How HPE Automation Modernized Operations with NetSuite ERP and Advanced Inventory

The Challenge: Running a Growing Business on a Legacy DOS System

HPE Automation was previously running its core business on a DOS-based system. Who could forget the great black screen! The system, popular in the 80s and 90s was now outdated and HPE was feeling it. Performing business transactions in the system became less than ideal; HPE had little-to-no technical support for the system. “If something went wrong, we were left in the dark,” explains HPE’s Automation Business Development, Eric Hord. It was time for a change.

Hord and his team needed a new system that was flexible, and would allow them to grow and change.  Through some research, the HPE crew was introduced to cloud-based business management systems. “We were intrigued by the cloud’s flexibility and ability to integrate, which when compared to our old system seemed too good to be true,” says Hord. As HPE Automation would soon learn, cloud-based systems deliver on their promises.

For wholesale distributors in the industrial automation space, the limitations of a legacy system go beyond inconvenience. Without real-time inventory visibility, accurate demand forecasting, or integrated CRM capabilities, companies risk falling behind competitors who have already made the move to cloud-based ERP.

How GURUS Solutions Became HPE Automation's NetSuite Partner

HPE Automation and GURUS Solutions became business partners following Suiteworld 2013, NetSuite’s largest annual industry event. According to Hord, his team was especially attracted to GURUS “because of their willingness to help management determine HPE Automation’s specific needs and how to meet them through cloud technologies.” With no in-house IT team of their own, HPE Automation chose to leverage the expertise of GURUS’ Professional Services to tailor solutions to meet their specific needs. This allowed HPE Automation to focus on what mattered most: their core business.

After discussion and careful thought, HPE Automation decided NetSuite’s ERP with Advanced Inventory and Demand Planning would be the solution that would work best for them.

Why NetSuite ERP with Advanced Inventory and Demand Planning

NetSuite ERP is a cloud-based business management solution which provides HPE Automation users with optimized business knowledge. It gives all departments the tools necessary to work efficiently within a single software solution, which in turn gives the company a connected and synchronized 360-degree view of business operations. Also, because CRM is integrated right out of the box, NetSuite was easily leveraged by HPE Automation for marketing and sales projects, including  newsletters and emails, which can be uniquely designed and targeted to specific customers.

NetSuite’s Advanced Inventory and Demand Planning are inventory management solutions which are being used on a daily basis at HPE. With Advanced Inventory, real-time alerts can be communicated between the HPE sales and warehouse teams, ensuring unparallelled levels of efficiency and customer satisfaction. Demand Planning delivers forecasts meant to determine how much inventory should be stocked depending on the state of the market at any given moment. Together, these solutions have drastically eased warehouse and inventory management efforts at HPE Automation.

Unlike their previously used DOS-based system, HPE’s current business solution comes with a team of technical experts at GURUS Solutions who support the organization’s changing needs as they grow. This approach to business helps ensure that HPE is able to stay ahead of the technological curve through continued improvement of their overall business processes.