Project brief

Cane Creek Cycling Components, a manufacturer of high-end bicycle components, engaged in a comprehensive software evaluation project to select an ERP solution to serve as the company’s future information and transactional backbone and to accommodate Cane Creek’s future business growth plans and software needs.

At the time, Cane Creek had been operating with the use of multiple, technologically outdated software packages that utilized a “green screen” user interface which were not linked to one common database. In reference to Cane Creek’s decision to select and implement a new enterprise resource planning solution, Anne Smith, Cane Creek’s Director of Information Technology, stated, “We wanted to move away from applications that utilize the old green screen interface and move to a more intuitive and consistent interface for all applications by selecting a Windows-based application. The financial software that we had been utilizing was not fully integrated with the AS/400 ERP software, and we wanted a software package that was completely integrated. We wanted our financial data to be updated as each transaction occurred.”

Following Cane Creek’s software evaluation that included on-site, scripted software demonstrations from multiple ERP vendors, Cane Creek’s project team made the decision to select E21 ERP software for two primary reasons that set E21 Services team apart from the other vendors and solutions evaluated.

First, from a software standpoint, Cane Creek believed E21 ERP’s scope of software functionality had outperformed other solutions in its ability to meet Cane Creek’s software requirements. Cane Creek’s team appreciated E21 ERP’s fully-integrated order management, inventory management, warehouse management, purchasing, forecasting and planning, reporting, CRM, and financial management capabilities. Smith noted, “We liked the fact that E21 ERP was a completely integrated ERP software package. Several of the software packages we looked at required us to purchase another company’s software package to interface with their package (for example, to handle the shipping function). We liked the fact that we would be dealing with just one vendor for our software needs.”

In addition to E21 ERP’s superior scope of software functionality, Cane Creek’s project team felt that E21 ERP offered the best cultural and organizational fit for their business. From E21 ERP’s honest, straightforward sales approach to their direct developer customer support, Cane Creek felt E21 ERP could become a true long-term technology partner. Smith welcomed their unique sales approach. “We liked the sales approach taken by E21 ERP. Their approach was to sell their own product rather than to tell us the negatives of the other software vendors.”

Since implementing E21 ERP, Cane Creek has realized numerous benefits that have resulted in substantial time and cost savings across a number of the organization’s departments. What were formerly manual processes have now been automated as a result of implementing E21 ERP. Cane Creek has taken advantage of E21 ERP’s integration with UPS WorldShip for small package shipping and has improved inventory management through the ability to deplete a part from inventory prior to inactivating the part. Smith adds, “We’ve seen improved efficiencies in the accounting department. Previously, various accounting functions were handled manually. Now, all of these functions are automated in E21 ERP. We also have the ability to track everything that occurs from the time a sales order is entered through shipment, invoicing, and payment by the customer. There is better visibility of customer returns, parts being returned to the vendor, shipment variances, etc.” In addition, thanks to E21 ERP’s integrated manufacturing software functionality, Cane Creek has attained better visibility to costing information, including labor and burden costs, and improved visibility to sales margins at the time of order entry.

When asked about Cane Creek’s experience working with E21 ERP, Smith concludes, “I feel the best part of our E21 ERP implementation is the working relationship we have with E21 Services team. I genuinely feel that they care about what we think of the software and listen to our suggestions even though we are a very small company. Dealing with technical support is always a good experience. We talk directly to a programmer, are given regular feedback on the status of our work, and our work is completed within a very short period of time.”