NSA Nugget #1 Business Optimization Review with Davey Glantz
welcome folks to the NSA Nugget episode 1 on business optimization review my name is Brian Weaver and I'm the vice president of sales with NSA so let's get the show started! Well I'd like to uh introduce our two special guests today uh we have both patrick van petty and Davey Glantz welcome gentlemen hello brian thanks for helping me now you bet absolutely so Patrick if I can start with you patrick as our president and chief operating officer with S he also happens to hold a CPA uh patrick can you talk a little bit about your tenure and role that you play with NSA absolutely thanks brian so as brian mentioned my name is patrick van putty I'm the president chief operating officer of NSA computer exchange I've been with NSA for 22 years and i can't tell you how excited i am to talk about our topic today business optimization reviews excellent patrick thank you for that introduction what I'd like to do at this point is to introduce Davey Glantz, Davey is the principal with glance and Davey if you could talk a little bit about uh your role with Glantz uh your tenure and a little bit about your company please I sure will thanks brian i um help operate and run a privately held distribution business we sell industrial supplies into the signing graphics trade I've been with Glantz going on 25 years and we've recently engaged with NSA to do the business optimization review feeling um it was a needed step in our evolution as an organization so it seems only appropriate that our first nugget event that we're holding is on business optimization review NSA always encourages our clients whether they're new to NSA or whether they're taking on a major project or an upgrade to consider doing a business optimization review so patrick can you talk a little bit as to why that's one of the first steps that we take and what a business optimization view review really is and what it's all about absolutely brian so the business optimization review is one of the tools that's in the NSA tool chest that really supports part of our mission statement and that part of the mission statement in particular says every day our mission is to support our customers with a level of service that adds productivity and adds value to their business the business optimization review has several purposes for customers using sx enterprise first it allows us to define a partner's existing state in regards to their use of sx enterprise how effective is the tool do their existing policies and procedures support the software are they fully leveraging the feature functionality in their current software release the BOR process is the foundation for which a project plan will be constructed allowing senior business consultants of NSA who all have at least 15 years experience establish a relationship and earn credibility with the staff from the each functional area in this transition period where you're migrating from sx enterprise to cloud suite distribution there is an enormous opportunity here for each and every one of our customers the uh the ability to review existing policies and procedures finding ways to add productivity and profitability to your business it is another building block in our partnership excellent well thank you so much for that patrick certainly the business optimization review is a fairly involved process is there anything a client can do uh to best prepare for getting the business operation optimization review underway I think there there's lots of things they can do brian and i think what I'd like to talk a little bit about is the process that's involved and as we go through that process uh identify some of the preparation the customers can do the format for the BOR does vary today by client historically they've always been conducted on site but today due to the pandemic we are working with customers to determine which format or hybrid is most appropriate the BOR will start with the client completing a short questionnaire providing NSA with existing documentation for processes standard operating procedures and policy and procedural manuals if they have them once the information is reviewed NSA consultants will meet on-site or remotely to start the process we will meet with the executive team back office staff branch managers line supervisors and functional area leads this is not a conference room exercise but a hands-on review each functional area how data is processed through SX enterprise in any manual systems some of the preparation that customers can start with is completing of the questionnaire provide NSA with documentation regarding process flows critical reports they're using today forms and then the last part of the pro i think preparation that goes into effect is really to have a short meeting or on usually on site but in today's world again remote meeting with NSA and the clients team to discuss logistics as well as any initial questions excellent well patrick you did mention that obviously this is done specifically for every client so there's no two that are identical but can you give us a kind of a rough idea as to approximately how long the bor process would tend to take yeah i i absolutely can historically what you're looking at the amount of time will vary uh depending upon each customer and the number of branches they may uh may be required to be reviewed but normally as we go through this process you're looking at roughly a three week time period from start to finish to complete the process uh the first week NSA will have two to four business consultants that will meet with the executive team in functional areas the second week follow-up questions will be reviewed and the write-up process will start