CIO Spotlight

Sunkiss Increases Inventory Turnover by 35% and Reduces Operational Costs With NetSuite

Sunkiss Healthcare is one of China’s leading manufacturers of products for adult care, maternity, child health and pet care. For more than two decades the company has produced cost-effective, high-quality goods, while remaining committed to innovating new products that benefit its global customers.

As Sunkiss expanded, its business management solution couldn’t keep up. The clunky legacy system didn’t provide real-time inventory data, so business leaders kept more stock than was necessary in order to avoid stockouts, resulting in high inventory costs. The business tried using a third-party inventory management software, but it didn’t integrate with its legacy system, so sharing of business data between the two was inconsistent and unreliable.

Sunkiss implemented NetSuite four years ago to support its growth. Since deployment, the company has increased its inventory turnover by 35%, increased transparency of operations and standardisation of its production processes, and reduced costs through greater manufacturing efficiency.

We spoke to Sunkiss’ CIO, Dou Xinming, to learn more about his motivations, the technology that supports him day to day, and why he believes successful operations must be process driven.

Q&A

Describe your role at Sunkiss?

Dou Xinming: As CIO, I’m responsible for the comprehensive digital transformation of the Sunkiss organisation, not just the IT department. This includes sales services, order management, national bidding, domestic receivables and payables.

Which stakeholders do you work closest with?

Xinming: I report directly to the chairman, but I work closely with every department to straighten out every process and push the business forward.

How do you as CIO serve your company, customers and colleagues?

Xinming: The first priority is to listen to the needs, then demonstrate the facts to business leaders, and finally, make the decisions that create change.

What three soft skills are most important for your role?

Xinming: Dedication, enthusiasm, and the ability to maintain a bird's-eye view.

What three hard/tech skills are most important for today’s CIO?

Xinming: Firstly, it’s important to be familiar with new business processes and scenarios. Secondly, you need to know your own company's products. Thirdly, you must be able to quickly grasp the pros and cons of different technology solutions that could benefit your company.

How has the role of CIOs evolved in the past 10 years?

Xinming: In the past, the role was driven by the technology; what we did depended on what system we had, and many companies didn't know what they wanted. Now, the CIOs responsibility is to give better advice by looking ahead and predicting what will be required.

What do you think are the biggest reasons for these changes?

Xinming: The development of technology and the way we do business today.

Has understanding how a business operates has become more important for CIOs?

Xinming: It is always important to be familiar with the business operation process, understand the problem through a global lens, and then think about the appropriate strategy.

Do you think collaboration has become a central part of the role of today’s CIOs?

Xinming: Cross-departmental collaboration is extremely important, yet every department has its barriers. To ensure the smooth progress of a project, the CIO must drive cross-departmental cooperation and efforts, otherwise solutions cannot be successfully implemented.

Do you think today’s CIO needs to be a strong communicator in a way that wasn’t as important in the past?

Xinming: Yes. In the traditional enterprise, IT just solves problems. If you want to drive digital transformation, you need to be top-down and process-driven.

What three things are most important for a CIO to consider when choosing new technology?

Xinming: The product must meet the development needs of the enterprise, provide a comprehensive solution, and achieve standardisation.

To what extent does your company see technology as a way to better serve your employees and customers?

Xinming: The goal of Sunkiss is to connect business, intelligence, and data, to realise the digitalisation of all the entire organisation. Therefore, a powerful technology platform is desired to support the transformation.

How does NetSuite help you succeed as CIO?

Xinming: I’m a results-driven person and NetSuite helps me achieve tangible outcomes. The key to success is whether the project is smoothly deployed, whether employees make full use of the system and obtain visible benefits after using it. NetSuite supports success at every stage.

What were the top reasons for your business choosing NetSuite?

Xinming: We switched from Kingdee to NetSuite because Sunkiss was facing many challenges, including high inventory costs, opaque production, uncontrollable costs, uncontrolled product life cycle, and difficulty in connecting with third-party systems. Oracle NetSuite is a flexible and comprehensive solution with strong underlying logic, which met the needs and business development goals of Sunkiss.

Has NetSuite made your life as CIO easier?

Xinming: Yes, NetSuite has helped improve inventory turnover rate through effective inventory management. It’s also helped us realise two-way traceability of batches, transparent production and controllable costs, and supported product iteration through sales transparency. NetSuite easily integrates with external third-party systems, enabling additional functionality that simplifies my role.

What are the three biggest benefits of being in the cloud vs on-premises?

Xinming: A cloud-based system is lightweight and there’s no need for local deployment.

What would you say to a technology who was contemplating switching to NetSuite from on-prem or legacy systems?

Xinming: If you would like to improve the standardisation of the manufacturing industry, NetSuite is the best choice.

What advice would you give to aspiring CIOs?

Xinming: Start with details and small things, and be humble and curious.