From TrueCommerce to Cleo

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Four Hands, a global leader in luxury furniture design and wholesale, replaced its legacy TrueCommerce and bespoke ERP systems with Cleo Integration Cloud (CIC) to build a fully integrated digital ecosystem. By adopting an API-first approach combined with traditional EDI, Four Hands automated its manual "Procure-to-Pay" and "Order-to-Cash" processes, which were previously managed via spreadsheets and phone calls. This modernization provided the real-time visibility and scalability required to support their growth into a $194M+ revenue global operation while ensuring rapid fulfillment for large retail chains and interior designers.

KEY PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES

• End-to-End Automation: Eliminated manual data entry in critical business cycles, replacing time-consuming spreadsheets and emails with automated, real-time transaction updates.

• Unified Digital Ecosystem: Consolidated disparate point solutions into a single integration platform, reducing the complexity and fragility of their digital infrastructure.

• Accelerated Fulfillment: Resolved sluggish processing times caused by legacy systems, allowing orders to move through the supply chain with significantly higher velocity.

• Global Visibility (CIC Cockpit): Provided internal units and trading partners with instant access to order status and logistics data, fostering a proactive rather than reactive operational culture.

• Rapid Partner Onboarding: Leveraged Cleo’s library of pre-built connectors to quickly integrate with new retail partners and third-party logistics (3PL) providers across their global offices.

INTRODUCTION

A custom combination of APIs and EDI enabled Four Hands to transform its supply chain and customer experience

Four Hands, a leading designer, manufacturer, and wholesaler of furniture, has been crafting unique pieces that blend style and comfort since its founding in 1996. With a vision to redefine the furniture market, the company aims to provide superior quality products while ensuring exceptional customer service— helping Four Hands rank on the Inc. 5000 list 14 times. With offices in the US, China, India, Vietnam, Mexico, and Indonesia, as well as showrooms in High Point, NC, Las Vegas, NV, and Austin, TX, Four Hands is looking to expand its global operations by serving the growing needs of large retail chains, as well as independent regional stores and interior designers.

BUSINESS NEEDS

For years, Four Hands was using TrueCommerce to connect to EDI trading partners

While this solution proved viable for a time, as the company continued to grow and had greater goals to achieve, issues started to appear. For example, Four Hands noticed a lack of visibility into orders and sluggish processing times that caused orders to be fulfilled much slower. To fix these issues, along with others, Four Hands knew it had to make some changes. 

As a result, Four Hands came up with a list of capabilities its next integration solution needed to possess. These included: 

• API and EDI functionality 

• Any-to-any integration for a fully connected digital ecosystem 

• Real-time, automated updates 

• Business process automation for both Order-to-Cash and Procure-to-Pay

IT CHALLENGES

Four Hands recognized the need for digital transformation after facing challenges with its legacy ERP system.

The bespoke system had been in place for two decades and was experiencing limitations in terms of functionality, integration capabilities, and scalability. This led Four Hands to reassess their integration solution from TrueCommerce and create a new integration strategy to keep pace with the evolving business landscape.

Additionally, the company’s existing setup consisted of various point solutions, leading to redundancy in their applications and an unnecessarily complex and fragile digital ecosystem. Furthermore, this fragmented approach was hindering efficiency and obstructing visibility into its logistics processes. Four Hands needed a unified solution that could consolidate these disparate systems, streamline operations, and provide real-time updates to all stakeholders, namely internal units, customers, and trading partners.

And as Four Hands’ operations grew, it faced challenges in managing its Procure-to-Pay and Order-to-Cash processes. This is because they were largely performed manually via phone calls, emails, and spreadsheets. The manual data entry was time-consuming, expensive, and prone to errors, affecting overall efficiency and customer satisfaction.

This led Four Hands to look for an integration solution that could fully automate their business processes from start to finish. The need for a robust solution was evident, which brought Four Hands to Cleo.

THE SOLUTION

Cleo Integration Cloud (CIC) Cockpit with RADAR™

After a careful competitive evaluation, Four Hands decided to move forward with Cleo as its integration provider. Cleo helped with the initial implementation of Cleo Integration Cloud (CIC) with RADAR™, making sure trading partners were onboarded and integrations were set up correctly. Since migrating to CIC, Four Hands has orchestrated 120+ API and EDI integrations to link up its entire digital ecosystem across the company’s ERP, WMS, and SCM systems, plus customers and more.

Utilizing an API-first strategy for the first time, Four Hands can now collect and share real-time data and updates between all integrated systems and trading partners. This enhanced data allows the company to make more informed decisions and create better business strategies. Four Hands also uses EDI when necessary or preferred, providing complete flexibility for integration requirements.

Jim Anderson, COO at Four Hands, says, “Cleo has provided much greater flexibility across our critical operational systems. With EDI and API capabilities in a single toolset, the ease of data transformation, and the increased automation through Cleo, we are laying the required foundational elements for our business to properly operate at a global level. As we have reduced manual intervention and enabled better control over our data flows, we have been able to shift our focus to other customer critical initiatives."

With the CIC Cockpit with RADAR add-on, Four Hands receives real-time alerts for SLAs that are in jeopardy of being missed. This allows Four Hands to address issues before the SLA is violated, ensuring the company delivers on its business commitments without disruption. This proactive solution also eliminates costly fees from missed SLAs and maintains positive relationships with trading partners.

LOOKING FORWARD

Four Hands’ next step is to upgrade its legacy ERP system to one of the popular ERPs on the market, such as Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Accordingly, Cleo offers 50+ integration connectors that can be used to quickly create integrations with common ERPs, CRMs, TMSs, and WMSs, as well as eCommerce and storage platforms, and standard file-transfer protocols.

Cleo’s integration connectors use pre-built schemas, rulesets, and business processes for fast, easy integration development, deployment, execution, and testing. This ensures that replacing the legacy ERP platform in Four Hands’ digital ecosystem will be a smooth transition that involves minimal downtown when building the integration.

Additionally, Four Hands is committed to ramping up its annual revenue in the coming years. Cleo Integration Cloud will be instrumental in helping the company achieve its revenue goals, as the platform provides Four Hands with automation to shorten processing times, scalability to handle more orders as demand spikes, and any-to-any integration to connect to any trading partner.

With Cleo helping Four Hands deliver on its business commitments, the furniture company is prime for global expansion, one room at a time.