When the owner of a company contemplates retirement, they usually think about the legacy they will leave behind. What will the employees and the new owner think about them after they are gone? Will the company be positioned to thrive and grow?
That’s what Streamline Aquatics co-founders Chris and Dawn Peck considered as they planned their retirement after more than 40 years in the commercial pool industry. Chris and Dawn sold Streamline Aquatics to new owners in 2020, and after they stayed on as executives, revenues increased 3X under their guidance.
In 2023, Chris and Dawn planned to retire in early 2024. With the company operating on the on-premises QuickBooks accounting system, the firm’s operations were starting to run into roadblocks. For example, sales teams did not have real-time visibility into inventory availability. They had to call the warehouse and ask someone to look. This slowed down their sales order process.
With the company’s rapid growth, it was also challenging to manage the inventory levels of the thousands of products in stock. Tracking costs to measure margins required a lot of manual work.
Setting the Stage for Future Growth
To take on this challenge, Chris and Dawn wanted to establish more efficient and automated processes for the company to handle customer orders, vendor purchase orders, and warehouse activities. They envisioned this would set the stage for even greater growth in the future.
For the answer, the Pecks decided to migrate the company’s ERP platform to the cloud—choosing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud after also considering Oracle NetSuite and a Salesforce solution. They discovered the cost of Dynamics 365 Business Central was lower, and the Microsoft solution gives the company the flexibility to increase and decrease user licenses as Streamline Aquatics goes in and out of busy seasons each year and the employee headcount fluctuates.
To design, deploy, and support the solution, Chris and Dawn vetted three Microsoft solution partners that ranked high in online research. Western Computer emerged as the best fit in aligning with the Streamline Aquatics culture.
After understanding the ERP needs of Streamline Aquatics and configuring Business Central to meet their requirements, Western Computer demonstrated its flexible and collaborative approach by pausing the project during the spring and summer of 2023. This allowed Streamline Aquatics to avoid business disruptions during its busy season.
Company Now Poised to Go As Far as New Owners Want to Take It
Western Computer then deployed the solution in the cloud and transferred the QuickBooks data so Streamline Aquatics could begin using Business Central at the beginning of 2024. The sales team now has real-time visibility into inventory availability when taking customer orders. They also know when a product is out of stock to consider alternatives or inform customers as to when the back-ordered product will be available.
Managing the supply chain is a lot easier as well. Business Central helps identify when Streamline Aquatics is running low on an item in the warehouse to restock before it runs.
Along with the implementation of Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud, Streamline Aquatics opted to keep the partnership going by tapping into Western Computer’s Managed Support Services. In addition to locked-in and predictable support costs, Streamline Aquatics benefits from Dynamics 365 feature and roadmap advisory services, upgrade management with Microsoft’s bi-annual updates for Business Central, and break/fix incident support meeting SLA criteria.
Chris and Dawn are confident that the partnership with Western Computer and the deployment of Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud has contributed to their legacy:
“The new leadership team will appreciate what we set them up with, given the powerful capabilities they have for managing financials, inventory, and the warehouse. Our internal teams are already impressed with how much easier it is to process sales orders and purchase orders compared to QuickBooks. Streamline Aquatics is now poised to go as far as the new leadership team wants to take it.”
Chris Peck
Co-Founder
Streamline Aquatics
To learn more about how Streamline Aquatics improved operational efficiencies and set the stage for future growth (and helping the retiring co-founders enhance their legacy as they retired) by deploying Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud, check out the complete success story. And to find out how Western Computer can deliver the same benefits to your company, contact us today.
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