Jernia is planning for long-term development in the cloud

As part of an organisation-wide digitisation strategy, Jernia selected Columbus Norway to help it replace its existing ERP system with Infor CloudSuite, an industry-specific solution for retail. Excellent collaboration between the two teams ensured the project was delivered on time, on budget, and delivered exceptional results. 

"Throughout the delivery process, we efficiently tackled challenges, particularly during the go-live phase. It's quite remarkable since not many ERP projects are successfully delivered on time, within budget, and with minimal downtime," says Stian Nybro, Business Systems & Project Manager at Jernia.

Transforming business in line with future requirements 

The business recognised the importance of updating its IT solutions to adapt tonew requirements within its industry. 

"For us, it's crucial to have a modern and reliable ERP platform that meets our future requirements," explains Sondre Eftedal, Chief Technology Officer at Jernia. 

The ERP migration involved moving the business from traditional in-house systems to Infor Cloudsuite IA Distribution, which was developed for the retail industry and will enable Jernia to continuously improve its platform and introduce ever more efficient services.

"At the same time, we were very focused on making sure the project matched our business goals at Jernia," Eftedal adds.  

"This project is vital for enhancing our capacity to grow and revitalise our business. It also forms the basis for the competitiveness needed to deliver the best service to our customers.  

“Another key aspect was to continue developing our omnichannel approach, which is already one of the best in the country. Infor CloudSuite perfectly fulfills our strict criteria for uptime, scalability, and security." 

The project began last year, and the solution went live at the start of the new fiscal year as planned. 

Embracing the new technology 

"We had several objectives to tackle through this cloud migration," Nybro points out.  

He emphasizes that ERP systems are complex and work to upgrade on-premises solutions is challenging and extensive. "This often results in massive projects every time a change is needed," he adds. 

Jernia aimed to minimise the operational risk of managing the data power and software required for the business on its own. 

"We were especially focused on having a stable system with minimal downtime and access to frequent upgrades. This was something we couldn't achieve with the old system, and we wanted to embrace the new technology Infor is developing," Nybro explains. 

"Jernia intends to be at the forefront of the continuous digitisation race the industry is experiencing now." 

Anchoring the project in the organisation 

So, how did Jernia prepare the organisation for the project? 

"We collected a lot of knowledge from our internal process owners," Nybro explains.  

"We have split the different divisions of the platform into internal process areas - each having dedicated process owners responsible for finance, logistics, and sales. 

“Establishing this process owner organisation was vital, as it guaranteed that the project would attain the desired benefits." says Nybro. 

Jernia organised its resource to ensure process owners had appropriate time to meet the requirements of the project. 

"It was a lot of work for everyone involved. If there's one thing we've learned, it's the importance of being proactive, especially when it comes to providing early training for newcomers" adds Nybro.  

"The biggest risk we faced during the project was related to these key individuals. We didn't have many back-ups, so it was essential to keep workload and absence under control."

Maximising the use of standard functionality 

Requirements of the project included understanding how Jernia-specific methods and processes would be incorporated into the technical solutions. 

"Our goal was to create a solution where most processes relied on standard functionality. We achieved this with less than 5% requiring customisations. Columbus provided valuable input on how to address and implement these changes in our system," says Nybro. 

Although change of this scale can be challenging, Jernia believes the teams worked well together and its people saw new opportunities and solutions. 

"Columbus helped us encourage people to think differently and see the possibilities that new technology offers. This worked well, and we didn't encounter any internal  resistance in the organisation. We maintained a positive attitude throughout the project. It was a 'go-getter' attitude all the way to the finish line," says Nybro. 

Continued development in the cloud 

The change has allowed Jernia to successfully mitigate its operational risks, with Nybro confirming: "The risks have been officially addressed and resolved. We've transitioned to a new platform with the latest technology, so everything is ready." 

Now the business has embarked on a new ‘Benefits’ phase to ensure it is fully exploiting the opportunities unlocked by the project.   

"In this project, we will go through all our process areas, in collaboration with Columbus, to extract the benefits of cloud migration,” says Nybro. 

“This project will be an ongoing process where we continuously look for new areas where the new technology should be applied.”   

A shared work culture 

Columbus and Jernia have now been collaborating successfully for more than a year. This has included daily project meetings to discuss objectives and maintain close oversight through the project management system, Jira. 

"This worked well. Additionally, it proved to be important for the project's success to conduct weekly meetings in of a process owner forum, where we addressed any challenges the process owners were facing and determined what was necessary to make progress." Nybro explains. 

Columbus Project Manager Morten Dobloug says strong teamwork has been key to achieving a successful migration. 

 "On time and on target' could have been the headline for this project. We had minimal downtime, and there was a record pick- rate from the warehouse in January after the first go-live," he says. 

"We had an open and honest dialogue with the customer from the beginning. There was a strong 'we' mentality throughout the project and when problems arose, we didn't point fingers at anyone, but we addressed and solved them as a team. We particularly focused on the project's culture and how we handled tasks," he adds. 

"Jernia is very competent; they have been using Infor's solutions for a long time. We found that we could learn from how they wanted to work, and we saved time on explaining standard Infor CloudSuite functions and could spend more time on advanced functionality."

Nybro agrees, saying, "It was essential for us at the beginning of the project that we aimed for a team effort, with a focus on continued collaboration with Columbus for future solution management. I think we did that well. We were open from both sides from the start. We addressed challenges and resolved them continuously." 

Exploring new possibilities 

Jernia is continuing to explore the new opportunities unlocked by migration. 

But has the company achieved the outcomes it expected to date? 

"Yes, we have - even though there is much more we want to explore that we haven't uncovered yet. Fortunately, we are receiving great assistance from Columbus in identifying and implementing potential improvements and benefits," says Jernia.