After successfully enduring Endeavor’s rigorous selection process, newly minted Endeavor entrepreneurs enjoy an extensive array of services and benefits that are often more broadly referred to as access to talent, access to markets and access to capital. Included among Endeavor’s talent offerings is a global and local collaboration with EY, a leader in assurance, tax, transactions and advisory services. The local EY office offers the local entrepreneurs access to the global EY network to collaborate on business plans, among other consultative matters, where EY’s services are helpful. The first project resulting from the Endeavor collaboration was recently completed for SkuVault, which was selected into the global Endeavor network in the fall of 2016.
SkuVault is a first-of-its-kind, cloud-based solution for e-commerce that helps online retail businesses keep track of their stock to increase efficiency and reduce human error in tracking inventory and order fulfillment. In addition to providing around-the-clock visibility to warehouse operators, the software provides real-time updates to consumers, ensuring that quantities in storage correlate with product listings across various marketplaces and sales channels.
While warehouse operators love SkuVault’s Warehouse Management System (WMS), SkuVault’s salespeople had experienced less excitement from some finance teams, sometimes resulting in the loss of new business. Even more, SkuVault received conflicting feedback from its clients when they set out to resolve the issue. They were consequently unable to implement a proper solution.
A team of EY advisory professionals from varying professional backgrounds and geographies assembled to aid SkuVault with this recurring problem. Through the EY team’s discussions with SkuVault leadership over the course of a few meetings, one problem in particular was identified as the cause of SkuVault’s sales problem. Although the information was available, the SkuVault’s warehouse solution was not configured to provide certain information that financial management of the customer would expect to be derived from the system. The EY team then began to search for the information that would improve SkuVault’s software, sales tactics and ultimate close rate.
After extensively researching industry standards and expectations across Warehouse Management Systems, the EY team identified key data that could be inputted and tracked in SkuVault’s warehouse solution, helping SkuVault to increase sales and deliver higher value to its customers. These findings were presented to SkuVault leadership in a clearly outlined presentation.
In the end, SkuVault digested the findings presented by the EY team and is in the process of implementing enhancements to its warehouse solution in addition to its sales training process. While the outcome of this project proved impactful to SkuVault, it was an equally fruitful experience for the EY professionals as it introduced them to up-and-coming businesses in Louisville, furthering the EY commitment to local entrepreneurs.
