We spoke with Marco Dezi, COO & Partner of Riba Mundo Tecnología, about the Marvin program, the heart of the company.
- Why did you decide to develop your own software?
Marco Dezi: One of our premises is to be aware of the present but with the focus on the future because, from the beginning, we were clear about our growth potential.
Being a start-up that grows rapidly in all our areas -sales, purchases, employees… )- we had to choose between a program that adapted to a planned business model or a tool focused on problem solving and that helped us to adapt to the changes that a start-up like ours suffers in real time.
We decided to embrace both options and chose to develop software adapted to our needs. With an agile method and that gathers all our activities and internal procedures created together with PwC and Deloitte. In addition, centralize all company data in a single database.
- What are the main virtues of Marvin?
M.D.: It is able to simplify our internal tasks by optimizing management times by automating processes, ranging from supply and warehouse management to sales made through all our market access channels.
In addition, the software allows us to compare the different prices of our suppliers in order to optimize purchases and compare the price lists of our competitors to choose the best selling price. It’s almost like seeing each product as a stock market title subject to market fluctuations.
Thanks to Marvin, we know in real time the margin of our sales operations both globally and on a product-by-product basis and manage our treasury quickly and easily. In this way, we can have a clear view of our cash flow which allows us to estimate our operational needs of funds by making realistic projections and working with various scenarios depending on the different parameters involved as rotation of the warehouse, future purchasing needs, sales forecasts, etc.
Marvin integrates and connects with the company’s main tools and applications, avoiding data duplication and centralizing them in a single database; and keeps track of the company’s main tax obligations.
The stock, to the millimeter
In short, it is an excellent tool of “Business Intelligence”, which analyzes specific data through different reports; suggesting actions such as creating automatic orders to suppliers to optimize the stock of warehouse so that there is no lack of product. All this is based not only on the arithmetic average of sales but also on the “potential” elaborated by an algorithm created with our programmers and software developers.
One of the areas of the company where Marvin brings us great value is in stock control management, a key area because price fluctuation is a variable that affects the margin. Therefore, the software identifies “unemployed” products in different timeframes and suggests price reductions that allow for efficient stock rotation.
In definitva, thanks to Marvin we can plan, execute, analyze and monitor all the phases of our operating process. In addition to making adjustments or improvements where necessary. All this is possible thanks to the great work done by the technical staff who have created a database structure that can support future developments and adapt to new needs.
The new app
- In September you launched the B2B website. Is Marvin linked to ecommerce?
M.D.: Yes, Marvin connects with the web to communicate in real time stock changes, prices, order downloads or new customer records, among other virtues. In addition, it is able to indicate lists of inactive customers and suggest commercial actions. In this way, we have become a highly digital and flexible company to change. Moreover, and after the success of our ecommerce, we are already working on our app for both Android and Apple, in order to be always close to our customers.
- How did the staff receive Marvin?
M.D.: We knew that at first problems would arise. Therefore, we were close to our staff to help them know the full potential of Marvin through the ad hoc training of each department. Automation and technology are the future but without human resources and without qualities and desire to contribute ideas to the project, technology alone is nothing.
- Marvin’s copyright and use rights are yours?
M.D.: Yes, since there are no computer and programming staff, the project was developed by the team of DZ Capital ltd and financed by the SGR fund together with Abanca. Ownership and copyright are Riba Mundo Tecnología and are registered with the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers.
Marco Dezi thanks all the staff of Riba Mundo Tecnología and its partners -customers, suppliers, banks, advisors…- “allow us to fulfill this dream”. And, in particular, Vincenzo Zizza (Project Manager of DZ Capital, Business Consultant and E-commerce Specialist), Marco Cinti (Senior Developer of IdeaLab) and Alessio Dezi (CEO of IdeaLab, Senior Developer): “They have supported us to develop Marvin and our website; and surely, they will help us in the future with new technological developments”.
