Sustainable cost reduction: Pre- and post-merger integration
A distributor of consumer products faced declining sales in five of its core brands and wanted to achieve a steep change in general and administrative (G&A) costs through a large-scale transformation. The leadership team needed support in evaluating various consolidation scenarios from an objective third party, but lacked depth in its mid-level management team to successfully execute the transformation. An additional complicating factor was a planned ERP system cutover that had to occur in conjunction with the consolidation.
What we did
PwC was engaged to conduct a rapid assessment of the G&A costs of the distributor’s five core brands and returned with a two-phase consolidation approach that would incorporate the ERP cutover to help ensure a successful deployment.
Results
The client was able to reduce G&A costs by more than 24%, helping to improve bottom-line results, which were critical due to an upcoming debt restructuring. By implementing best practices, the ERP cutover occurred without disruption and helped to strengthen the leadership team.
IT strategy roadmap development and execution
The executive team of a large retailer and direct marketer needed help to develop a roadmap and business case, to help transform its current IT environment to a next generation of systems and platforms that would support their future business strategy.
What we did
The client had a complex legacy portfolio of over 400 commercial and custom systems which were extremely costly (accounting for 80% of the annual IT budget). We analyzed the client’s multiple systems and had focused discussions with key business leaders to help create a five-year roadmap to completely transform the IT environment and align it to leaders in their industry.
Results
The client was able to leverage an actionable IT plan that included a time-sequenced plan of initiatives, one-time cost investment, and potential benefits (IT and business) to justify the transformation program. A structured project management office to execute the implementation was created and an outlined process for rapidly evaluating and selecting key software and service providers to serve as future technology platforms for future growth was put into place.
Demand-driven replenishment at food and beverage client
Our client had an issue with out of stock and backroom inventory, resulting in lost opportunity and higher inventory holding cost. The average out of stock was 13% which is significantly higher than the industry average of 8% and the backroom inventory at stores was also higher than industry average (24% of volume).
What we did
PwC’s data analytics professionals designed and deployed nationwide a custom demand driven replenishment system to reduce the out of stock problem at the retail level and used time series models to predict weekly demand at a store-SKU level.
Results
Our solution helped yield 8% reduction in out of stocks, 10% reduction in backroom inventory and 15% reduction in headcount—driving a projected $20 million annual EBITDA contribution.
Risk consulting
Our client needed assistance in developing an enterprise-wide business continuity management (BCM) program.
What we did
PwC followed its five-phase BCM methodology to determine the client’s critical functions. We helped the client create recovery strategies for each critical function, document business continuity and emergency response and crisis management plans. PwC also helped the client develop testing and maintenance procedures to promote the sustainability of the BCM program.
Results
A sustained program with defined maintenance and testing procedures was put in place and a governance structure that includes a program manager, BCP team leaders and a two-tiered crisis management team was created. Helping the client to be able to better respond to unexpected interruptions and recover operations in an organized and efficient way, thereby minimizing the impact of a disruption to the company, its employees and its customers.
New product development transformation
A computer systems supplier needed to cut its product development cycle as its competitors were developing products in up to 50% less time.
What we did
We conducted a diagnostic assessment of cycle time, processes and project mappings and formed cross-functional design teams to define the process structures. Our advisors also piloted and improved project excellence capabilities created by the design teams to help address the client’s informal, unstructured prototype build process across its divisions.
Results
The client achieved a 36% reduction in prototype cycle time, and saved approximately $200M through productivity improvement and direct cost reduction while improving revenue by $30M through improved customer satisfaction.
Hyperion enterprise performance management
The client’s existing process in preparing the consolidated GAAP cash flow statement was manually intensive and time consuming. The statement was prepared on a quarterly and annual basis, and the forecasting method also lacked precision.
What we did
PwC helped to streamline and automate the cash flow process and align all reporting with GAAP.
Results
By standardizing and automating the cash flow process the company was able to achieve greater efficiencies and accelerate the close and reporting process. The reduced time spent on assembling the Cash Flow Statement allowed for more time to be spent on analysis. The automation through Hyperion Enterprise yielded a more comprehensive and accurate cash flow statement by eliminating significant manual intervention.
Minimizing loss through forensic investigation
A multinational, privately held firm identified questionable activity that impacted funds held on behalf of their clients. The company conducted a preliminary assessment and found that certain former employees had misappropriated funds from client accounts for their personal benefit and use.
What we did
PwC worked closely with outside counsel and management to analyze questionable transactions and related activities of the former employees. Together we also worked with external auditors in connection with the company’s controls and financial statements as well as with the client’s insurance provider so it could prepare a fidelity claim in support of loss recovery.
Results
With PwC’s assistance, the company was able to reimburse several clients for the losses sustained, avoiding any further damage to their client relationships as well as enhance processes and procedures and strengthen controls and oversight to avoid similar issues in the future.
