Montreal, Canada – Mud Pie is an award-winning midsize US designer and wholesaler of innovative and affordably priced fashion and home decor items. Over time, the company has built up a catalog of over 10,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) that are sold around the world. But Mud Pie’s success also created a serious IT issue, one that had to be resolved if the company was to continue to grow and prosper.
For years, Mud Pie had been managing all of its product design and manufacturing outsourcing with an Access database. But eventually, relying on Access to manage and track the design and manufacture of its products—something it was not designed to do—was standing in the way of company growth. It was also affecting the company’s efficiency.
Mud Pie’s product development staff was losing valuable time chasing data, samples, images, and communications about products. The system easily became overwhelmed and overloaded, and many tasks were taking as much as five times longer than they should, if they could be performed at all.
As well, the company was getting bogged down with the identification and movement of seasonal products through the design, manufacturing, and distribution stages. Mud Pie knew these issues needed to be remedied. This is where Technology Evaluation Centers’ Selection Services team came in.
With the help of TEC Selection Services’ structured methodology, industry-leading evaluation and selection tools, and software selection experts, Mud Pie was able to:
• get up to speed on the benefits and functionality of a product lifecycle management (PLM) system;
• understand its own business processes and functionality needs;
• successfully gather requirements;
• develop an objective, data-driven decision model;
• host and score live vendor demonstrations;
• determine the best-fit solution; and
• negotiate favorable terms for the upfront license fees, as well as for future upgrades and all hosting, maintenance, and professional services.
As Mud Pie’s chief financial officer Mark Miller explains: “TEC really opened our eyes to what kind of software we needed and which solution was the best for our needs—and they took the lead in negotiating a great deal for us from the vendor. They understood so much about the software selection process and how to protect our interests that we knew everything would work out perfectly. And it did.”
Mud Pie is now looking forward to implementing its new Centric PLM solution, and taking advantage of all the business and IT benefits it will provide.
Adds TEC Selection Services director Michael Thaw: “We’re here for companies like Mud Pie, who are experts in their own business and want to supplement their in-house knowledge and expertise to successfully evaluate and select a very complex product like enterprise software. It’s gratifying work because we help these companies through a very challenging and risky procedure—and they end up with the right software at the best price.”
Read the full case study for an in-depth look at Mud Pie’s PLM selection project with TEC.
For more information on TEC’s software evaluation and selection services, contact +1 514-954-3665, ext. 404, or email TEC Selection Services.
About Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC)
Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC) is the world’s leading provider of software selection resources, services, and research materials, helping organizations evaluate and select the best enterprise software for their needs. With its advanced decision-making process and software selection experts, TEC reduces the time, cost, and risk associated with enterprise software selection.
Over 3.5 million subscribers leverage TEC’s extensive research and detailed information on more than 1,000 leading software solutions across all major application areas. TEC is recognized as an industry-leading software selection advisory firm offering resources and services both online and onsite.
For more information, visit www.technologyevaluation.com
