By utilizing existing Microsoft 365 technology, Price Industries is experiencing a complete workplace modernization at a fraction of the time and costs. Explore below the Microsoft 365 application projects we have delivered, as well as our application support services.
Price Industries (Price) is a market leader in manufacturing and supplying airistribution, critical controls, and noise control products. After more than 60 years, Price remains a privately held family company focused on innovation and service. Price has manufacturing plants, labs, research facilities, and subsidiary companies across Canada, United States and Europe.
Business Outcomes Price Achieved
AROW Global ABS Site
Price drives quality management and compliance standardization through their International Organization for Standards (ISO) membership and certification. Price needed a new solution to increase efficiency for administrators of the ISO certified documentation, improve collaboration with the manufacturing team, and enforce associated ISO processes. The solution needed to meet Price’s robust user experience, security and budgetary requirements.
Price turned to Solvera’s modern workplace team for guidance and engaged Solvera to complete a proof-of-concept for their subsidiary company, AROW Global. The solution team designed an advanced ISO intranet solution - the “ABS site” - that would maximize the full potential of the Microsoft 365 technology investments Price had already made. Uncovering the deep functionality available through Microsoft’s Power Platform technology stack, the solution team identified configurations required to meet Price’s unique business requirements.
The Power Platform - a low-code, cloud technology - provides the opportunity for rapid development with a range of business functionality, user interface options and robust security features already built-in. Using an agile approach, new configurations were released in iterative cycles, with Price IT and business users included as part of the testing process to help ensure configurations met the business need and help facilitate knowledge transfer upon project completion. The result was a high-quality solution that was completed within 8 weeks - a traditional custom developed application would have been twice the effort.
Dave Romanchuk, Director of Client Facing Systems at Price, explains how the project achieved their desired business outcomes:
“The ABS site implementation has allowed Price to save time and money by increasing the efficiency of the administrators of our ISO certified documentation and making it easier to access by the manufacturing resources who need to use it. It has also increased our confidence that we have the right level of auditability and process enforcement required for our ISO certification, and reduced time spent by administrators facilitating ISO audits.”
The initial pilot with AROW Global was such a success that it led to expansion of the solution to other areas of the business. Given the speed to value benefits, Price was also able to include new applications to their modern workplace technology roadmap, including the Field Quality Report (FQR) Project and the Competitor Cross Reference Project.
Using the MICROSOFT power platform, Price Industries slashed development effort and costs in half, and were amazed by the user experience polish available within the platform
“Price has high expectations for the level of polish of the user experience for our software applications. We were concerned that the out-of-the-box UX elements in the Power Platform would prove inadequate to the expectations of our users who had become used to highly customized bespoke software solutions specifically tailored to their preferences.
Thankfully, not only has the user experience we’ve been able to offer generally been very well received, but we’ve been able to prove that quickly to different audiences on each project since generally we can prototype the user interface and demonstrate it to our users more quickly than we can with traditional software development.
My favourite part of the Power Platform so far is the degree of confidence I have that each new system we implement is meeting the non-functional requirements of security, audibility and reliability, usually right out of the box without any additional effort.”
Dave Romanchuk, Director of Client Facing Systems
Field Quality Report (FQR) Project
Price has an important structure in place for representatives to assist customers with warranty for damaged products – but the warranty claims legacy system Price was using was outdated, cumbersome and insecure.
Price needed a new application to streamline the warranty claims process for staff and clients, which would also provide extensive reporting features. The cost of developing a new custom application solution from the ground up was not feasible, so Price turned to Solvera’s modern workplace experts for a cost-effective, secure solution to address this business challenge.
Solvera leveraged the power of Price’s existing Microsoft 365 investment to build a tailored, enterprise solution that facilitates claims intake and processing for the 25 front-line staff who serve 2000+ customers. Using the broad functionality of the Microsoft Power Platform, a portal was created and configured to meet Price’s unique customer experience and process needs. The cloud platform provides advanced security and a future-proof technology foundation that is easily configurable as Price’s business requirements grow and evolve.
Using an Agile development approach that involved Price’s business and IT stakeholders, Solvera’s team completed the new FQR solution, allowing customers to log into a new portal to make a claim with the required information. The submitted claim initiates an internal approval workflow that moves through several business functions. The portal is integrated with Price’s ERP System and provides a wide range of analytics and reporting options.
Price has achieved their desired business outcomes with the completion of this project:
- Improved customer service through more efficient and accurate responses to problem reports
- Reduction in defects in shipped product through increased ability to spot trends in problems reported
- Increased profit resulting from a reduction in replacements and corrective actions taken, due to increased ability to identify and mitigate common defects.
“Solvera has consistently proven to me that their team are extremely skilled, self-reliant and self-motivated, and most importantly to me, not afraid to speak up and offer their well-articulated and respectful opinions on how our solution designs might be improved. I have incredible confidence that every time I work with a member of the Solvera team that I’m working someone that’s a cut above.”
Dave Romanchuk, Director of Client Facing Systems
Ongoing support and guidance
Through Solvera’s Application Delivery Centre, our team of modern workplace experts readily provides ongoing technology guidance and support to Price.
Solvera is supporting Price in their goal to up skill their internal modern workplace team through our knowledge transfer services. By working closely with Price’s team to provide experiential mentoring and written deliverables such as job shadowing, creation of templates, site creation guides, and site management guides, Solvera will accelerate Price’s goal of self-sufficiency and the accelerate their ability to scale the Power Platform across the company.
To learn more on how Solvera can help you with your desired business outcomes, Contact Us.