Blundstone accelerates cloud strategy

Iconic Australian footwear company Blundstone has accelerated its cloud strategy and digital transformation with the migration of its business applications to Microsoft Dynamics 365, via services provider Avanade.

Blundstone products are sold in over 70 countries and the company has experienced considerable growth in recent years. Digital transformation, ongoing innovation and a consumer-led approach are central to its future growth. As part of a digital strategy and ambitious cloud roadmap to leverage cloud-native technology, Blundstone partnered with Avanade to implement Microsoft Dynamics 365 across its ANZ and US operations.

With a focus on reducing processing time, automating business processes and improving supply chain accuracy, the rapid implementation of the cloud-based ERP solution saw Blundstone achieve record-breaking sales during the holiday season with only a fraction of the system capacity used, while benefitting from built-in advanced cybersecurity and disaster recovery features.

In addition, the new solution has improved agility, efficiency at scale, automation and data-driven decision-making within Blundstone — driving the following results and business outcomes:

• Increased scalability and performance of Blundstone’s core systems.
• Accelerated shipping through direct API integrations.
• Reduced infrastructure costs through the adoption of standard Dynamics 365 features.
• Automated planning, eliminating manually maintained spreadsheets.
• Reduced ongoing system maintenance activities.
• Decreased costly legacy system integrations.
   

Blundstone Chief Information Officer Matthew Mann said Avanade provided the company with the expertise and capability to transform its systems in a short time frame to achieve the record-breaking results.

“Our business strategy is anchored on building a reliable digital infrastructure, and the cloud is a crucial part of our roadmap. Working closely with Avanade, we were able to deploy Microsoft Dynamics 365, with a focus on out-of-the-box functionality, allowing for a rapid implementation schedule and the use of proven business workflows,” Mann said.

“This enabled us to be ready ahead of our peak season. Time was of the essence — we did not have the luxury of time to learn new processes — we had to be ready for the peak holiday shopping season. We needed a platform to successfully manage a large-scale and diverse project while innovating as we progressed. The Avanade team didn’t just deliver a top-notch platform but was with us every step of the way to ensure our team was empowered to maximise what the platform can do. We are excited to have recorded our best holiday season yet.”

Image credit: iStock.com/NicoElNino