As part of a brand that’s more than 130 years old and synonymous with imaging, Kodak Alaris combines the latest innovations in imaging science, artificial intelligence, and advanced process automation to help deliver digital transformation and smart business solutions to customers around the world. Their advanced, patented intellectual property combines breakthrough technologies and human know-how to unlock the power of images and information. They enable businesses to run faster and governments to run smarter by turning data into powerful, actionable insights, and they provide consumers with innovative solutions to preserve and enjoy their most cherished memories.
“The outcome of all this work, coupled with Dynamics 365 being a more modern and capable solution, has resulted in a reduction of customization by 45% and a reduction in ISV’s (independent software vendors) by 25%. As a result, the implementation of this new global technology ERP software will provide Kodak Alaris with a more secure and efficient way of operating for the future.”
Paul Wells, CEO, Kodak Alaris
Kodak Alaris has two distinct business divisions, Alaris and Kodak Moments. The Alaris division is a leading provider of information capture solutions that simplify business processes. They offer an award-winning range of scanners, software, and services available worldwide. The Kodak Moments division is a leading global provider of photo products and services to retailers, consumers, and entertainment properties. They offer consumers retail order stations, retail collection stations, the Kodak Moments app, and KodakMoments.com.
The company’s mission can be summed up as invest in growth businesses, systematically and reliably deliver on financial commitments, operate in an efficient, cost-effective infrastructure, and based all decisions on a cultural foundation of innovation, transparency, discipline, and accountability. Their vision is to be an industry leader through better products, better quality and reliability, better customer service, the best and the brightest employee talent, and world-class partners around the globe.
Planning begins
In early 2020, Kodak Alaris began to assess potential options for an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution. They had outgrown their current system, and mainstream support would end in October 2021.
Three key stakeholders sponsored the project:
- Paul Wells, Chief Executive Officer. Paul has overall leadership responsibility for Kodak Alaris, its financial and operational performance and strategy, and cultural transformation.
- Diane Gardner, Chief Financial Officer. Diane has more than 20 years of progressive finance experience with both public and private companies and oversees all Kodak Alaris financial operations.
- John F. Milazzo Jr., Chief Information Officer. John manages and implements computer and information technology systems across Kodak Alaris and has extensive experience in the IT industry.
“It was important that we made a sound business and technical decision. Due to the end of life of AX, this was the second time we had the company go through an ERP project. While this was more of an upgrade/modernization, it has all the aspects of a full ERP implementation. Dynamics 365 provided us continuity from a technical and business process perspective and provided us the lowest cost and fastest path.”
John F. Milazzo Jr., CIO, Kodak Alaris
Kodak Alaris leadership urged their team to open a request for proposal (RFP) with strict guidance to focus on solutions that provided standard functionality needed to support the business. The scope included the following business process areas across both the Alaris and Kodak Moments divisions:
- Asset management
- Billing
- Business intelligence and analytics
- Compliance
- Costing
- Data management
- Finance and accounting
- Inventory management
- Order management
- Planning and scheduling
- Production control (discrete manufacturing)
- Project management
- Procurement
- Sales
- Service management integration
- Shipping and distribution
- Supply chain management
- Warehouse management
In early 2020, the team performed an initial high-level assessment of a dozen ERP solutions. This effort resulted in a short list of five ERP vendor software solutions, including Microsoft Dynamics 365.
The RFP was executed to determine which of the five solutions would be selected for the company’s system modernization program. Each vendor solution was assessed based on its standard capabilities. Although Kodak Alaris understood that some processes would likely need to be re-engineered, the focus was on using out-of-the-box software capabilities rather than customization to support the current state of the business.
During the RFP process, Microsoft provided product demonstrations that showcased the value proposition of Dynamics 365 and the Microsoft ecosystem. Microsoft also introduced the Dynamics Migration Program, designed to help customers update key customizations and data from legacy Dynamics AX 2012 to Dynamics 365. This program differentiated Microsoft from other contenders.
In the end, Kodak Alaris selected Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management based on the combination of fit for business processes, cost, and ease of implementation.
The simplification story
The Kodak Alaris team got to work quickly, creating a list of business objectives. The first objective was overarching: provide a modern solution that offered standardized processes enterprise-wide, while ensuring business operations would continue running efficiently.
Kodak Alaris also wanted to reduce overall total cost of ownership associated with the ERP ecosystem. It was a priority to reduce the number and complexity of customizations and upgrade or replace ISVs and third-party solutions with standard functionality or current versions, where applicable. A cross-functional simplification team was formed to ensure that standard capabilities were fully explored, and customization was only considered when essential. Each customization required a strong business justification and management approval.
Within months, Kodak Alaris and the Microsoft Dynamics Migration Program team completed the code and initial data upgrade. This achievement reduced the project timeline by more than six months. With the migration work complete, the Kodak Alaris team moved on, completing integration development, system configuration, testing, tuning, and solution validation.
