True Protein muscles in on competition with a powerful NetSuite solution
At a glance
True Protein enhanced control of operations and decision-making processes with a modern connected solution by NetSuite.
Industry
Services
Systems replaced
- Neto
- MYOB Advanced
- Excel spreadsheets
The client
True Protein is the fastest-growing health and performance supplements company in Australia. Since 2014, True has cut through the noise of a highly competitive industry to break the mould by delivering authentic, all-natural products with genuine health benefits and none of the fake stuff. They bucked the trend for expensive, over-hyped, bad-tasting protein powders and health supplements. Instead they create theirs with 100% natural, delicious, quality formulations with no gimmicks, nothing artificial and a completely transparent ingredient list. Growing at such a rapid pace, the business has been forced to get more mileage and deeper Insights from their systems and Netsuite was the chosen solution. The primary goal was to gain deeper reporting Insights, stronger Inventory management and real-time access to Information to make better decisions across the company's value chain.
We had reached a point where our existing framework wasn't capable of supporting our growth, our internal reporting needs and most importantly the customer experience we are renowned for. We needed to overhaul everything from the eCommerce platform, through to our warehouse management system and then into finance and procurement as well. Our entire value chain needed re-evaluation.Lachlan Cornwell, Chief Financial and Operations Officer, True Protein
The challenge
In mid 2019, True Protein selected Annexa to replace their various existing software platforms with NetSuite. The joint goal was to implement a system based on leading practices that would unify the financial and operational aspects of the business.
Early on, two primary motivations emerged. Not only did True Protein want to take back control of operations and be more proactive in the decision-making process, they required a system capable of seamlessly integrating with Shopify – their soon-to-be eCommerce platform.
Existing processes were wasting valuable time as people had to patch together information from siloed and disparate systems. Reporting took so long that when they could finally make sense of the data, the time to take a relevant course of action had long ago expired. For management, this lack of trust in their data had forced them to conservatively over invest in goods and raw materials. This meant cash flow was being held in ‘safety’ inventory rather than fuelling the company’s growth.
With aggressive expansion plans in the works, True Protein had also decided to switch from Neto to eCommerce platform Shopify. To successfully complete this transformation, True Protein required a system that could centralise its back-end operations while seamlessly integrating with its front-of-house system.
Connected warehouse, operations and eCommerce
A single source of truth company-wide
Advanced real-time reporting capabilities
Boosted staff engagement and productivity
The results
The decision of platform and partner was closely aligned for the True Protein team, explains True Protein CFO, Lachlan Cornwell:
“We have implemented a number of software solutions across different parts of the business over the past three or four years. Each had been met with varying levels of success. Our view is that the primary driver of success is not only the solution, but also the people that you're partnering with. We instantly had a strong rapport with the Annexa team and we could immediately sense that they understood our business. They provided the additional stewardship you need when you make significant investment Into new business systems.”
Annexa recommended a multi-step approach to increase the success and adoption rate of their new ERP. This helped overcome resistance to change, allowed lessons learnt in early phases to be incorporated in later phases, and ensured that a solid foundation of project-level data would be available before rolling-up enterprise-level information. Phase one involved Annexa implementing NetSuite SuiteSuccess Manufacturing Emerging Edition while True Protein’s team got Shopify up and running. For phase two, Celigo completed the NetSuite and Shopify integration. Throughout the project, the three teams worked as a cohesive and highly communicative unit.
Using the SuiteSuccess implementation model, Annexa leveraged pre-built, industry-leading practices that accelerated True Protein’s time to value while reducing the overall business risk inherent with deploying ERP technologies. And for True Protein, the results have been game changing. NetSuite has delivered a single source of truth across the entire business, and opened up previously unavailable data to provide much-needed real-time data reporting, at speed. Now when the team gets together, everyone has access to critical information and is able to speak a consistent language.
From a finance perspective, they are now able to connect a range of operational aspects such as procuring product ingredients from across the globe and channelling the procurement process into the finance function. They have also gained far greater insight into their warehouse operations with real-time reporting now available on critical data points such as volume of sales and average order volumes.
Automation has also positively impacted True Protein operations. From loading data, through to auto downloading files, the team are finding many of these seemingly small improvements have drastically improved processes and productivity.
Finally, having a more intelligent ERP platform complete with readily available data has boosted company-wide engagement and placed True Protein staff in a position where they are empowered - and driven to - add further value to the business.
Where once staff worked in siloes, today they are sharing data, making more effective decisions and contributing more to the company as a whole.
We had a very, very strong team in Annexa bring forward NetSuite to us as a solution. The conversations were not focused on a sales pitch, it was more about understanding what our problems were. They talked us through how each module of the software could assist us when it comes to our production cycle, and how it would impact all the other processes that hang off the back of that. It really made sense to us.Lachlan Cornwell, Chief Financial and Operations Officer, True Protein
