Centric PLM
New Platform will Create Foundation for Future Growth in Bestseller
Bestseller, a proud Centric Software customer, opens up about their new cloud-based IT platform, BestOne, based on Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Centric PLM to make them more competitive and help support future growth.
Article by Kasper Mølgaard, Team Leader at Bestseller.
In BESTSELLER, we are full of anticipation. We are in the middle of one of the world’s largest and most ambitious implementations of Microsoft Dynamics 365, which will support the business in a completely different way.
In 2017, the first 13 colleagues touched the virtual ground of our new ERP system based on Microsoft Dynamics 365. A day we in BESTSELLER have been looking forward to since we started the project. This is only the first of many milestones on our journey towards the thousands of users we will get on board during the next 3-4 years.
Great ambitions
The ERP system is a part of our new cloud-based IT platform, BestOne. In addition to the ERP system, BestOne also consists of a “best-of-breed” PLM application, Centric PLM from Centric Software. The ambitions for the implementation are therefore great.
The Finance- and Logistics functions and all BESTSELLER’s brands in all markets are included in the implementation. Retail and HR are in the decision-making process and are currently running as pilot projects. “We have already tested the Dynamics 365 Retail solution in a couple of selected stores, and the feedback is positive: Simple to use, faster transactions as well as more and better functionalities. So we are looking forward to seeing how this develops,” Kim Guldager, Senior Programme Engagement Manager in BESTSELLER, says.
A transformation in BESTSELLER
The new IT platform will not only support our competitiveness and future growth. It will also be an asset to the individual employee. “BestOne will support the employees in an intuitive an effective way. Better technology in our value chain will make us more effective, both through automated processes and more reliable data,” Pernille Geneser, CIO in BESTSELLER, says.
“Across brands and corporate functions, we have agreed on our future processes,” Pernille Geneser says and continues, “This is the cornerstone for our upcoming work towards the roll-out of the full platform for all of our brands”.
Building for greatness in small steps
To ensure progress and to minimize risks, the platform is implemented step by step. The first users on the IT platform were thus 13 finance colleagues in Switzerland and Poland. “This go-live kicks off a string of go-lives the next 3-4 years, so we have an exciting time ahead of us with many challenging tasks,” Nicolas Skovmand, Senior Programme Implementation Manager at BESTSELLER, explains and elaborates, “We are carrying on with the finance roll-out, and we are simultaneously rolling out in logistics. After that, we go live with the first of our brands”.
The first users of the platform are former SAP users, so to them the new system is a bit of a change. “But there is a sense of optimism, and in BESTSELLER we agree that an integrated IT platform will create synergies that will benefit us all,” Nicolas Skovmand concludes.
We are ”all-in”
We have access to the latest version of Dynamics 365. Because the implementation is of a significant size, even for Microsoft, we are in direct contact with Microsoft’s development department in both the USA and Denmark. This gives our colleagues the chance to influence the future standard solutions of the system.
“We have already had great influence on the development of Dynamics 365,” Kim Guldager explains and continues, “Especially within logistics and retail we have contributed to paving the way for the future ways of working, which is a huge opportunity for us”.