Proof Bravelo^® Works

Phoenix Group Collaboration between manufacturing firm and their vendors and customers

Bryce Durham, the Corporate Communications Manager at The Phoenix Group (www.teamprm.com) knew things had to change at the 10 year old firm that specializes in indirect fluid, packaging, and environmental management.

"We're using phone calls, emails, and faxes and yet not everyone was always getting the most current information. And as The Phoenix Group learned, the more people you get into that loop, the more opportunity there was for error or miscommunication. "That was our biggest challenge," says Bryce.

One of the key components in a Phoenix Group program is the deployment of an on-site manager at the customer facility that works hand-in-hand with the production managers and purchasing people. This creates a challenge for communications since the majority of their people are at remote facilities outside of the Phoenix group office.

"As we grew as a company and we brought on more and more of these accounts, we knew the old way just wasn't going to cut it" says Bryce.

So, The Phoenix Group "set off on a quest" as Bryce puts it, to find an application program that would support the collaboration between The Phoenix Group, vendors, and customers, - whoever is in the flow of communications- and to be able to do it in an efficient manner.

Among the many providers out there, The Phoenix Group chose Bravelo, (www.bravelo.com) a collaboration workspace offered by BitWise Solutions, an Internet application developer based in Indianapolis, Indiana.

"The two biggest advantages we saw with Bravelo during the selection process was time to market and the flexibility of the software" says Bryce. "As we considered the time to implement and rollout this capability to our internal site managers we saw that Bravelo would get us there faster. We also saw that Bravelo could be easily adapted to each of our clients' needs, which are not all managed in the same way".

Bravelo delivered on the promise…and then some. After getting the framework completed and putting it through an initial test of a day or two, they rolled it out to their customers.

"One of the most pleasant surprises was how quickly Bravelo was adopted by the site managers and customers" says Bryce "Our customers came to us and said 'this is what we have been waiting for'.

"It was actually amazing" continues Bryce "Bravelo was working along with the same tools that they currently used, but with all the information in one central location".

One of the key reasons for the quick adoption was the user friendliness of Bravelo. "Bravelo's ease of use made it possible for us to include everyone we needed to collaborate with - whether it be another employee that we work with, our direct customer, or their customer, their vendors, their suppliers, or those who are scattered throughout the country, maybe even throughout the world - without the need to train everyone".

Bravelo is being applied in logistics operations where The Phoenix Group does warehousing. For one client, they receive and inventory their raw materials and deliver them to their clients' production facilities in a just-in-time manner. The Phoenix Group receives the clients finished goods and sends them out to the clients customers. Bravelo is being used to share production schedules, shipping schedules, sending advance shipping notices, and inventory information back and forth to orchestrate the effort.

"Bravelo is supporting the needs of 15 to 20 people across different facilities and allowing them to work off of the same information in real time" says Bryce "There is so much information being passed, it would not be feasible to do it through an email type of application".

With another client, Bravelo is used as a tool in the consolidation of the design and purchase of customers packaging materials. "We work with their suppliers, who are all over the country, to ensure that the design specifications and design drawings of the products they manufacture are the most cost effective for our client. I can't think of a more efficient tool to use for this than Bravelo".

Typically, Phoenix Group customers recognize anywhere from a 15-35% savings in cost. "Part of our compensation is based upon cost savings we bring to a facility. So, as we go into a company and analyze their history of purchasing certain products, we establish a baseline and come back to them with a savings goal that we can guarantee."

"We have confidence in our ability to provide our customers with cost effective services."

The Phoenix Group continues to bring on more and more customers that are farther away nationally or even across the pond globally. "We see Bravelo as the tool that will allow us to roll those programs out in a quick and efficient manner".

Even with the fantastic results achieved thus far, The Phoenix group sees no end to the applications of Bravelo for their business.

"Bravelo really opens your eyes to the possibilities of collaboration," says Bryce.