Customers

St. John Knits"If you can use email, you can use Nsite. From the time the purchase order for Nsite was signed, the system was up and running and everyone was trained within a week - maybe less."

Kari Dickard, Purchasing Manager, St. John Knits

Overview

The retail industry has been among the most aggressive in the adoption of new technologies for improving business performance. Faced with increased competition from small and medium-sized vendors, the broader retail community has moved quickly to gain any possible advantages.

For large and geographically diverse retailers, one challenge has been the management of day-to-day administrative operations. Seemingly simple tasks - such as providing desktop computers or office equipment or janitorial resources for a given office location or department - can be extremely time consuming and costly if managed poorly.

Fashion retailer St. John Knits appears to have this issue handled. For two years the company has been using an innovative, Web-based technology solution from Nsite to improve the process by which it manages purchasing requests and vendor invoices. The fashion powerhouse, with 4,000 employees worldwide, has deployed Nsite to dozens of workers in five St. John offices in southern California.

Manual Process Bogged Down Business with Paper

Prior to signing up with Nsite, St. John workers in the southern California offices processed all purchasing requests manually using voice mail, email, and spreadsheets. If someone needed to order supplies, a request was faxed to the buying office. Hundreds of similar paper-intensive requests slowed the ordering process and bogged down business across departments.

The Solution Was Instantaneous

There are three primary buyers for the company in southern California, each supporting the maintenance, repair, and operations purchasing needs of a particular territory. An authorized requisitioner from each department uses Nsite to initiate purchasing requests, which are routed first to a buyer, then to a department director, and finally back to the buyer, who places the order.

For example, a facilities supervisor might initiate a request for janitorial supplies. The routing is sent to a primary buyer, who can correct pricing or update item information and suppliers. The routing then goes to the director of facilities, who has the ability to approve or reject the order.

The entire process, from the time the request is initiated until it's completed, can be tracked easily, over the Web, using Nsite. The initial requestor can log on to the system from any Internet-enabled computer and, with his secure username and password, can check the status of his order, including when it was viewed by the buyer or the director, whether it's been approved or rejected, and if either party has comments or feedback. The ability to track order status in real time helps to eliminate process bottlenecks, resulting in faster time to completion and less confusion. More than 3,000 requests have been made using Nsite since St. John deployed the system in 2003.

Order Tracking, Visibility, and Ease of Use

While order tracking and visibility are key to the value provided by Nsite, the system's ease of use also is a selling point. "If you can use email, you can use Nsite," said Kari Dickard, St. John Knits purchasing manager and the company's Nsite administrator. "From the time the purchase order for Nsite was signed, the system was up and running and everyone was trained within a week - maybe less."

Since deploying with Nsite, order processing time has been reduced by four percent in the purchasing department alone. The result has been an estimated labor savings of approximately $14,000 a year.

Return on Investment

"Aside from the obvious financial benefits of using Nsite, there is tremendous value in the ability to ensure that each order has received its proper review and approval. Whereas before it was possible for some requests to slip through the cracks, many orders are now challenged by upper management. The result, thanks to Nsite, is a more efficient and effective purchasing process."

"The result, thanks to Nsite, is a more efficient and effective purchasing process".

Kari Dickard, Purchasing Manager, St. John Knits

Benefits to St. John Knits

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