its business processes were manual. According to executives, the company was operating on non-integrated systems and with outdated processes. ASIL had its financial packages and smaller SAP-based ERP packages, with a single module for the entire business process. With such a system, the company was not able to meet its expansion plans and drive next level of growth.

The company also found data sharing across functions a time consuming process that was also prone to errors. Data security and theft was another area of concern. The absence of a proper automated solution meant the management’s precious business time was consumed by non-core business areas like IT, HR, finance and logistics. Also, with operations spanning across various cities, it was difficult for the company to manage simultaneous transactions in real time.
With all these challenges in hand, the company realized the dire need for a complete business transformation solution to propel the organization’s growth engine. However, it did not want to go with a traditional business process solution. Aashish Mahindru, Director, ASIL, says, “To deploy a traditional business process management solution, we have to make a mammoth investment in time (which usually take 18-24 months) and money. Moreover, we were having a shortage of skilled IT staff. So we understood that a cloud-based model would better suit our purpose.”

The solution
The surfactant manufacturer assessed several vendors before it sealed a deal with Emkor Solutions. Emkor recommended them Business Function as a Service (BFaaS) methodology, a comprehensive business process management solution which integrates people, process and technology. BFaaS offers a pay-as-you-go, on-demand service delivery model. With this model, the company can outsource all critical but non-core business functions such as finance and accounts, HR, payroll, taxation and IT.

Vikram Dham, CEO & Co-Founder, Emkor Solutions explains, “The solution is vertically integrated with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and provides a clear perspective on organization-wide processes and integrated data across various departments like production, quality, accounting, inventory and warehouse, sales and marketing etc. The services include order to cash, procure to pay, master data management, HR process, etc. Additionally, Lync, Exchange and SharePoint as collaboration & communication tools have bridged the gap that existed between the key departments.”
Initially, the solution was implemented at ASIL’s head office in Rajokri. The subsequent phases of implementation were done at six other plants located at Silvassa, Pitampur, Pondicherry, Roorkee, Mangalore and Kolkata. The biggest issue that ASIL faced during the implementation process was multiple locations spread of their plants. However, Emkor’s team managed it all smoothly, says ASIL management. According to Mahindru, one of the major reasons why implementations fail in large organizations is due to long deployment times. With ASIL, the deployment was successfully done in a time span of just four months in all its locations.

The benefits
Mahindru says, “Our main objective of implementing BFaaS was to automate all our processes, enhance efficiency and reduce our overall cost.” And now the solution is providing ASIL with real-time information which, in turn, helps it expedite decision making and reduce time to market for new products. It also helps in effective inventory management while reducing the number of documentation errors. BFaaS solution has built-in best practices for improving operational efficiency and integrates quality management module ensuring high quality adherence.

Another key benefit is on the cost part. The pay-as-you-go model allows ASIL to manage its investments in the service in an organized manner that suits their pockets. Declares Mahindru, “There was a minimal initial deployment cost but after that it is all about the monthly subscription and the number of users. Also, the highly competitive TCO model will help the our company save 25- 30% cost over a period of three years.” The cloud based model is also helping the company save time, effort and focus spent on non-core areas. “Partnering with Emkor has really allowed us now to focus more on our core business imperatives, and we can clearly see positive results, as all our departments can now collaborate effectively,” says Mahindru. The deployment also helps ASIL to become a process centric company with increased security, controls, governance and business productivity.

In future, ASIL plans to deploy more services and business outsourcing processes from Emkor. That includes cloud-based accounting and financial services, among others, and the company is preparing to outsource all its non-core activities. “All this falls under our overall strategy to impart BYOD reforms in our organization, so that all our employees will be able to access anything from anywhere at any time,” Mahindru sums up.