Resources
"SPS Commerce has provided Arena with an outsourced EDI solution that has exceeded my expectations. By outsourcing to SPS Commerce, Arena has been able to improve our productivity and enhance our supply chain relationships."
Keith Ritchie, Corporate IT Director, Arena Brands Inc.
Resources Case Studies
Mad Croc provides everyday portable energy products for consumers. Founded in 2006, the company is experiencing hyper-growth rates by introducing innovative products that meet the needs of on-the-go consumers for convenient energy, any time. Its products include energy drinks, gum and fruit chew candies.
To support its exponential growth, Mad Croc realized that EDI was a requirement to engage with strategic trading partners including Costco, Kmart, RiteAid Pharmacy and other major retailers. Prior to working with SPS Commerce, Mad Croc did not have an EDI system in place, but rather used QuickBooks Pro for Manufacturing and Wholesale accounting software to handle basic trading partner integration requirements.
A Unified System to Integrate All Line-of-Business Activities
Mad Croc envisioned finding a solution that would eventually manage and integrate all line-of-business activities. The solution also needed to have the scalability and distributed architecture to support Mad Croc’s growth and entry into new geographic markets. In addition, Mad Croc wanted to minimize IT capital expenditures and lead times using an outsourced, SaaS approach.
Mad Croc’s goal was to automate all processes required by customers and trading partners including:
- Customer and broker relationship management
- Sales orders management and reporting
- Invoicing and proactive AR management
- Fulfillment via integrated third-party logistics providers (3PLs)
- Inventory management/logistics
- Production forecasting based on sales volume and inventory on hand
An End-to-End SaaS Solution for Automating Trading Partner Communications
Mad Croc chose to partner with SPS Commerce and NetSuite because of the two companies’ market leadership and expertise in the SaaS industry, their reputation among retail partners and their experience with 3PL and 3PM integration. In addition, the companies offered an end-to-end solution that integrates SPS’ SaaS EDI capabilities with NetSuite’s CRM, accounting/ERP and e-commerce functionality.
Mad Croc quickly deployed the SPS/NetSuite solution—without having to invest in IT equipment, staff or software—and established an EDI presence with several key trading partners. As a result, the company has gained complete supply chain visibility from work-in-process inventory to end-customer delivery.
By automating key supply chain processes, Mad Croc has reduced costs and decreased personnel requirements for order processing and invoicing. In addition, with all trading partner management accomplished in a single system, Mad Croc has been able to more effectively manage inventory levels and production requirements. Moving forward, Mad Croc plans to use the SPS/NetSuite system to forecast production based on sales volume and inventory levels, and completely automate all communications with trading partners.
"These leading SaaS solutions offer Mad Croc the opportunity to benefit from the best that technology has to offer, without placing large demands on our IT department to deploy, maintain, staff and monitor it," said Colin Hall, Chief Marketing Officer at Mad Croc. "We chose NetSuite and SPS Commerce for their ability to deliver an integrated, value-added supply chain solution. Today, our sales and accounting staff use NetSuite to perform all aspects of the business cycle -- from customer communications, to processing sales orders, to billing. Integrating NetSuite with SPS enables us to complete the cycle by automating the communication of all of our business transactions required by our trading partners. Our customers are delighted with our responsiveness and accuracy."
Colin Hall —Chief Marketing Officer