the third week the write-up process is completed and an executive review report is reviewed with the management team of the client excellent well patrick thank you and uh Davey during your introduction uh you mentioned the fact that you've recently gone through a BOR with NSA so I'd like to ask you specifically can you talk a little bit about your experience in going through that process and share with our listeners what that uh process was like for you and um you know how long it took and maybe what your experience has been well brian I can I'm here so i lived through it i promise you they should get through it um as i had mentioned to patrick when we were when we had completed the BOR and seeing the the booklet upon which we received after after completing it by NSA and and reviewing it diligently with our team and and both the NSA team and the glance team um it was humbling uh there was a lot of ground covered um i think you're you may be looking at a table of contents or or one of the pages from within the BOR but they really NSA team was incredibly thorough very diligent about the process it was strategic they had their plan they acted upon their plan we were compliant with meeting their requests I think that was very important to us that we did not hold this up this process we chose to move forward doing a BOR so we wanted to optimize it and get the most out of it and we certainly did um there was a lot to digest in the end I think in in sum total our our the deliverable was over 85 or 90 pages and a an immense amount of valuable content both about what the organization looks like today and feedback as to what we should be doing and thinking about when we want to construct the evolution of the organization tomorrow the the feedback the takeaways range from very simplistic to easy to to more difficult and um complex issues that we will need to tackle over time when we do complete the feedback from the BOR we will be a better company for it unquestionably well that's excellent Davey it sounds like the process itself was fairly straightforward albeit you know comprehensive um and it really kind of leads us into the next question that I'd like to to cut over to patrick on and that is patrick can you talk about the deliverable Davey held up the report uh as to what's delivered can you talk a little bit as to how that's put together and how clients use that not only for their engagements with NSA but as Davey mentioned just for the overall organization of the company yeah brian I'd be happy to do that and I think I'd like to take a step back first and maybe uh talk a little bit more about the process that Davey just described and then talk about the highlights that are generated based upon the activity so when you think about the process that's involved the initial discovery begins with an interview of the executive team and obviously david was a part of that we are we want to know what your strategic goals are both from a business perspective and a project perspective what are the tactical goals that we expect or you hope to realize what are your future growth plans organic growth acquisitions are you going to be putting in a new sales channel all this information will ensure accurate recommendation of setup configuration and workflows that address current and future needs we will review the process from quote to cash procure to pay leaving no stone unturned both inside of sx enterprises as well as any manual systems being used this will allow us to ascertain a degree of differences between cloud suite distribution processes in your company's existing workflows and to identify alternate policy and procedure changes that may be necessary to adapt those differences some of that is absolutely defined inside that narrative that Davey held up and showed that report gives us that foundation it's that building block it's that definition of existing state today additional branches maybe we may have to visit them if they have unique situations or challenging processes or procedures so again what we're doing is starting with management understanding what their pain points are understanding what's working what's not working not just senior man strategic management but management at the functional level and then we're actually spending hands on time with the back office staff the line supervisors the managers branch warehouse whatever it may be um asking inquiring looking at how they process information and data through the system and then how they use that information to conduct their daily duties we made through that process ask for sample screens critical reports files etc the end result of all of this process really is the start for how we're going to define and use cloud suite distribution some of the deliverables include an executive summary a narrative of the discovery there's always going to be a list of issues that need further discussion whether that's process or functional we're also going to identify a list of gaps in in regards to process as naturally as part of this process what we also identify are what might be some project risks we'll gather additional collateral to support the report at the end of the day that business optimization review needs to stand on its own from NSA standpoint as well as the client standpoint one of the deliverables is a list of pain points and recommendations for improvement and again earlier we talked about a transition period from where you are today to where you need to be or where you want to go and and frankly this is I think is the first step in getting to the finish line it's identifying what those pain points are and implementing recommendations so many of our clients don't wait until they migrated to the new