Leading Distributor Gains Insight, Automation, and Traceability to Drive Product Expansion and Global Growth
Closed-circuit television (CCTV) has become a ubiquitous part of our daily experience. Governments, businesses large and small, banks, retail establishments, airports and train stations, parking lots and sports facilities, and even private homes rely on video surveillance technology to monitor activity and maintain security.
In Indonesia, PTI Group started as a small player in the security systems field and quickly grew to become the largest distributor of leading brands of CCTV, network video recorder, DVR, hard disk drives, cables and other accessories in the country.
Six years ago, PTI wanted to leverage an ERP to drive efficiency, speed time-to-insight and facilitate growth. Christophorus Fernandes, IT Manager at PTI, shared, “In order to achieve our ambitions of expanding into new product areas and growth on a global scale, we needed to find the right partner, one that could mature with us and allow us to focus on building our business. Epicor was the answer.”
PTI takes pride in delivering memorable customer experiences and reliable products. As proof of this commitment, the company offers a money-back guarantee, a program with a substantial potential impact which requires careful management.
Epicor helps us minimize the risk of selling something that has an expired claim window. It has driven down waste by approximately 20%, a massive benefit.
“If a customer makes a claim and we are unable to turn around and pass it along to the appropriate supplier, we are out the money. That can quickly add up to a considerable loss,” Fernandes explained.
Epicor helps to enable PTI to practice FIFO (first-in, first-out), an asset-management method in which units produced or acquired first are sold first. “Epicor helps us minimize the risk of selling something that has an expired or soon-to-expire claim window,” Fernandes disclosed. “It has driven down waste by approximately 20%, a massive benefit.”
Additionally, Epicor Kinetic helps the PTI team to efficiently manage the huge number of serial numbers they process in and out of the company each month. Fernandes stated, “We receive between six and eight containers a month with 25,000 to 30,000 units each. Epicor automates the serial tracking process, from supplier to customer, and connects warranties to vendors.”
Epicor Kinetic helps to deliver data visibility and analytics to support informed decision-making. Prior to deploying Epicor, the PTI team used Excel to manage key functions such as forecasting—a spreadsheet with approximately 40 columns, an obviously unwieldy and difficult-to-maintain tool. Fernandes highlighted, “Now, BAQs (business activity queries) run calculations and present digestible data on historical sales, inventory and forecasting. Instead of spending time building the data instrument, we are using that time to analyze and make educated decisions.”
Epicor has also been a boon to the PTI finance team: instead of the two to three weeks it used to take to close the books at the end of each month, management now has data by the second week of the following month. “We are able to share information so much earlier, to improve forecasting and more tightly align our warehouse and sales functions. The dashboards are easy to read and understand,” Fernandes emphasized.
As PTI has grown, Epicor has been there supporting, facilitating and amplifying the company’s aspirations. Fernandes said, “Epicor affords us the opportunity to explore and expand without limitations.”
“We have extended our portfolio from three or four brands to selling eight to ten, including major brands such as Hikvision, Wisenet, Infinity CCTV and Robolife Smart Home,” Fernandes revealed. “Furthermore, Epicor has enabled us to broaden our boundaries, to sell beyond Indonesia throughout Southeast Asia.”
In the age of digital transformation, Epicor is the best solution to connect and collaborate. It’s an easy-to-use, powerful application that seamlessly connects with third-party applications such as eCommerce and messaging.
The company also added new product areas, including Smart Home Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile accessories, and created a new manufacturing business unit to produce CCTV electronics. PTI purchases spare parts and assembles finished goods for distribution. Fernandes noted, “Indonesia has regulations that incentivize the use of local spare parts versus importing. Epicor supports that by aiding us in maximizing the volume of local parts and through improved control of our operations, which helps minimize the cost of finished goods. The result is that we pass those savings along to provide competitive prices to our customers, which supports our customer experience promise and furthers our growth targets.”
Perhaps most importantly, Epicor seamlessly integrates with PTI’s eCommerce platform. “eCommerce has been a major play for us because we have just 40 salespeople. With this channel, we achieve significant savings in investments in new salespeople while also dramatically increasing our reach and pipeline volume,” Fernandes shared.
“eCommerce also offers customers more options for engaging with PTI, especially important as more people prefer self-serve alternatives to a traditional sales call.”
With such impressive results, it is easy to understand why PTI is a regular Epicor reference customer throughout the region. Fernandes remarked, “We are eager to be part of advancing the distribution and manufacturing ecosystem in Southeast Asia. If we can support other companies in adopting the best solutions to develop their business, it benefits everyone.”
He summarized, “In the age of digital transformation, Epicor is the best solution to connect and collaborate. It’s an easy-to-use, powerful application that seamlessly connects with third-party applications such as e-commerce and messaging.”
