Empowering Smart, Rapid Business Growth with Single-Pane Visual Analytics
“We are an engineering company who leverage technology to improve processes and drive growth” said Beckie Pisacane, Head of Merchandising & Intelligence at Accu. “There is a lot of intelligence in the background; we are very data-driven.”
More than 100,000 engineers at the world’s top manufacturers depend on Accu for over 500,000 precision engineering components. Accu customers create life-changing advancements across industries, from micro screws in children's prosthetic limbs, to lightweight washers in race cars and surgical robots, to precision bolts for clean energy fusion reactors.
Tangible proof of Accu’s data orientation was the hiring of Pisacane. She joined the company two years ago to create and lead a business intelligence (BI) function. One of her first priorities was to select a BI software solution to accelerate her objectives. “At first, I was grabbing data from SQL and putting it into Excel or Google Sheets and pivoting. We evaluated providers such as Power BI and Google Data Studio,” Pisacane shared. “Grow stood out because visually the metrics are very understandable. It's easy for managers who don't have any analytics experience to build and consume reports. Other software requires an element of database knowledge, and programs such as Tableau and Python demand a coding language.”
With Grow, we have greater access to more data—that has been fuel for our growth.
Another big selling point was the ability to pull in different connections from SQL, Google Analytics, and Data Studio. Pisacane remarked, “What really sold us was the ability to consolidate all of our different data sources into a single pane of truth.”
A series of concentrated sessions provide the basis for all the reports Accu uses today. Pisacane explained, “The on-boarding was excellent, even with my no-code background. Many people in BI struggle with communicating what we require to see. The Epicor Grow team understood our needs and vision, and they wrote an array of relevant reports, and taught us how to use the software.”
Pisacane also valued that communication was a two-way street, explaining that she wanted to be able to compare dates more dynamically; for example, to see the last three weeks versus the prior three weeks. This seemingly simple request required challenging data manipulation. She observed, “On submission of a feature request, Epicor released a fantastic update that allowed me to dynamically compare dates. The ability to impact feature changes is probably not something I could get from the likes of Power BI.”
Grow, an Epicor solution, is enabling Pisacane to allow Accu’s leadership team with automated reports that deliver fast access to sales data and give them the power to drill down quickly and easily to order-taker company name and profit margin.
Pisacane cited several examples of how Accu is using Grow data. A screen in the warehouse displays the top three pickers and stock checkers each day, in addition to other key metrics to motivate the warehouse team. The marketing and strategy team use page views, then click through rates and conversions on products to inform marketing strategy. Another area is tracking customer-facing team response times. Pisacane explained, “Grow has given us the ability to track response times in working hours. For example, if a quote comes in at half past five on a Friday and it doesn't get answered until half past nine on a Monday, previously that would have been reported as a two-to-three-day lag; now it is reported as one hour.” Similarly, Accu set a target for outbound calls and used the goal line function in Grow to track progress. Pisacane noted, “We monitor KPIs and provide a monthly update to leadership and the whole company to identify teams that are doing well, and then share best practices across the business.”
Accu has experienced massive growth over the past two years and Pisacane counts Grow as a key enabler of that growth. “If we have data and we use it correctly, we can identify opportunities and make smarter business decisions,” she imparted. “With Grow, we have greater access to more data—that has been fuel for our growth.”
One example was an effort to maximize warehouse space. To enlighten decision-making, the Accu team evaluated the entire product range in terms of revenue, returns, page views, and conversions. Based on that data, we were able to improve or condense certain ranges, which has allowed the business to focus on what sells well and help ensure stock of products that drive revenue.
The Epicor Prophet 21 and Grow integration will offer us even more and better data. And, it will be seamless, without the need for work-arounds. In addition, Epicor brings perspectives from many different industries and businesses. We are excited to see some fresh ideas and best practices.
As the company has flourished, and with Grow powering her BI team, Pisacane has had freedom to evolve as well. Her role expanded to take on the merchandising function, managing a team of merchandisers who buy stock and ensure product is accurately displayed on the website. With key reports created, she has recruited a junior business intelligence analyst and delegated the running of reports and has also trained a product analyst on Grow. She acknowledged, “Grow has provided me the opportunity to take on more responsibilities. I went from managing a team of three to a team of eight.”
Today, Accu is building bespoke ERP reports and is deploying Epicor Prophet 21.
“The Epicor Prophet 21 and Grow integrations will offer us even more and better data. And it will be seamless, without the need for work-arounds,” Pisacane predicted. “In addition, Epicor brings perspectives from many different industries and businesses. We are excited to see some fresh ideas and best practices.”
She continued, “The Epicor support team is absolutely fantastic, highly responsive, and collaborative.”
The Accu team is planning to expand internationally, including an increased presence in the US. Pisacane elaborated, “We have big growth plans and exciting new prospects over the next 12 to 18 months. Those strategies will be deeply informed by Grow data.”
