The wiring behind the electrical market
ECM Industries LLC from New Berlin, Wisconsin, is a global manufacturer and supplier of electrical products. Offering one of the largest assortments of electrical components, ECM Industries’ reach extends to markets including construction and maintenance, irrigation and landscape supply, natural gas, and cathodic industries.
The business has a track record of innovative product development, providing solutions for installing, connecting, fastening, and testing the most demanding electrical systems. Beginning over 125 ago with James Gardner’s invention of their patented aluminum conduit benders, today, ECM Industries continues to connect the best products to customers with acquisitions and research.
Connecting an expanding and segmented business network
Faced with the decommissioning of its legacy consolidation software, Oracle Hyperion, ECM Industries was conscious that any new implementation needed to account for a multitude of systems from its many mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures.
There were disparate legal entities, divisions and sales channels, brands, and local ERP system trial balances, on top of another merger in the works. Moreover, the lack of ability to collect and correlate data, along with the high volume of manual processing tasks, was leading to compliance risks and resource constraints across the electrical part empire.
Inoapps to light the way with Oracle Cloud EPM
ECM Industries chose Inoapps as its implementation partner for Oracle Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM). As an Oracle-exclusive partner with implementation experience for other sizeable manufacturers and suppliers, Inoapps offered the focused expertise required for ECM Industries.
Supported by Inoapps, Oracle Cloud EPM replaced the legacy Oracle system, and many excel spreadsheets and manual processes.
ECM Industries charges ahead
ECM Industries’ financial processes quickened, decreasing the monthly close time by 50 percent, to bring the count down to just five days. With the help of an accounts reconciliation module and the closing task manager, ECM Industries gained one location to monitor activity across the entire business. Employees can more easily track time and consistency across legal entities, sales changes, and ERP systems. Plus, acquisitions and mergers are integrated more rapidly into the wider business.
Now, simplified data collection, entry, and analytics reporting capabilities see the business’ external reports delivered within the first eight days of each month; almost 20 days earlier. As a result, rather than merely reacting to last month’s financials, ECM Industries can charge ahead proactively, with greater KPI and analytics tools.
“Our VP of IT looked at all of the different vendors that we had available to us that Oracle gave us the option of; we looked at all of their credentials, and we really liked what we saw from Inoapps,” said Brad Kolser, vice president of finance at ECM Industries. “From day one when they did the demo with us, they have proved that decision right. They have been a great company for us to work with!”
