Challenges Before White Cup BI
The company, previously known as Darcoid Nor-Cal Seal, was acquired in 2022 and has two main brands, one that specifically serves automotive, life sciences and semiconductors, and another that serves general industrial customers. Its sales cycle can be long, with some projects requiring months or even years of planning and development before they bring in revenue.
Darcoid implemented MITS, an on-premise business intelligence solution, several years ago to improve data visualization. The company previously relied heavily on manual data analysis, which limited visibility into crucial operational metrics. They used Epicor P21 as their ERP, but reporting within the system wasn’t intuitive.
As the director of finances and operations, Brian Poggetti is responsible for managing budgeting, forecasting and planning to ensure Darcoid’s finances are aligned with its growth goals. Tracking cash flow, expenses, profit margins, and ensuring the company has the inventory to support its sales pipeline are crucial. Investing in MITS business intelligence software gave him a faster, clearer picture of the most important metrics at a glance, he said.
“MITS business intelligence software made data visualization easier, it’s easy to use, easy to teach and it works. It’s reliable. And there have been a lot of upgrades over the years.”
Brian Poggetti
Director of Finances and Operations
Darcoid
One of those upgrades was the migration to White Cup’s new, cloud-based business intelligence software, known as White Cup BI.
Migrating From On-Premise Business Intelligence Software to White Cup BI
The transition to White Cup BI was driven by the need for a more adaptable, intuitive, and cloud-based solution. Since migrating, Poggetti has noticed enhanced charting functionality, faster reporting, and the ability to easily make changes without reaching out to White Cup’s professional services team. The shift to White Cup BI in the cloud was part of a larger effort to improve operational efficiency and enhance data accessibility by moving from on-premise servers to AWS, which is critical for the company’s ability to grow and scale.
“There’s more flexibility in terms of modeling,” he said. And there’s a big difference in the speed of the product. It just works a lot better.”
They also eliminated the need to buy more servers, which saved money.
Overall Value of White Cup BI to Darcoid
Since migrating to White Cup BI in the cloud, Poggetti has seen significant improvements in data visualization and ease of use, which has led to faster, more accurate decision-making.
He’s used White Cup BI to create a daily check-in dashboard, enabling him to see cash on hand, sales backlogs and the volume of orders and invoices. This helps him see monthly business activities and analyze working capital.
“It gives me a picture of where the business is at,” he said.
The company’s department managers also use White Cup’s business intelligence software to see what deals are in the pipeline and what specific products they’ll need. Because Darcoid’s solutions are so customized, they don’t tend to keep a large stock of inventory, so having the right mix of products for upcoming projects is crucial.
Testing Predictive Sales Forecasting
Darcoid has also been testing White Cup’s predictive sales forecasting, one of several new advancements that use AI to help distributors take their next best action.
The company’s previous sales forecasting process was mostly manual, involving an annual review of sales trends from the year before and deals in the pipeline.
The model’s accuracy has been promising so far, he said. For instance, during a multi-million dollar sales month, White Cup’s forecast was within $7,000 of actual revenue.
White Cup’s predictive sales forecasting capabilities are fueled by unique models, trained specifically on each distribution customer’s unique data sets. Pogetti plans to use Darcoid’s sales forecasting model for more frequent re-forecasting, accommodating the fluid dynamics of customer interactions and market conditions.
“There’s been a lot more shifting in the market over the last few years, when big changes happen, we try to re-forecast.”
Brian Poggetti
Director of Finances and Operations
Darcoid
Future-Proofing With Cloud Business Intelligence Software
White Cup BI has empowered Darcoid to use operational data for better resource allocation and financial planning. The predictive sales forecasting will continue to improve, reducing the time the team needs to spend making manual forecast adjustments throughout the year.
As Darcoid continues to grow its customer base, using business intelligence in more meaningful ways will be key to ensuring they have the right products to accommodate all the projects they have in the pipeline.
Cloud business intelligence software like White Cup BI offers many advantages compared to on-premise solutions. Because we are frequently introducing new features, including AI-powered recommendations for top related products and reordering reminders, your team will always have the latest version and the best data visualization — including new, more elegant chart types and AI-powered forecasts.
The user experience is much easier and the software is faster.
It’s easy for anyone to access and comes with world-class data protection and security by AWS.
If your company is ready to experience the speed and flexibility of cloud-based business intelligence software, learn more about White Cup BI.
