Client 

A $390M U.S. specialty retailer of home décor, operating 295 stores in 34 states.

Challenge

Provide interim IT leadership that focused on prioritizing, managing, and delivering on a portfolio of strategic IT–enabled projects to generate the greatest return-on-investment. Additionally, conducted a search for a new CIO, CTO and other key IT management positions.

MADLAN Solution

• Restructured the IT organization
• Established of a cross-functional IT Steering Committee comprised of business and IT
• Introduced new delivery processes within the IT organization
• Lead a search for key IT talent – CIO, CTO, Merchandising Systems Management, and Distribution Systems Management
• Managed and delivered a new web-site/e-commerce solution
• Managed and delivered major enhancements to the Distribution Center operation including load planning, Direct-to-Store (DSD) delivery and Trading Partner information exchange

Results 

Within  months, we achieved for the client:
• Increased IT effectiveness, internal customer service and delivery of key projects
• Enabled rigorous portfolio management and prioritization of IT-enabled projects through a structured, repeatable process
• Filled all critical IT leadership positions
• Elevated the brand image through website re-design while increasing sales, improving  market penetration (direct mail) and reducing direct mail costs
• Reduced the freight budget by 1.5% annually through better cube utilization of outbound trailers
• Optimized number of store deliveries to once weekly, realizing additional annual transportation savings of $1.75M
• Improved customer service through decreased freight handling at the store

 

Client 

A $650M privately owned regional specialty retailer operating 18 stores in the United States.

Challenge

The client is an operationally-oriented company focused on store operations and growth, never having an opportunity to assess its IT capabilities to support the business strategies for the future.

The client’s approach to IT investments had historically been reactive with each store opening requiring significant time, resources, and effort.  The timeframe to profitability for each location was inconsistent and recently, not meeting management’s expectations.  The client determined it was time to look at their overall IT capabilities, and determine how effectively IT is supporting their business model, helping to maximize workforce productivity and realize bottom-line benefits

MADLAN Solution

• Assess the IT capabilities relative to best-in-class organizations in retail, and other relevant industry segments
• Evaluate the client’s IT investments and compare to other companies with similar profiles
• Identify opportunities and areas to improve the IT function
• Align the Business Strategy with the IT Strategy
• Determine gaps between the current state of IT and the desired future state to deliver against the strategy
• Develop a realistic and achievable multi-year IT Strategic Plan

Results

Within months, we achieved for the client:

• A “no-nonsense” IT Assessment that answered all of the clients key questions , providing candid feedback on their applications, technology, processes and people
• A consolidation of all IT expenditures (previously unknown) and a comparison against other relevant retail segments in many key categories (e.g., staffing, infrastructure, maintenance, business recovery)
• Project Management services to complete stalled projects for improving time and attendance, labor scheduling and compliance of labor laws in all stores
• Delivery of a multi-year, actionable IT Strategic Plan consisting of an Application Strategy, Technical Strategy, Organizational Strategy and Delivery Plan. Also included were Five Year Capital and Operating Budgets
• Assistance in hiring a new CIO to execute the IT Strategic Plan