solution but review those pain points and those recommendations and immediately implement new tools new technology or change process again with our mission of adding value and productivity it fits in perfectly with what we're trying to do excellent patrick so there's a few takeaways that i have from your responses there I'd like to address debut with them so it appears that what the BOR really does is it helps to create this roadmap that we have it helps to align uh our understanding of the clients needs as as we know their business better it helps the client understand where improvements and process improvements can be made for their business so Davey that being said I've got two questions for you one can you talk a little bit as to how you believe the business optimization review has helped in terms of your engagement with NSA specifically and what that means going forward for you as well as maybe um you know not necessarily specifically but can you mention you know have you uh identified certain gaps and process improvements as you went through this process as well so yeah absolutely brian so in terms of the NSA piece and and having NSA get to know Glantz better um we've opened the kimono up to NSA and we they they know the the good bad and ugly about our organization and I felt that that was an important step in our long-term relationship so by doing the BOR they now know what works what doesn't work and what are significant opportunities and that will impact time and resource allocation going forward this for patrick was a must do when we first started this engagement with NSA on our road to csd it didn't understand at that time why patrick was so adamant about doing the BOR I was also concerned because of the environment we were in would we get the most out of the BOR having now done it completing completed it and lived through it I can understand why patrick felt this was so important for them them being NSA to be able to effectively do their job with glance and i envision that process to take place over the coming 18 to 24 months so this was a small window within that time frame and i will speak to the efficiency of the bor in the environment we're in there was originally going to be some on-site work done we had a bit of an audible opportunity and we called it and i think for the most part i know for the most part about 90 of the BOR was completed remotely and it worked frankly incredibly well and efficient and was was efficient so I'm was satisfied with the way it played out in terms of your second part ryan if I could one of the things we wanted to do as an organization was strike while the iron was hot so soon after the completion of the BOR myself and other executives within the organization huddled in a conference room safely socially distant for about a day and a half and they were approximately 150 round number pain points that patrick spoke to about glance and again some insignificant and some pretty substantial that we will have to work on over time and we categorized each one of those we we talked about the importance we talked about the ability to improve we talked about the necessity to improve was it real was it something that we wanted to tackle now or or will it wait will it be something that we will deal with as we evolve and move to um so in summary after that day and a half there were probably 30 items that i think we will tackle and improve upon in some [ __ ] in some way shape or form in the coming quarter to two quarters as we get into 2021. excellent well Davey thank you for that and i want to touch on importantly you said because NSA believes it's such an important element of our organization and that is the trust uh that's required to be able to conduct something like this you mentioned opening up the kimono and uh we so greatly appreciate that level of trust and we feel that it's earned every day and uh it's truly a partnership that we have with our customers and the BOR is probably a great example of that showing fulfillment uh patrick i'd like to come back to something you said earlier because we talked about how the BOR has changed specifically this year in terms of being more much more of a remote process uh where it's typically done on site and davey's point that about 90 of his bor was done remotely so can you talk about what the changes have been in terms of methodology and process maybe not only this year but talk to this year as well but just in general uh how it evolved over the course the past few years brian we've been doing business optimization reviews for about 15 years and when we first started the process it was more of what i would consider to be a conference room project where you know we would give the client a questionnaire to answer spend a day or two on site reviewing it with them and and then proceeding to move to the next process as far as an implementation migration went um and again what happened over time is we found that that information just wasn't enough most clients we find know what they know and they may not know anything outside of that so it's very difficult to get a true picture of an existing state of a client from just a questionnaire so that evolved to a questionnaire and then time in a conference room with us completing the questionnaire or filling in the blanks really shuffling in and out functional area champions managers etc. and again it increased our knowledge but not to the extent that was really required in today's environment and so the final evolution piece was where we're at today and it's again evolved again because of covet but we've gone from a questionnaire to what I'll say is a conference room simulation to all right mike the consultants that NSA has who each again