Exacto adopts cloud-based ERM

Exacto Inc., whose formulations are engineered to optimize the conditions in which chemicals, water and soils alloy to achieve productive croplands and landscapes, wanted to upgrade organization, accountability and compliance companywide.

Exacto was looking for a request and workflow management system that would automate all aspects of the company—sales, technical, marketing, compliance, research and operations departments. In 2010, the company had implemented Integrify Version 5, a Web-based solution for enterprise request management (ERM) that allows companies to automate requests and streamline processes.

In 2014, Exacto migrated to Integrify Cloud Version 6, to ensure system uptime for salespeople working remotely, who had previously encountered Internet problems due to weather and other external forces. Tom Martin, project manager at Exacto, says, “Integrify is the main ticket to what we do, so we need to be able to access it at all times.”

All 55 employees use the Integrify system, and just about every task in the company is automated through it. There are 29 separate requests types, and the system processes more than 225 requests each month. The company has no idea how that compares to the number of requests processed before the solution was implemented, because it had no way to track the workflow, according to Martin.

“Everything that we do, at some point or other, flows through Integrify … Quite honestly, we couldn’t live without it,” Martin says.

In addition to being able to track the requests, the greatest benefit Exacto has reaped is the ability to link requests and processes together throughout the company. “We’ve built on our processes where we create a task and from there, we have different channel processes that feed into it,” Martin explains. “There are certain departments that are heavier users than others, but nearly every single person in the company uses it. Requests for PTO, tech requests, asset acquisition—there are too many to list. Everything that our employees need flows through Integrify.”

The solution has allowed Exacto to improve customer service because it keeps the staff accountable and organized, according to Integrify. It allows managers to use metrics to see how long a request sits with an employee, and they can use that information to help determine bonuses. Martin says, “It allows us one more tool to evaluate ourselves as well as better assist the customers.”

Additionally, Integrify has allowed Exacto to compile a kind of encyclopedia of solutions, since the records of tasks completed allow employees to find previously used solutions when faced with a customer challenge. “We don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time because we have a record of all previous solutions,” said Martin.

Exacto is working to integrate Integrify with its enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. That way, Integrify won’t just tell a user he or she needs to do something in the other system, but will link the user directly to that system.

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