Case Study: PGSI

Who:

PG Golf (formerly PGSI as the wholesale retrieval operation) is the largest golf ball recycler in the world, selling millions of golf balls per month. You may not be familiar with the name, but there is a good chance that the golf balls you buy at the retailers will belong to one of PG’s brands.

The Challenge:

The real-world golf ball compensation system that PG applies is extremely difficult to standardize. Each one of their golf course compensations had to be calculated by hand, using hundreds of hours per month just on that task, calculating balances for their wholesale department. Before they contacted us, they found it practically impossible to grow the company without a system that somehow could be exact AND flexible enough to convert golf balls into dollars, or percentages, or discounts, or all (or part) of the above. Given that this type of compensation system provided a competitive advantage to their business, changing that criteria was not an option, but finding a way to calculate this, and then support golf courses, and all the infrastructure became a priority. In regards to flexibility, the system had to be able to support new mathematical functions for any type of new financial product, program or compensation that they would create in the future.

The Solution:

Although it would appear to be a simple process to “convert retrieved golf balls into either brand new golf balls, dollars or discounts”, but in reality it was a grueling, long, and extremely challenging process. Another software company had failed miserably in all attempts, saying the task was impossible which lead to PG hiring webzoneUS. It took us three months just to create the math function that could calculate this. It is by far the most complex function we have ever written. Our function is so difficult to follow because of its proprietary innovation that verification of accuracy required using formulas and data from 4 excel sheets and then finish them by hand.

The implementation of this new system was an outstanding success. After the application was completed and they started using it, its use converted tons of paper into a paperless, automated process, that generates the most critical metrics for management and sales; including all type of revenue, production and sales projections which adjust real-time as real world data gets into the system.

The Outcome:

PG uses this system for its wholesale operation to manage the transactions of many millions of golf balls, and the system has allowed the company to grow while REDUCING personnel, allowing key players to spend their time focusing on company expansion, instead of just running numbers (eliminating the human error factor prove to be the icing on what had become a very rich cake of new found efficiency and accuracy). It has also almost completely eliminated the paper trail that they used to have; and allows everyone in the company structure to know their department and personal metrics, from generated commissions to inventory and financial statuses.