iA (Innovation Associates) is a pharmacy fulfilment company that provides an integrated platform of capabilities to support centralised pharmacy and community pharmacy fulfilment solutions. While the firm is 30 years old, it tripled in size over a three-year period that left its existing systems creaking.
The firm has used a combination of Journyx and Smartsheet to manage its professional services arm. However, it lacked a holistic view of projects and resources, Dave Ristow. CFO notes, “We had no centralised view of our customers and their specific projects, one holistic place to manage it.”
Its services arm is different from many firms, with over 250 specialists on a single project, and a resource pool of over 400. Resource planning and management is more complicated than many other professional services organisations. The firm decided to issue a full RFP. It has already invested in Salesforce, using both Sales Cloud and Service Cloud.
It selected Kantata SX partly because the solution is built on the Salesforce platform, but also, as Ristow explained, because of “its depth, breadth and its team’s expertise.”
Ristow is happy with the decision and commented, “If you’re a CFO evaluating a PSA solution, don’t overlook Kantata. Their expertise, depth, and ability to fit into your ecosystem will give you confidence in both your financials and your operations.”
The project
Within three months, iA saw the benefits. According to Ristow, Kantata helps to simplify and improve operations, and the results were impressive. For the first time, iA has complete visibility of projects. They can see a project plan in full and understand it from a planning and execution perspective.
Ristow equates the system to being like “a pilot sitting in a cockpit, looking across the instrumentation and analysing not only the number of projects, but also the profitability, resource utilisation, and ensuring we are on a glide path for financial success.”
Others share that experience, with Ristow adding, “Every one of my team is now a pilot, and they are looking at the same instrumentation. We’re flying the same plane. We’ve got a common understanding of what good looks like.”
The implementation has resulted in a single source of truth for project plans, scope definitions, and resource allocations. Every project manager has complete visibility. To continue the analogy, they can see their crew and who else is in the air with them. Project managers who previously worked blindly in silos now share a common language and actionable data.
The benefits
The key benefit seen was a 15% increase in profit margin, with Ristow commenting, “The most significant benefit we’ve seen is a continuous increase in service margins. By centralising everything in Kantata, we now manage scope to contracted terms, control out-of-scope work, and ensure resources are allocated efficiently.”
The platform has delivered several other benefits. It has enabled the firm to continue scaling without processes breaking. It delivers a single source of truth and delivers visibility of numerous metrics from across the business.
Ristow summarised saying, “Kantata has delivered transformation beyond expectation. It’s given us the visibility, control, and collaboration we needed to scale successfully. If you’re looking for a PSA that drives operational excellence, I highly recommend Kantata.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
Once again, Kantata has proven that a robust PSA is a better tool than work management platforms or a disparate selection of tools. With Salesforce underpinning the solution, it also provides a seamless integration from Sales through delivery to after-sales. At iA, it appears as though the implementation went smoothly, and they took advantage of the best practices that Kantata has instilled into SX throughout its life.
It will be interesting to see what the next chapter brings and how the firm introduces AI into the business.
