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Summary

Adventure Ready Brands had been working with Microsoft Dynamics NAV for years before operational efficiency took a downturn when an internal resource – who was extremely knowledgeable about the product – moved out of the company. This employee’s departure precipitated a cascade of problems for the company.

Adventure Ready was also not taking full advantage of its ERP solution – primarily because they were not completely aware of its available functions or having the time and know-how to implement them.

Adventure Ready Brands viewed Columbus as a knowledgeable technology partner  and the go-to Subject Matter Expert on everything NAV.

They saw Columbus as capable of explaining functionalities at a detailed level, and knew that the Columbus team would be able to help in multicurrency consolidation and in fulfilling its requirement for add-on tasks and processes – an expectation supported by the Columbus team’s successful track record of delivering results.

About Adventure Ready Brands

Headquartered in Littleton, New Hampshire, Adventure Ready Brands is a leading manufacturer of first aid, insect repellent and outdoor recreation products. Founded in 1975, some of the company’s most popular brands include the insect bite treatment AfterBite®, insect repellents such as Ben’s® and Natrapel®, first-aid kits such as Adventure Medical Kits® and Easy Care First Aid™, the Survive Outdoors Longer® survival product kit, and the burn remedy product AfterBurn®.

Adventure Ready Brands logo-1

 

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Introduction

Headquartered in Littleton, New Hampshire, Adventure Ready Brands is a leading manufacturer of first aid, insect repellent and outdoor recreation products. Founded in 1975, some of the company’s most popular brands include the insect bite treatment AfterBite®, insect repellents such as Ben’s® and Natrapel®, first-aid kits such as Adventure Medical Kits® and Easy Care First Aid™, the Survive Outdoors Longer® survival product kit, and the burn remedy product AfterBurn®.

Adventure Ready Brands works with Microsoft Dynamics NAV, and has been doing so for years now. Operational efficiency took a downturn when an internal resource who was extremely knowledgeable about the product left the company. This employee’s departure precipitated a cascade of problems for the company, prompting it to reach out to Columbus, its longstanding technology partner (since 2008) for additional assistance.

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What were the challenges Adventure Ready Brands was facing?

When this Microsoft Dynamics NAV resource departed, it left Adventure Ready Brands in a bind. This revealed two issues: key personnel dependence and the lack of leveraging several NAV functions because of a dearth of knowledge to effectively implement and use them.


Adventure Ready Brands’ management wanted to revisit, reinvest and investigate these pieces of their ERP solution. Columbus stepped in to help.

 

"Our partnership with Columbus goes back to 2008. We’ve done upgrades, re-implementations … the whole lot together. We trust Columbus to always help us in the best way possible; it’s a good working relationship

- Ann Thetonia, Accounting Manager, Adventure Ready Brands

 

 

How is Columbus helping Adventure Ready Brands overcome its challenges?

Adventure Ready Brands viewed Columbus as a knowledgeable technology partner and the go-to Subject Matter Expert on everything NAV. They saw Columbus as capable of explaining functionality at a detailed level. The company knew that the Columbus team would be able to help not only in multicurrency consolidation but also in fulfilling its requirement for add-on tasks and processes – an expectation supported by the Columbus team’s successful track record of delivering results. Ray Boyington, IT Manager at Adventure Ready Brands, explained how Columbus assisted in identifying and resolving a severe performance degradation issue with NAV’s SQL server caused by a call code extension installed by another vendor:

 

"I’d like to cite an incident when the Columbus team addressed an indexing issue which was dragging our performance to a crawl. The team promptly leveraged its core foundation knowledge to accurately pinpoint the problem and resolve the issue for us once and for all. This kind of knowledge-sharing is very empowering for a customer (in this case, for us at Adventure Ready Brands). It demonstrates how well Columbus understands its customer, its business, and the problems it faces. This is the foundation of a good partnership."

What is ColumbusCare helping Adventure Ready Brands achieve?

A hybrid value delivery model, ColumbusCare Application Management Services (AMS) offer reactive support services, proactive managed services and as-needed consultation services to Adventure Ready Brands to keep it ‘running at full steam.’


For instance, when NAV was having its severe performance issues, ColumbusCare helped identify and fix the root cause of the problem. While there is no doubt that the process was painful, the issue was addressed and normal operational performance was restored.

 

The Columbus team is also helping Adventure Ready Brands fully understand its own existing ERP solution’s functions. ColumbusCare is facilitating this process through comprehensive knowledge transfer and documentation that is prompt and continuous.

 

ColumbusCare is also helping optimize the company operations proactively with providing add-ons for NAV, regardless of whether the add-ons are exclusively from Columbus or another vendor.

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How did ColumbusCare help Adventure Ready Brands overcome the challenges COVID-19 presented?

While speaking to us for this story, both Thetonia and Boyington voiced their appreciation for the stellar remote service Columbus has been extending during the pandemic. In Thetonia’s words, “Meetings, product demos – it’s been like we’re in the same room! We’ve got to the point of us working with the Columbus team as coworkers. The kind of coding support we’re receiving remotely is great!”


In 2021, Adventure Ready Brands is actively looking at expanding its business and is seeking ways to do so. Columbus, as the company’s managed services partner, is helping this initiative by extending personal attention and service continuity Adventure Ready Brands needs to keep its operations running efficiently while focusing on innovation.


One initiative Adventure Ready Brands is looking to do is paying vendors automatically through a NAV connection through the bank. Adventure Ready Brands’ leadership is confident that the Columbus team will be able to tackle this and any other future projects.

 

 

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