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Licensed Consumer Products / CPG$96.5M Revenue

Turning a $96.5M Company's Data Into Executive Intelligence

A $96.5M licensed consumer products company had spent heavily on an ERP system but couldn't access the intelligence locked inside it. Their CEO described the situation as 'not looking for clear visibility — looking for any visibility.' We changed that in weeks.

01

The Company

A North American leader in licensed consumer products generating $96.5M in annual revenue. The company operates across multiple brands, channels, and product categories with complex pricing structures involving royalties, tariffs, and multi-tier distribution. After a significant investment in Microsoft Business Central, the company had transaction processing running — but virtually no analytics, dashboards, or executive-level reporting.

Annual Revenue

$96.5M

Industry

Licensed Consumer Products / CPG

Employees

200+

ERP System

Microsoft Business Central

Connected Systems

9+ (BC, HubSpot, Shopify, PLM, Monday.com, and more)

FP&A Team at Start

None — first FP&A Director hired during engagement

02

The Problem

The company experienced $6.3M in write-offs in a single year — 6.89% of North American revenue — their worst year on record. Financial statements for 2024 weren't available until August 2024. A complex 13-step pricing waterfall spanning supplier costs, tariffs, sea freight, tooling, royalties, and more was managed in a single Excel spreadsheet understood by only one person. Leadership was making multi-million dollar decisions based on stale spreadsheets and gut instinct.

We're not looking for clear visibility — we're looking for any visibility.

Our ERP captures every transaction but we can't get a single useful report out of it.

We didn't see our first 2024 financial statements until August 2024.

03

What We Built

Starting from a single discovery call and a pricing spreadsheet, we built a fully integrated intelligence platform connected to their live Business Central data via API. The platform replaced the combined output of an FP&A analyst, BI consultant, and data engineering team — and was operational in weeks, not months.

Executive Dashboard

Real-time KPI ribbon with revenue, gross margin, EBITDA, write-off rates, and channel/region/program breakdowns — updated automatically from live ERP data.

Pricing Intelligence

Interactive 13-step margin waterfall replacing a single-point-of-failure spreadsheet. Tariff scenario modeling across all tiers — 'What happens to margins if China tariffs go to 145%?' — answered in seconds.

Inventory Risk Engine

AI-powered sell-through analysis with risk scoring by program, warehouse, and SKU. 60–90 days of advance warning on potential write-offs with proactive intervention recommendations.

Profitability Analytics

Channel segmentation, region breakdowns, top-performing programs, and period-over-period comparisons — the financial visibility that was completely absent before.

AI Assistant

Domain-specific AI connected to the live database, answering complex multi-dimensional queries: 'Which programs are margin-negative after freight?' requires joining sales, inventory, GL, dimensions, freight, and royalties in a single response.

Scenario Modeling

Interactive P&L simulation for strategic planning — 'What happens if we lose our top 3 customers?' or 'What's the impact of a 15% tariff increase on Q3 margins?' — with results grounded in actual data.

04

The Numbers

Conservative first-year ROI: 5x–15x return on platform investment

$1.6M–$3.2MPotential annual savings from write-off reduction (25–50%)
1–3%Margin improvement through pricing intelligence
10xFaster decision-making (months to minutes)
200+ hrsExecutive time saved annually
$150K–$300KFP&A labor cost offset
8 weeksDiscovery call to live platform
05

The Timeline

Not 6 months. Not 12 months. Weeks.

Week 0

Discovery Call

60-minute deep dive into business challenges, data landscape, and strategic priorities.

Week 1–2

Working Prototype

Functioning demo built from the discovery call — using real terminology, real products, real pain points.

Week 2–3

Feedback & Refinement

Client team tested the prototype, identified priorities, and shared additional data sources.

Week 3–6

Efficiency Audit

Comprehensive assessment of all 9+ systems, data flows, and bottlenecks with a written action plan.

Week 5–8

Live Data Connection

Platform connected to Business Central via API with real-time data synchronization.

Week 8–12

Full Platform Launch

All six modules live, team onboarded, and continuous optimization engagement begins.

06

The Reaction

This way exceeded our expectations. We went from having zero visibility into our business to having an entire intelligence platform — and it happened in weeks, not the 12–18 months we were told to expect.

CEO

Chief Executive Officer

For the first time, I can ask a question about our business and get an answer backed by real data in seconds. That changes everything about how we make decisions.

COO

Chief Operating Officer

The pricing simulator alone would have justified the investment. The fact that it came with five other modules is remarkable.

VP of Sales

Vice President of Sales

Ready to see what intelligence looks like for your business?

From a single discovery call to a working prototype in under two weeks.