CSAT Solutions

Like most businesses, CSAT Solutions wants to constrain costs. It’s doing that with a big assist from HAQM Business. The company has cut purchasing spend by 40 percent annually and consolidated vendors of IT peripherals, office supplies, MRO, and production support by 50 percent. Great credit terms add flexibility, and analysis tools provide superb visibility into total spend.

A new facility adds incentive to keep costs down

Business is booming at CSAT Solutions, whose “complete care for the digital world” includes repair and logistics services for a large and growing range of electronic devices. The company’s challenge: to keep revenues growing without increasing costs.

To keep costs down, the company looked closely at what it purchased and how. Its highly decentralized process included about 100 vendors, with CSAT Solutions buying from most of them just once a year. Yet, maintaining those vendor accounts cost the company time and money. Plus, purchasers didn’t have any way to know if they were getting the best deals. With a new facility slated to open soon, the company had every incentive to solve the problem fast.

Saves 40%, boosts flexibility, supports diversity

To address these concerns, CSAT Solutions adopted Business Prime on HAQM Business. In its first year with the program, CSAT Solutions is on track to save $225,000 in products and shipping, about 40 percent of total spend on maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) supplies, IT peripherals, office supplies, and production support. It’s also consolidated its roster of vendors by 50 percent, reducing administrative costs.

The financial benefits that CSAT Solutions derives from its relationship with HAQM Business go further. The 55-day net terms that it enjoys are better than other vendors that require payment in 30 days, or even up front. “HAQM Business’s credit terms help our internal cash flow tremendously,” Tiesman says. “We have wild spikes in business volume, and this gives us the flexibility we need. It makes capital equipment expansion much easier.”

And it does more. By reducing purchasing time and cost, CSAT Solutions frees up 1.5 FTEs in the purchasing department. “We’re expanding, opening a third facility, and we’ve been able to handle the additional requisitions without additional staff, thanks to Business Prime,” says Eric Serfoss, Director of Supply Chain at CSAT Solutions.

A growing number of the company’s customers want assurances that it is socially conscious in its operations—including its supply chain. Serfoss uses HAQM Business Analytics to confirm its use of small businesses and businesses owned by women, veterans, and disabled people. “Our big customers grade us on this measure quarterly,” says Serfoss. “We’ve gotten additional points for diversity spend.” Serfoss and his colleagues use the same analysis tools to analyze purchasing by commodity, requisitioner, and other factors, giving them greater insight into—and control over—that purchasing.

CSAT Solutions ramped up with Business Prime very quickly. “We adjusted some workflow in accounting, but not much, and purchasing was comfortable with Business Prime right away,” says Tiesman. “That’s part of the benefit of HAQM Business: everyone is used to having it at home, and this isn’t much different. If you’ve already purchased something online from HAQM, you know how to do this.”

Tiesman and Serfoss expect CSAT Solutions to increase the volume of business it does with HAQM Business. “We see big opportunities to shift more purchasing through HAQM Business,” says Tiesman. “We get more savings, more flexibility, more control. And the amount of personal attention and follow-up in customer service has been excellent. HAQM Business is the way to go.”

About CSAT Solutions

HAQM Business offers solutions to simplify procurement and improve operational efficiency. CSAT Solutions, a mid-sized manufacturing company, faced difficulties managing complex supply chains and tracking expenses across departments. By utilizing Business Analytics, multi-user accounts, and vendor consolidation, CSAT was able to optimize costs, streamline procurement, and gain complete visibility into their spending. This scalable solution not only boosted their productivity but also delivered tangible results, demonstrating how HAQM Business effectively solves real-world challenges.