Miller Veterinary Supply is the oldest wholesale veterinary distributor in the United States, founded in 1920. Headquartered in Texas, Miller Vet has since expanded to a total of four locations across the country and offers well over 30,000 products at competitive prices. Their commitment to quality drove them to begin searching for more efficient software solutions to ensure their systems worked at the speed of business.
Old System Stymies Growth
With deep history comes old software solutions that struggle to meet business needs. “We have a core team that was involved with launching the business,” said John Barrera, Director of Special Projects for Miller Vet. “This core team moved from an AS/400 system which is similar to DOS. Black screen with green text, a cursor, and command lines.”
AS/400 came with its own challenges, such as requiring programming experts. These experts were becoming more and more rare, and increasingly expensive. Additionally, Miller Vet was looking to scale quickly. Training users on AS/400 was time consuming.
Miller Vet needed a new ERP system that would provide a clear overview of the business in the midst of rapid growth, with access to KPI results that would empower management to make quick decisions.
It wasn’t just scale that drove their search for a new solution. “The entire veterinary industry is transforming,” Barrera noted. “A new system would play a major role in our digital innovation strategy. We wanted our systems to integrate with traditional partners such as vendors, as well as innovative partners like new price-comparison platforms.” And on top of it all, Miller Vet was committed to offering excellent customer experiences both on and offline.
It seemed like a tall order. Fortunately, Miller Vet’s parent company, Nebraska Vet Services, had an established relationship with ERP software and technology partner, Mindover Software, who could meet that need, and an introduction was made. “We had challenges such as regulatory requirements, order volume, logistics, and others that were specific to Miller Vet,” Barrera said. “Lloyd Smith and the team at Mindover presented Acumatica to us. With all of the core features combined with all the integrated solutions and additional modules available from their partners, it was easy to see the benefits of choosing Acumatica. After speaking to the Nebraska Vet team, it was clear that Mindover was the partner we needed.”
Expedited Implementation and Customization
A standard ERP integration can take six to twelve months—or more—depending on the complexity of the setup, customization, and integration. But Miller Vet couldn’t wait for a slow ramp up. “Our team wanted to start processing orders while at the same time setting up a completely new ERP system,” recalled Barrera. “The challenges were enormous.”
According to Barrera, during the entire experience, Mindover provided calm during the storm. “Mindover managed to coordinate training at the same time the system was being set up and running the business. At the same time that was happening, Mindover was also fielding all of the customization requests. Our staff was communicating directly to Mindover for what they needed. Mindover’s team was able to listen, digest, and prioritize those requests and implement the customizations that would provide the most benefit for Miller Vet.”
No customization proved too difficult for the Mindover team, not even when a requested customization for the sales team ended up slowing the Acumatica system performance tremendously. “The more data that was added, the slower things got,” said Barrera. “But the sales team was adamant that they needed this customization.” The Mindover team was stumped, but not stopped. “Lloyd actually tracked down a previous Acumatica employee for help, and within one week the fix was deployed.”
Value of New ERP
With the help of Mindover Software and Acumatica, Miller Vet now has all information across all departments stored in one ERP system, saving their team valuable time, and reducing operating expenses. Deploying a cloud-based solution eliminated the need to invest in costly servers and maintenance and allowed Miller Vet to connect three more distribution centers to the system without the added costs of additional hardware.
The cloud-based solution was already a boon to the remote sales staff. As the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns began to impact their New Jersey distribution center, Acumatica kept the company in a good position to respond. “There was no interruption to our team having access to our critical business information, and we were able to keep our operation going for our customers.”
“If it wasn’t for Lloyd and the Mindover team, we would have wasted a lot of time and resources,” Barrera confirmed. “Mindover has a deep understanding of our unique business needs and industry challenges. As we’ve looked to invest in software to help our business grow, Mindover has been a trusted advisor in helping us analyze our needs and choose solutions that are right for the business.”
With Mindover’s help, Miller Vet has experienced multiple successes with Acumatica:
- Quick time-to-value with a hand’s on integration process
- Improved processes through observation to identify pain points
- Easy access to data via computer, tablet, or mobile device
- Flexible pricing to meet changing needs
“It’s very easy to lose a lot of money quickly by investing in software and technology for your business,” Barrera concluded. “But Lloyd and his team at Mindover are the best business partners to advise and guide technology and software decisions to maximize the results and the value you get from your investment.”
