GPC

The Challenge

Genuine Parts Company (GPC) is a distributor of auto parts, industrial materials and business products. They operate a number of retail stores in addition to their wholesale distribution. Their store operations software faced difficulty with maintaining critical uptime. On any given day, an average of 300 stores would be down. This created a big burden for the GPC support team. 

Transforming GPC

GPC knew they needed to transform their software to better serve customers and reduce support costs. They also realized they needed an experienced guide to help them navigate the process. eHire was chosen because of our track record of helping companies modernize legacy applications. 

eHire’s approach was to help GPC make changes quickly so they could see a quick return on investment. The first step was to write new applications from scratch that could easily integrate with existing systems. The next step was to extend the functionality of the existing system without disruption to current operations. This made the overall system more functional and reliable. 

Once the system was stabilized, GPC needed help planning for the future of their software. eHire partnered with GPC to do a full analysis of their legacy systems and third party applications. From there, we guided them through creating a roadmap that would modernize those systems safely and quickly. 

Part of the modernization was making the software look better for users. GPC engaged eHire’s creative teams to help plan for an improved user interface. 

Now that they had stable systems and a viable roadmap, the next step was implementation. This involved migrating development teams over to an agile workflow. eHire’s team members were able to not only teach, but model what a successful agile process looked like. This helped ease the migration. 

GPC Today

GPC is in a much better place today. They have around 60 stores down per day compared to the 300 down when they originally partnered with us. They have seen an 80% reduction in support costs thanks to the newly improved systems that are more stable. Less support staff are needed to maintain uptime on the new systems, which contributed to the ROI of the project Notably, they also have much better integrated credit card processing, which eliminates order friction for customers.