When you run a business in a country known for innovation and entrepreneurism, the bar is incredibly high to achieve milestones on an international scale for the first time. Alma is one such business leading the way.

Alma(opens in new tab), one of the global leaders in the energy-based medical aesthetics devices industry is mastering laser, light-based, radiofrequency, plasma and ultrasound technologies so that medical and aesthetic practitioners can provide safe and effective treatments to tens of millions of consumers around the world.

In 2013, Alma was acquired by Fosun Pharma, a leading healthcare group in China. In 2017, Alma’s parent company, Sisram Medical, became the first Israeli company to be listed on the Hong Kong Exchange Main Board.

But Alma’s growing operations, its global expansion to more than 90 countries worldwide since 2017, and a broadening product line, began to pose several data challenges that needed to be addressed.

Alma’s global expansion and the new data focus

With rapid growth and operating in more countries and markets, Alma faced data visibility issues across its departments and geographies. With its HQ in Israel and subsidiaries in the USA, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong, South Korea, India and Israel, Alma wanted a solution that could integrate data and work processes across its vast operation.

Each subsidiary was working independently, operating a standalone system to manage finance and supply chain, resulting in disjointed data and inconsistent processes. With limited visibility into stock and assembly process, Alma could not accurately plan against demand, leading to difficulties in production and the customer experience.

Alma turns to Oracle NetSuite

Alma’s head of IT, Tomer Levi’s vision was to implement a consolidated, cloud-based system to help the company modernise and pursue growth opportunities, while gaining visibility into every department in the organisation.

Embarking on the project in 2020, Levi’s plan involved replacing legacy systems in each subsidiary, implementing NetSuite globally. With NetSuite supporting its manufacturing, supply chain, finance and CRM functions, Levi knew Alma’s goals could be fulfilled.

“To achieve our business goals, I knew that we needed streamlined, cloud-based and digital processes that would make it possible for us to focus on business opportunities and business advantage. NetSuite helps us achieve that — we no longer have to worry about our IT foundations. NetSuite is at the core of our digital and cloud transformation journey,” said Levi.

Improved processes

With NetSuite, Alma’s finance department can manage international subsidiaries by processing transactions in multiple currencies and real-time exchange rates, while using tools that can help to navigate complex compliance and local tax rules. This allows the Alma finance team to gain a single view into financial performance, benefit from greater reporting capabilities to update management teams, and instil more structured financial processes.

With NetSuite, Alma is better equipped to deal with its highly complex production ecosystem, shared components and assembly processes. As a result, its manufacturing process is now considered stronger than it has ever been, allowing Alma to optimise stock and reduce production lead time.

“We are now able to run very complex material planning scenarios on huge data volumes and full planning cycles in much shorter time than before. Today, we are looking at real time data to make real-time decisions, thanks to the insights in NetSuite,” said Levi.

With NetSuite already delivering results, Alma is now planning to integrate further digital platforms, including connecting customer satisfaction surveys into NetSuite to give a 360-degree view of cases and sales leads. Over the next year, Levi’s team plans to integrate additional pieces of software into NetSuite, to complete Alma’s journey.

With NetSuite in place, Alma is well-placed for the next phase of its journey.

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