Results:

• Afloral saved $30K over the cost of a server-based system upgrade, which contributed to a 20% reduction in overall operating costs
• Thanks to end-to-end process integration, Afloral now maintains consistent year-over-year double-digit growth
• Incoming inventory posts to the Web store the instant it's received, compared to a week-long time lag with the previous system
• Customer access to order status has helped reduce the administrative time for handling customer inquiries by 10 hours a month
• Automated, multi-level pricing simplifies customer self-ordering and has accounted for growth in larger wholesale orders
• The company can now promise same-day shipping for all orders in by noon, which was not possible previously.

Challenges:

• Non-integrated business software couldn't support company's growth
• Data entry duplication and software maintenance were wasting administrative time and money
• Manual data interchange between software applications created bottlenecks in inventory calculations and delayed new orders
• Limited analytics made it difficult to anticipate fast-changing trends among Afloral's customers, challenging because of 6– to 8–month supply cycles.

Solution:

• NetSuite's twice-yearly version upgrades remove the hassle—and downtime risks—of conventional server-based software maintenance
• Robust analysis aids marketing by revealing customer information on everything from which product colors are most attractive to how many site visits a customer made before purchasing
• Real-time inventory visibility, remote access via laptop or iPhone let florists use Afloral's online store as a sales tool during bridal planning or other customer meetings.