have 15 years experience or more in distribution and on this software sitting down with various department asking questions on why facilitating conversation and discovery building a foundation for a relationship we talked about trust we talked about um confidence etc all that stuff has to be earned and it has to be earned not just with Davey and his management team but with the functional leads also and and so we have found over time that the best way to do that is to be able to talk to talk and walk the walk having a specialist in an area of procurement sit down with a procurement manager or buyer and walking them through the process and asking questions just gave us such a deeper understanding and knowledge of our customers and that allowed us to do what we've been trying to do all along which is add that value we talk about you know helping our customers use the tool that's available to them and maximize the investment they've made in that software took it one step further which i didn't know if it was possible um which is really going through that same process but virtually and there were some concerns that i had just like like Davey mentioned you know what was it were we going to be able to establish relationships could we ask the right question could we get the response you know when you're sitting with somebody it's easy for them to give you the attention you require but when you're doing things virtually there's so many distractions sometimes but what we found with the support of the management team at glance letting them know how important this was like Davey said I feel it was extremely successful now there were pieces of of the BOR that you know we had to have somebody literally take a phone around or a computer around and show us certain areas for example the warehouse it's very difficult to get a real sense of what the warehouse is like virtually so we literally as a team in the very beginning discussed about well can we have somebody work have a body cam can we use phones can we use computers we we started to get outside our comfort zone and get creative with it and i think at the end of the day we captured a significant portion of what those pain points were and offered resolution where we could and listen i i see this as something that's going to keep evolving with time as our customers requirements and needs change this process is going to have to change with it and we recognize that excellent well patrick thank you for that uh sounds like an awful lot of change and uh you know some pretty quick thinking i guess during the unexpected you know covet epidemic as well uh Davey i'd like to come back to you and just offer you a chance for anything that i may have neglected to ask you about that you want to make sure you share with our audience about theBOR the process the value whatever um you'd like to mention that uh we haven't covered already i will brian something sticks out um patrick mentioned the the people on the NSA side who conduct the BOR I was really impressed with Patrick's team um a woman by the name of Kathy really quarterbacked it and she did a phenomenal job and right behind Kathy were were a number of other gentlemen who were really kept us on our toes helped us and and i appreciate what they offered to our organization so i was impressed with with the group of S folks that assisted in our BOR really useful excellent well thank you for that baby thank you yeah yeah patrick really good stuff i don't know about you so much but your team was pretty good I'm just the front end right you're the pretty face you're the good looking guy I don't know about that Davey but but you know what i mean here here's the thing I'm passionate about it because i truly do believe it makes a difference and you mentioned how adamant i was about it and i truly am because it is a it's a difference changer not for NSA but for our clients and and that's what's vitally important you know it it for us it adds a lot also it's not just a document but anybody that is working with glance can pick that document up and understand where we started and have a pretty good picture of where Glantz is at today in regards to utilizing the tool called SX enterprise. I will say one other thing brian for for prospects who are considering doing the BOR you have to be in the right place leadership has to be invested in the process from start to finish and you have to truly want to get better and be willing to look at yourself in the mirror don't do a BOR if you're not really willing to listen well i think those are very thoughtful words Davey and I think also extremely important because it's it's a partnership right it's got to work from both sides to make it successful um with this I'd like to go ahead and thank our guests thank you Davey thank you patrick for your participation and what I'd like to do is offer up to the audience anyone that's interested in uh possibly considering a BOR themselves as Davey said you have to be in the right moment and have the right dedication internally to get this done and one of the first steps we have is an initial interview initial phone interview you can go to the NSA website and there's a brief questionnaire on our site about a handful of questions and you can line up a call with us or you can reach out to any of the NSA team members and we can have that initial call and discuss how we might start to plan things out specifically for your company with that I'd like to say i wish everybody's success and i invite you to see further NSA nuggets we'll have another one coming your way after the first of the year shortly and thank you all for your participation and i hope you got a lot out of this particular session.
2021-01-28 20:35
