IDKIDS’ success is founded on an overriding commitment to making a better world for growing children and the success and popularity of its eight core brands. These include the flagship children’s clothing retailer Okaïdi and the upmarket children’s clothing collections of Jacadi Paris, as well as Oxybul, the widely respected and innovative toys and games retailer. The group operates a number of multiformat stores where the different brands are grouped together under the IDKIDS brand, as well as around 50 nurseries north of Paris.
Service agility is of vital importance to ensure the group is always able to respond to ever-changing consumer priorities and preferences—both in-store and on-line. This has prompted the group to undertake a comprehensive digital transformation while adhering fully to IDKIDS’ core values of sharing, respect, and progress. The introduction of Workday is an integral and important part of this transformation process covering everything from the management of complex supplier flows to financial reporting and reconciliation.
Processing complexities and different tax regimes are no longer an issue.
Overcoming the frustrations and limitations of outdated software systems, the digital transformation of IDKIDS has been progressive and far-reaching in all areas of the business. The principal objectives of the IDKIDS’ finance team were to improve process efficiencies and increase the scope for developing more insightful analytics to support management decision-making. The Workday deployment has fulfilled these target outcomes by eliminating time wasted on manual tasks and enabling the company to flex and respond to market developments on short notice and at all times.
The completion of a huge volume of supplier and bank reconciliation flows is much faster than before and financial reporting and budgeting is now more reliable and far less time-consuming. The new software is also overcoming the challenges of managing the complexities and specific details of the different tax regimes in different countries.
These are still early days, but Workday has already had a very positive impact on our business and it didn’t take long at all for the team to see the benefit of the system’s agility and capabilities.
Stéphane Massez, Accounting Director, IDKIDS
Role transformation set to deliver personal and corporate benefits.
Workday reporting and analytics capabilities are proving to be truly transformational for the finance team at IDKIDS. The introduction of the system is helping to change the role of the company’s accountants and increase their sense of fulfillment and job satisfaction. Progressively, the team is focusing on more analytical tasks and management reporting rather than spending most of their time simply managing lots of cash flow.
Consequently, the team’s role is far more interesting and has far greater value as they are more directly involved in the management decision-making process. This is not only important for workers’ career development, but is also helping the company to retain personnel in a profession where the demand for skills is far outstripping supply.
Early staff engagement smooths transition to a smarter way of working.
Adhering to a strict digital transformation timetable, IDKIDS proceeded with the introduction of Workday on schedule despite the unforeseen challenges of a pandemic. Defining the scope of the project well in advance and creating a dedicated team enabled much of the deployment and systems integration to be completed remotely and in phases. In the unusual circumstances, a conscious decision was taken to have the company’s accountants involved at the project’s beginning. This proved to be beneficial in determining the right system configuration for the company. A series of dedicated two-day “boot camps” were also held, involving the entire project team. These events provided the opportunity to complete extensive testing to ensure that the tool was effective and working well before go-live.
Success really depends on the effective integration of the business into any digital transformation project, such as Workday. That’s why we made every effort to engage and involve the key players from the outset.
Stéphane Massez, Accounting Director, IDKIDS