Thatchers Case Study

Deep-rooted in tradition, the cidermaker started life at Myrtle Farm in 1904, where William John Thatcher produced the first of their signature beverages. Fast-forward to 2021, and although still based out of their North Somerset home, Thatchers have gone on to become one of the world’s favourite cider companies with an annual turnover in excess of £100m. Consumer demand for cider is growing with 47.8% of all UK households now regularly purchasing cider – a figure that is growing exponentially year-on-year.

The old system made onboarding new customers a dauting task as it puts a strain onto their IT capabilities. as their team must follow rigorous steps to understand customer requirements, to ensure transactions could operate smoothly. Taking away valuable time from their IT functionality, making it challenging to concentrate on daily operations.

We elevated the burden from their IT function, by handling the whole onboarding process. Our dedicated experts handle time-consuming task of onboarding new customers, allowing their team to have little involvement in the process. We initiate conversations and handle all testing, enabling transactions to start quickly without any complications. Empowered by a scalable solution, it enabled them to onboard an unlimited amount of trading partners, allowing them grow without any complications.

Thatchers required an EDI solution which met this ever-growing demand from both consumers and subsequently their customers, leading stockists and potentially, suppliers to Thatchers. Thatchers came to Cegedim e-business looking for a seamless transition into a much more modern methodology of supply chain management. The incumbent legacy EDI system required significant manual involvement with limited user access.

Main objectives

Thatchers wanted a system that would allow them to continue to trade openly and freely with their customers. Working with large retailers such as Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, it was of paramount importance that Thatchers chose a supplier who understood the specific demands of large retailers. Each retailer required bespoke mapping to fit their requirements; therefore, it was key for Cegedim e-business to offer a system that could transmit and translate all message types.

Key challenges

Thatchers wanted a system that would allow them to continue to trade openly and freely with their customers. Working with large retailers such as Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, it was of paramount importance that Thatchers chose a supplier who understood the specific demands of large retailers. Each retailer required bespoke mapping to fit their requirements; therefore, it was key for Cegedim e-business to offer a system that could transmit and translate all message types.

• Implement an easy-to-use autonomous solution which required little-to-no manual intervention as standard

• Onboard Thatchers existing EDI customers onto one centralised platform with no business interruption or risk, and onboard new customers who had EDI capability

• Integrate with Thatchers existing ERP, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, to provide end-to-end automation for inbound orders and outbound shipping notes, invoices, and credit notes

• Translate and transmit different EDI standards and messages used by the retailers who stock Thatchers products

• Introduce a platform which enabled multi-user login from any internet-enabled device

• Provide a system which flagged any anomalies or exception, and then notified the use

Creating a solution that grows with demand

To ensure we provided Thatchers with the right solution tailored for their needs and those of their customers, our team worked closely with Thatchers through each stage of the process to map out not only their current requirements, but to see where they envisioned their solution growing. By providing a solution that is scalable to meet the demands of their ever-growing business, Thatchers now have the platform to empower future growth. Ian Dorling, Head of IT at Thatchers said: “Netix brings scalable efficiency to our organisation and as we continue to grow it’s a really important factor for us that it’s scalable and grows with us. It doesn’t come with an overhead of having to add more people into the organisation to manage growth, Netix just handles it”.

Onboarding customers and ensure complete adoption

Key to Thatchers growth is ensuring complete adoption through the onboarding process. Gaining complete compliance and adoption is often a sticking point for many customers, taking up masses of resource and time away from key business functions. “In-terms of the onboarding process it is super-efficient because Cegedim e-business owns it completely. All of the communications and testing are handled by Cegedim e-business.” Ian added. As more customers are successfully onboarded onto Netix, Thatchers gain greater insight into their supply chain helping to empower key business decisions backed by real-time data.

A solution that works

Moving from a system that required manual data entry and with no direct link to their ERP, it was key for Thatchers to move forward with a provider that offered a solution more in-keeping with the fast-paced nature of their business. Ian continued “Netix just gets on like an engine room for our business, it takes in orders and puts them straight into our ERP. It just works and is essentially worry-free. It’s just made things easier.” Coming from a dated system which was inhibited by a single user login on one static device was also a major pain point for Thatchers. Through their Netix solution, they can now access real-time data on any internet enabled device with multi-user logins.

Providing support when it is needed the most

Supply chain automation is a key part of the success companies like Thatchers enjoy. The back of Cegedim e-business’s in-house support team is integral to that success, which is why Thatchers were extremely selective when choosing Cegedim e-business as their new provider. “The support Cegedim e-business offer is really impressive, and very responsive. The support team understand the importance of our concerns and realise that the service is the real-life blood for an organisation; they understand that and go the extra mile.” Ian concluded.