A SHOC Beverage

Objective

Automate order processing and eliminate potential support hassles with a single-vendor EDI solution integrated with Acumatica ERP

Solution

Implement the TrueCommerce EDI for Acumatica to eliminate manual effort, maximize productivity and ensure responsive support

Benefits

• Best-of-breed EDI integration with Acumatica simplifies business processes and enables management by exception to reduce order processing effort
• Integrated warehouse transactions help to automate interactions with 3PLs
• Manual process elimination maximizes order accuracy and reduces the need for accounting and IT staff
• A single-vendor EDI solution with top-notch support maximizes productivity and uptime

“I couldn’t be more pleased with the TrueCommerce EDI for Acumatica—especially in comparison to the multivendor EDI solution I used previously.”

Jason Sutherland
CFO
A SHOC Beverages

Background

A new brand launched in 2019, A SHOC Beverage makes Adrenaline Shoc—the ultimate peformance energy drink—using superior ingredients, no added sugar and no chemical preservatives for a cleaner energy boost. The company’s products target a growing consumer demand for healthier alternatives to traditional energy drinks.

A SHOC has been up-and-running with TrueCommerce EDI integrated with its Acumatica Cloud ERP environment since May 2019.

Automated from the Outset to be More Connected

A SHOC’s technology team set the bar high from the project’s inception. “I look at technology as a way to make things more automated and improve efficiency and accuracy,” says Jason Sutherland, CFO. “We do everything we can electronically instead of manually, so we do not depend on somebody keying in data.”

In Mr. Sutherland’s view, this approach has become a de-facto industry standard. “Every consumer packaged goods (CPG) company should be using integrated EDI nowadays—it just doesn’t make sense not to,” Mr. Sutherland continues. “Also Walmart, UNFI, Kroger and a lot of other major vendors are actually requiring EDI if you want to sell to them.”

One Vendor, No Hassels

Two key reasons A SHOC chose TrueCommerce were its single-vendor architecture and award-winning support. “Previously I had used an EDI integration with Acumatica where the components were supported by two different vendors,” Mr. Sutherland explains. “There were problems with the system and each vendor kept pointing the finger at the other. I could never get them to work together. The TrueCommerce solution solved this.”

With TrueCommerce EDI, lines of responsibility are straightforward. “Our implementation went very well and TrueCommerce support has been great,” asserts Mr. Sutherland. “I have a single point of contact and all my concerns are addressed promptly. TrueCommerce has also taken the time to help me really understand the EDI system so I’m empowered to do more things on my own, like add new trading partner locations.”

Seamless Order Processing Automation Helps A SHOC do Business in Every Direction

A SHOC’s EDI order processing is now fully automated end-to-end, including transactions with its 3PL warehouse. “TrueCommerce EDI is completely seamless to me—I don’t even think about it,” Mr. Sutherland relates. “I don’t need to touch the EDI system unless I get an email alert that a transaction failed.”

Currently, the beverage manufacturer receives EDI 850 Purchase Order documents from trading partners. It turns around these transactions to send EDI 940 Warehouse Shipping Orders to its 3PL. Once the order ships, the 3PL sends A SHOC an EDI 945 Warehouse Shipping Advice. This imports directly into Acumatica, and an EDI 810 Invoice automatically goes out to the trading partner.

A SHOC also takes advantage of the popular TrueCommerce Scheduler addon to automate the import and export of EDI transactions in and out of Acumatica on a preset schedule.

Enables Management by Exception

EDI/ERP integration allows A SHOC to better balance its workforce. “A SHOC’s order processing is so completely automated with TrueCommerce that I don’t need any accounts receivable or customer service staff,” Mr. Sutherland emphasizes. “I just handle everything by exception.”

This cost savings more than covers the cost of the solution, essentially yielding immediate ROI. “TrueCommerce EDI paid for itself immediately because I didn’t have to hire anyone to handle the orders,” observes Mr. Sutherland. “At this early stage of the company’s growth I’d definitely need at least one half-time person to process orders, and in a year or so I would need more than one full-time employee.”

A Cloud-Based Business Model with TrueCommerce and Acumatica is a Winning Combination

Leveraging software as a service (SaaS) applications eliminates the need for additional hardware and resources to run it. “Because I’m using cloud-based solutions for EDI and ERP with TrueCommerce and Acumatica, I don’t need an IT staff or servers or anything like that—so all that expense is eliminated,” notes Mr. Sutherland.

Acumatica ERP has proven to be a perfect fit for A SHOC. “Acumatica’s user interface is great, and the cost is a lot less than most other cloud-based ERPs,” Mr. Sutherland offers. “I also like that Acumatica is on the leading edge with its open API architecture. That simplifies integrations, so we can get data in and out of the system more easily.”

Licensing policy is also an advantage. “Another great thing about Acumatica is there are no user licenses,” adds Mr. Sutherland. “I don’t want to think about that stuff—I just want to give people access when I need to.”

Coupled with TrueCommerce, it turned to be a winning combination for A SHOC. “I couldn’t be more pleased with TrueCommerce EDI for Acumatica—especially in comparison to the multi-vendor EDI solution I used previously,” concludes Mr. Sutherland. “I would certainly recommend TrueCommerce EDI to other CPG companies.