Case Study

Background

North Carolina Farms is a family-owned wholesale greenhouse business that provides starter plants to garden centres and greenhouses across North America. Their plants are used as raw materials in retail products like pots and planters. With a reputation for quality and excellent customer service, the company has been a trusted supplier in the horticulture industry for decades.

Challenge

Due to outdated internal processes and legacy software, North Carolina Farms wanted to increase the efficiency of their order tracking and inventory management. Their legacy system was no longer meeting the evolving needs of their growing client base, prompting the need for a custom solution to streamline workflows and improve customer service.

Solution

Covalience provided a dedicated development team of PHP engineers, UI/UX designers, QA engineers, DevOps engineers, and a project coordinator to design and build a custom application tailored to North Carolina Farms’ operational needs.

Implementation

Over a period of seven months, Covalience’s team worked closely with North Carolina Farms to deliver a modern, user-friendly system with key functionalities, including:

Real-Time Inventory Management

Unified inventory tracking across all locations, improving stock visibility and reducing errors.

Order Processing Automation

Simplified order workflows, reducing manual tasks and improving order accuracy.

Enhanced Reporting Tools

Provided actionable insights to help the team make data-driven decisions and improve customer service.

App Security Enhancements

Rebuilt the checkout process with secure scripts, ensuring PCI compliance and safeguarding transactions by integrating directly with authorized.net.

Server Optimization

Consolidated four servers into two, cutting costs by 50%. Implemented Docker with multiple containers to enhance efficiency and maintain performance.

Automated Deployment & Enhanced Security

Integrated CI/CD pipelines to automate the deployment process, eliminating the need for manual server access and strengthening security.

Application Segmentation & Stability

Separated the WordPress content site and the order management system, preventing crashes and ensuring continuous uptime for both platforms.

Results

The new application has significantly improved efficiency and business growth for North Carolina Farms, delivering the following benefits:

Enhanced Customer Satisfaction
Faster, more precise order fulfilment has improved customer experience and streamlined operations.
Operational Efficiency
Automated workflows have reduced manual processes, increasing productivity and accuracy.
Data-Driven Decision-Making
Real-time insights have enabled better business decisions and more effective resource management.
Strategic Leadership Focus
By minimizing time spent on operational tasks, leadership has been able to prioritize long-term growth initiatives.

North Carolina Farms

Technologies Used

Implementation

Real-Time Inventory Management

Order Processing Automation

Enhanced Reporting Tools

App Security Enhancements

Server Optimization

Automated Deployment & Enhanced Security

Application Segmentation & Stability

Results

Enhanced Customer Satisfaction

Operational Efficiency

Data-Driven Decision-Making

Strategic Leadership Focus

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