TheMIGroup: Leveraging IT to Deliver Customer-Focused Relocation Services in a Challenging Economy

Transcription

1 TheMIGroup: Leveraging IT to Deliver Customer-Focused Relocation Services in a Challenging Economy Partner

2 TheMIGroup Industry Professional services Products and Services Domestic and international relocation services and global mobility solutions Web Site SAP s SAP Business All-in-One solution, SAP Customer Relationship Management application, SAP BusinessObjects analytic applications Partner Illumiti In the relocation of people across the globe, technology gives TheMIGroup a distinct competitive edge. A powerful infrastructure based on the integration of multiple SAP software solutions delivers clear insight across all aspects of domestic and international relocations. Intelligence on clients helps the company tailor its services closely to the needs of each. TheMIGroup can offer clients 24x7 monitoring of relocation costs and service status in an easy-to-use, intuitive Web portal. 2

3 Standardizing practices across a relocation business TheMIGroup delivers a full range of global mobility and relocation solutions, including assignment management, compensation services, and supply chain optimization. Headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, with offices across North America and in Asia and Europe, the company began as an international moving company and has become a full-service relocation management provider. It leverages that international experience to move people in the most cost-effective and sustainable manner worldwide. Supporting relocations in more than 175 countries, TheMIGroup handles some 17,000 relocations a year and boasts annual revenues of US$160 million with more than 400 employees. However, TheMIGroup is most distinctive in its industry because of its willingness to embrace automation early on and broadly. But by the turn of the millennium, legacy systems consisting of multiple disparate solutions and differing from region to region were becoming inadequate. The sheer volume of processing was weighing the company down locally, and the prospect of scaling globally would be challenging. As CIO Joanne Hodge says, We needed to standardize our applications and practices everywhere. 17,000 Relocations handled annually 3

4 Meeting customer reporting requirements At the same time, TheMIGroup was keenly aware of the cost-consciousness driving all industries. It takes seriously its responsibilities to provide transparent financial reports to clients and to keep expenses down across the supply chain. It wanted a flexible solution that could enable secure delivery of confidential input and would meet a variety of output requirements. And it needed processes that would not stumble over international variations in handling compliance issues such as taxes and customs. In short, TheMIGroup wanted an affordable, integrated implementation that would grow smoothly as the business continued to diversify. In a changing economy, helping clients track their costs is as important as tracking our own, explains Hodge. Everybody s focused on costs right now. TheMIGroup quickly realized that providing accessible and thorough visibility to information in order to proactively address potential issues was no longer a luxury. And every client deserved relocation tracking and cost analytics tailored to its own preferences. Making the solution available through the Internet was equally important, because of increased demand for environmentally sensitive solutions and real-time oversight availability. To stay green and keep costs down, we wanted to use our technology to allow clients to access cost and status information online, rather than delivering periodic paper reports. Joanne Hodge, CIO, TheMIGroup 4

5 Choosing the winners TheMIGroup s executive team began to seek a creative, integrated solution, under a set of guidelines that specified three criteria. First, the solution had to operate on a globally integrated platform, so that all 11 international offices would have access to the same information. Second, the solution had to support standard business processes for managing client requirements, under the company s proprietary quality-service delivery program, and for gathering and delivering business intelligence. And third, the solution had to be flexible enough to satisfy different client requirements. The selection process took six months. At the end of that period, only SAP among a field of four candidates was able to satisfy all three criteria. Hodge explains the unique combination of strategic alignment and tactical responsiveness SAP software embodies: We were convinced that SAP software provided the platform to run our day-to-day processes while helping us be in a position to deal with the unexpected. And any company dealing with relocations regularly encounters the unexpected. 3 competitors bested by SAP in the selection process 5

6 Getting to value quickly A first wave of implementation brought the SAP Business All-in-One for Professional Services solution, the SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application, and the SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW) component to TheMIGroup. The project lasted about 18 months, and Illumiti, an SAP gold channel partner, was instrumental in facilitating a smooth and productive implementation. They ve brought us great resources and helped us get to value quickly with this project, says Hodge about the Illumiti team. And our board of directors was pleased that the implementation finished in a reasonable time frame and quickly provided the company with greatly enhanced processing abilities and data capture, she adds. The second phase brought the SAP NetWeaver Portal component, SAP BusinessObjects analytic applications, and SAP BusinessObjects business intelligence solutions on board, also under the capable guidance of Illumiti consultants. The launch of the resulting client and employee portal, called ReloWeb, has become a cornerstone of TheMIGroup s service delivery. On the basis of this unequivocal success, Hodge foresees partnering with SAP and Illumiti for the long term. Our clients like the look and feel of the reports and analytics on our ReloWeb portal, which is based on SAP solutions. They have all the metrics and information required to effectively manage their relocation programs. Joanne Hodge, CIO, TheMIGroup 6

7 Establishing a fully integrated landscape TheMIGroup has been visionary in applying integrated processing to the relocation services sector. It melds SAP Business All-in-One for Professional Services, SAP CRM, SAP NetWeaver BW, SAP NetWeaver Portal, and the analytical tools in SAP BusinessObjects software into a single, powerful infrastructure. According to Hodge, the analytics in the front end are convenient, informative, and attractive. The presentation dashboards draw on in-depth client information maintained in SAP CRM and on full-spectrum operational data maintained in the business warehouse. Our comprehensive solution has definitely led to new efficiencies in our business, from targeting offerings to engaging providers to invoicing customers, summarizes Hodge. Prior to the SAP software implementation, historical data at TheMIGroup was segmented and operational data was not integrated with financial data. When customers began to demand closer monitoring of costs, there was no way to produce comprehensive reports across the enterprise. Now stakeholders have access to that rich intelligence, providing an allencompassing view of data that can support strategic growth. With our integrated landscape based on SAP software, we have one version of the truth, for ourselves and our clients. And our insight is deep and broad, into and across all of the aspects of our business. Joanne Hodge, CIO, TheMIGroup 7

8 Realizing the benefits Client satisfaction levels at TheMIGroup have risen substantially with the integrated SAP solution in place. Customers don t want to have to call us and ask for status information. And they don t like to be restricted to so-called business hours. They like selfservice 24x7 through the portal and, of course, we do too. It saves us all money, explains Hodge. The philosophy at SAP favoring innovation has also caught on at TheMIGroup. Hodge and her team have added a suite of role-based tools and reference files to the portal and are always looking for new offerings to make available. In fact, the whole company has gotten more creative about the information it can aggregate and share and the relocation services it can design and sell. 24x7 Availability of cost information to clients 8

9 TheMIGroup Moving to mobile access The vision is that the Web portal will be accessible from a number of handheld devices as well as fixed Internet connections. People experiencing the upheaval of a major move can t always rely on landlines, and information is even more important when your life is in flux. So mobile access is an essential next step for us, Hodge says. As the world slowly coalesces into a single economy and domestic and international mobility increases to all corners of the globe, TheMIGroup knows that demand for up-to-the-minute and accurate information will continue to grow. Service providers who triumph will have to demonstrate established strengths and solid reputations, and Hodge trusts SAP and Illumiti to support TheMIGroup s growth and keep it ready to bring new visions into reality. CMP (12/03) Copyright/Trademark Privacy Impressum 9