Fiskars, around the year 2002, took steps to accelerate their growth in the UK market. Some years later, as the company’s became more integrated in the area of business technology, a need for a common EDI platform arose that would also have commercial value to support its expansion plans. To technically underpin this need, and provide a sound route to expand the service that they could provide to their customers, new and old, AdvanceFirst Technologies were contacted, amongst other potential EDI providers. The contract was awarded to AdvanceFirst, ultimately due to its ability to provide a fully managed EDI Service to meet all of the stringently defined criteria of Fiskars UK, and commercial awareness in the area of Supply Chain needs; something that other solution providers appeared unable to do. During the consultative pre purchase activities, it became apparent to Fiskars UK that employing highly paid specialised individuals to be responsible for a vital and growing part of their IT activities, where a rapid response was required with little notice from their customers, was not the best solution/philosophy. Being open minded on the matter meant that their initial thoughts, to have an in-house solution, changed to that of requiring a managed service; although AdvanceFirst could provide either.
Still, with some reservations at the time, the flexible approach offered by AdvanceFirst meant that they could adopt the Advance Managed Outsourced Solution (AMOS) with just a 12 month contract.
Here we are, many years on, and the same system is still in place, with additional trading partners and documents having been added as needs dictated, with all mapping and implementations performed by the expert and friendly staff at Advance First. Furthermore, with the recent expansion of the company, it is possible that even more use will be made of the “pay as grow” system architecture. But the service provided by AdvanceFirst doesn’t end there…
“Fiskars UK faced a potentially hefty five figure fine for “apparently” for not delivering against an Order. With the various tools available to AdvanceFirst, and its willingness to help, by tracking the alleged offending Order it was able to provide proof for Fiskars UK that the Order was never received in the first place. This saved further time and effort regarding the dispute, and indeed a potential fine, as well as a damaged relationship, had Fiskars UK been unable to prove that the Order was never placed” explained Mark Hibbert Fiskars UK Operations Manager
The move to AMOS (Advance Managed Outsourced Solutions) has provided Fiskars UK with unlimited growth potential to match its strategic expansion with needing to change EDI solutions. Charges are based on the service required and not more.
“Trading Partners now connected include such names as Argos, Robert Dyas, B&Q, Dunelm, John Lewis, Homebase, Tesco and Wickes… using documents such as Orders, Invoices and ASN’s”
Fiskars is a leading global supplier of consumer products for the home, garden, and outdoors. The group has a strong portfolio of respected international brands, including Fiskars, Iittala, and Gerber. Founded in 1649 and listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki, Fiskars is Finland’s oldest company. Fiskars employs some 4,100 people in over 20 countries.
More about AMOS
- AMOS Solution removes all the complexities and day to day concerns of electronic trading
- No VAN costs to you or your trading partners. Your trading partner is provided with Ultra-Secure communications software installed in minutes via a simple download.
- By using AMOS, should you wish to take the operation in-house, we will work with your company to migrate, manage and implement this change.
- Experience with our users shows that the demands of customers are becoming more varied and diverse and vary across a wide variety of messages types and communication methods. With AMOS, all you need to do is to send your standard documents to AMOS and we’ll do the rest, leaving you to deploy your IT resources on mission critical applications and the core business.
Call 01932 230 024 to find out how much we can save you in time and cost by using AMOS our EDI Outsourcing Solution.
