The brief began with AI and automation. The evidence pointed first to operating foundations.
An Australian-headquartered manufacturer with international distribution operations had accumulated regional CRM, website, inventory, manufacturing and finance tools. The systems worked locally, but the group lacked a reliable end-to-end view of customers, stock, orders and performance.
ExIQ used three time-boxed workshops to turn that landscape into a target architecture, platform decision framework, quantified business case and phased implementation roadmap.
The technology problem was really an ownership problem.
Customer, product, inventory, order and finance data sat in different systems, with manual hand-offs filling the gaps. That created duplicate entry, reporting lag, inconsistent sales stages, weak attribution and no dependable group-wide stock view.
The key consulting decision was to avoid automating the fragmentation. AI placed over unclear source records would move inconsistent data faster. The roadmap first assigned systems of record, data ownership and integration boundaries.
Baseline figures are anonymised, rounded workshop estimates used for planning; they are not independently audited operating results.
Three workshops became a decision-grade operating plan.
The work connected process, technology, economics and change rather than treating each application as a separate procurement.
- Map the current workflow and identify the source record for each core data domain.
- Score seven CRM platforms and four ERP/MRP options against business and technical criteria.
- Define ownership, integrations, permissions, monitoring and human decision points.
- Sequence costs, dependencies, KPIs, risks and executive decision gates.
The preferred architecture was unified where consistency mattered and modular where regional compliance or operational continuity made replacement risky.
Quick wins first. High-impact core replacement only after the foundations held.
CRM and marketing formed the first horizon, followed by a shared website pattern. Stock and ERP decisions followed once customer, product and process data were clearer. Regional finance systems could remain stable while a consolidation layer improved group reporting.
- Months 1-4 CRM and marketing foundation
One customer model, shared stages, lead capture, routing and reporting.
- Months 3-7 Regional website pattern
A governed master template, connected forms, analytics and conversion events.
- Months 6-12 Stock and ERP decision
Global visibility and integration without disrupting the manufacturing core too early.
- After proof Scale the next capabilities
Finance automation, analytics, e-commerce, fulfilment and advanced automation.
The business case made the upside visible - and left the assumptions exposed.
The roadmap separated cost consolidation, labour efficiency, working-capital release and revenue upside. Revenue improvement was intentionally left unquantified until pipeline and conversion baselines could be verified.
If the roadmap's A$90K-A$130K annual-savings range is treated as net, it equals roughly 26-57% of the A$230K-A$340K upfront investment each year and implies a simple payback of about 21-45 months. The source model did not state consistently whether every replacement recurring cost was already netted, so these are analytical scenarios to re-baseline before funding - not forecasts or guarantees.
Enough detail to hand implementation to an internal team.
- A current-state assessment and target systems-of-record model.
- Platform scorecards, recommendations and retained alternatives.
- A global CRM design and governed regional website pattern.
- Stock, ERP/MRP, finance-consolidation and integration options.
- Investment ranges, value assumptions, KPIs and acceptance measures.
- A risk register, governance structure and phased implementation sequence.
The separate execution proposal was not commenced by ExIQ. The client chose self-delivery, using the blueprint as the starting point rather than repeating discovery.
Decision clarity, implementation choice and a credible path to value.
Leadership could see what to standardise, what to retain, which decisions to make first, how much the program might cost and which measures would prove whether the value was being realised.