The project was organized around a series of conference room pilots (CRPs). In a CRP, logical groups of business processes were designed, set up, and tested progressively until the whole business was supported. Each CRP cycle had formal entrance and exit criteria to ensure quality results.
Kodak Alaris decided to use a “big bang” approach to the roll-out. All functionality, in all countries, would go live at once. This meant shutting down the legacy system globally to execute migration steps, including data upgrade and validation and connecting ancillary components (ISVs, third-party products, etc.). Finally, with testing and remediation complete and steering committee approval, it was time to go live.
On July 18, 2022, Kodak Alaris went into production on Dynamics 365, with more than 700 users worldwide using Dynamics 365 Finance, Supply Chain Management, Sales, Synapse Analytics, and Power BI.
Benefits and impacts
Kodak Alaris now has a cost-efficient, out-of-the-box ERP system that runs the business efficiently. Most importantly, the system is evergreen. When technology or standards change, Kodak Alaris won’t need to implement another ERP.
Cost reductions. Kodak Alaris analyzed the total cost of their new ERP system and projected approximately a 25 percent cost reduction versus the legacy system. This analysis included Dynamics 365, ISVs, third-party products, Azure, and others.
Foundation for innovation. With Dynamics 365 up and running, Kodak Alaris has the capability to support their business needs in the future.
"Dynamics 365 is working very, very well for us and the business is just starting to realize what a powerful engine we have. Our new Dynamics 365 ecosystem has positioned us well for the future. We have an evergreen environment that keeps us current, allows us to take advantage of new features in a timely manner, and provides a flexible architecture to help fulfill new business needs." Mark Buckley, IT ERP Program Manager, Kodak Alaris
Streamlined reporting. Kodak Alaris is especially enthusiastic about Azure Data Lake and its reporting capabilities. The system is now more resilient and no longer slows to a crawl when conducting product reporting, because the data is contained in the Azure Data Lake and not in the ERP. “This was one of my focuses and I wish I had full-time availability to work on it because it is so cool what you can do,” said Buckley. “Before Dynamics 365, data extracts were transformed and formatted into static report files before they could be shared with managers. Today we have Azure Data Lake export running continuously, managers can use Power BI to access their data, and decision-making is based on a single source of truth, eliminating discussions as to data accuracy.”
Elimination of customization. Customizations are now the exception, not the rule, and they are based on absolute necessity. With simplicity and the emphasis on out-of-the-box processes, the number of customizations has been cut significantly. By go-live, the company’s fit gap was 70 percent out-of-the-box and 30 percent custom-built.
Move to remote. In March 2020, the IT team switched to working 100 percent remotely and has been ever since. The team uses Microsoft tools such as Teams, Azure DevOps, and others, to collaborate and manage projects.
Going slow to go fast
Bringing a new ERP system live months ahead of schedule is uncommon, but as the Kodak Alaris team proved, it’s not impossible. Their success includes the following best practices:
Tight governance
- Disciplined project governance throughout the implementation followed scope and change management.
- The team planned rigorously and made extensive use of Azure DevOps to track requirements, deliverables, bugs, test cases, cutover plan, etc.
Reduce complexity and customizations
- The company achieved the following key simplifications, significantly reducing complexity and the need for customizations:
Testing
- Subject matter experts from the business team were involved throughout the project to define requirements, conduct early validation, and perform testing and training.
- Multiple rounds of data upgrades were executed to iron out issues and optimize overall performance.
- A detailed cutover plan with every activity and allotted time was prepared and test runs were conducted during user acceptance testing (UAT). A full mock cutover was performed leading up to the go-live.
- Two full UAT cycles were conducted to test each end-to-end business process, including upgraded data, integrations, and customizations.
- A performance test was conducted with many users across the globe simulating day-in-the-life transactions to ensure that each business process was completed as needed.
Adoption
- Adoption was simpler because the users were familiar with Dynamics AX 2012 and there were similarities to Dynamics 365. On core functions, change management was light.
- The team held workshops prior to go-live, which helped to get people familiar with the new system. They had a good portion of the user base engaged in the CRP cycles, so go-live was not their first experience of Dynamics 365.
The journey continues
With Dynamics 365, Kodak Alaris can accept updates and enhancements continuously and can implement new features delivered by Microsoft throughout the year. They have a Dynamics 365 Commerce implementation underway, expected to go live in late 2022.
“We had a homegrown e-commerce solution that was deprecated,” said Buckley. “We conducted a build versus buy analysis and ended up deciding to go with the Dynamics 365 Commerce.”
“It was a pleasure working with the Dynamics Migration team. The work was performed with high quality, completed in a timely fashion, and with efficient communications. I have no hesitation giving the work and the team two thumbs up!”
Crystal Ahrens, Solutions Architect, Kodak Alaris
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