Celonis > Case Studies > Ingram Micro's Transformation Journey: Streamlining Order-to-Cash Processes with IoT

Ingram Micro's Transformation Journey: Streamlining Order-to-Cash Processes with IoT

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Process Analytics

Applicable Industries

Finance & Insurance
Mining

Use Cases

Leasing Finance Automation
Material Handling Automation

About The Customer

Ingram Micro is a global technology giant with a transaction volume of $50 billion. The company processes millions of sales and purchase orders, making execution a critical aspect of their operations. Ingram Micro's mission is to deliver on the promise of technology for its customers. The company has a large workforce, with over 3,000 associates who had to transition from a 100% in-office environment to a 100% remote environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has a 40-year history, during which many of its processes have evolved rather than being intentionally designed, leading to inefficiencies and a lack of optimization.

The Challenge

Ingram Micro, a global technology giant, was facing challenges in optimizing its Order-to-Cash processes. The company, with a transaction volume in billions, had to process millions of sales and purchase orders, making execution a critical aspect of their operations. However, many of their processes were not designed intentionally but had evolved over the company's 40-year history. This led to inefficiencies and a lack of optimization. The company's mission was to deliver on the promise of technology for its customers, but the existing processes were hindering their ability to focus on customer interaction and drive digital transformation. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic brought about unprecedented disruption, forcing the company to transition 3,000 associates from a 100% in-office environment to a 100% remote environment within a two-hour window. This sudden shift necessitated major process transformations.

The Solution

Ingram Micro turned to Celonis EMS to identify opportunities for optimization and automation across its Order-to-Cash processes. The company established process excellence Centers of Excellence (COEs) within the Global Business Services (GBS) team. Through these COEs, they identified inefficiencies across the business and used that insight to streamline all operations. They also worked closely with country-specific teams to find the metrics best suited to help them achieve their goals. One focus area that emerged from these conversations was working capital. By using process mining to improve working capital, they were able to drive cash flow and the bottom line for teams around the world. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company had to revisit many of their processes to adapt to the new remote working conditions. For instance, the onboarding process had to be completely rebuilt for virtual workflows.

Operational Impact

The implementation of Celonis EMS and the establishment of process excellence COEs led to significant improvements in Ingram Micro's operations. The company was able to identify inefficiencies across the business and streamline all operations, leading to better experiences and results for Ingram’s associates and customers. The focus on improving working capital also helped drive cash flow and the bottom line for teams around the world. The company was able to adapt to the unprecedented disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, revisiting and optimizing many of their processes to suit the new remote working conditions. As a result, they were able to successfully integrate new people into the team and maintain operational efficiency in a virtual environment.

Quantitative Benefit

Ingram Micro saved 50,000 labor hours by improving processes across just one metric.
The company was able to transition 3,000 associates from a 100% in-office environment to a 100% remote environment within a two-hour window.