Kinnarps takes control of its IT environment
Kinnarps offers interior design solutions for public and office environments. With high quality products and a low environmental cost, the company manages the whole chain – from raw material to ready-made solution for the office space. Today, Kinnarps is the third largest furniture manufacturer in Europe with sales offices in roughly 35 countries. The group has 2 200 employees and a total turnover of 3,5 billion SEK.
Ten years ago, some of Kinnarps’ customers started requesting electronic order and invoice administration. The first toll that was installed, did not allow any in-house configuration changes. Every time there was a software change, or when an error occurred, Kinnarps had to call in consultants to solve the problem. This meant that solving an invoice problem could cost more than the actual invoice amount. Kinnarps decided to switch to a solution that allowed in-house development. iCore Process Server was the answer to Kinnarps’ problems.
Our previous solution was like a car without a steering wheel. We were in the backseat without any possibility to do anything. With iCore, we can do whatever we want – if anything is missing, we just build it ourselves”
We often call it our "box of Lego's". There may be other, more graphical, solutions out there, but one of our basic needs was to be able to control the development inhouse, says Claes Lindman from the IT department at Kinnarps.
The implementation of iCore went very smoothly. An iCore employee came and installed the solution, and after that, Kinnarps has hardly needed any assistance from iCore. The developers know that if they need help, iCore will be there for them. So far, however, the IT department at Kinnarps has done most of the development work themselves.
Besides using iCore for coordinating order and invoice administration, Kinnarps also uses iCore for moving, converting and transferring data between systems. For example, iCore is used for transferring electronic customs transactions to the Swedish and Norwegian Customs Administration.
Perhaps the best thing with iCore is the traceability function. You can see exactly what has been sent and received. If there is an error, you can correct it and then re-start the procedure from the location where the error occurred.
Today, the general trend is to increase the use of electronic solutions for orders and invoices, which is just as natural as substituting traditional letters with e-mail. iCore administers approximately 250 invoices daily at Kinnarps, without any human involvement.