Challenge
Today’s wine and spirits distributors face incredibly complex business challenges – from increased demands from wine and spirits suppliers to unique state and local laws and regional customer preferences. As a leading multi-state distributor of fine wines, spirits, beers, and non-alcoholic beverages, The Charmer Sunbelt Group (CSG) recognized that it needed stronger capabilities and processes in its core business functions to maintain and strengthen the company’s position as the “Distributor of Choice”, while at the same time bolstering its highly effective localized sales and distribution structure.

Solution
CSG responded with a strategy that addressed corporate-level needs while preserving and enhancing the advantages of local operations and addressing their unique business challenges. With the assistance of Clarkston Consulting, CSG achieved a successful initial implementation of SAP at its Washington, D.C. house. One product of this endeavor was the development of a corporate-wide blueprint for its subsequent rollouts. As part of the rollout strategy, an accelerated approach was established for
the succeeding implementations, deploying SAP and enabling CSG to develop a Shared Services model for key business functions.

Benefits
CSG now has an integrated system aligned with its business needs, entrepreneurial culture, and growth objectives. The new system and core business processes promise increased efficiency and improved results across the entire enterprise. The project achieved substantial cost savings and was completed within the required timeframe and within budget, with no service level disruption to its customers.

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