Grupo Ferretero Fhegarsa

The challenge

Grupo Ferretero Fhegarsa sells construction materials, hardware, steel, decoration products, paint, and ceramics, with 43 years of history in the Valles region of Jalisco. It operates eight points of sale across the Agave corridor, covering municipalities such as Ahualulco, Etzatlán, Tequila, El Arenal, and Magdalena. Leading the transformation project is Carlos Arturo Ramírez Macías, the group's General Director.

The company ran on a custom-built system that, over the years, had adapted as much to its needs as to its operational vices and limitations. That system offered no way to integrate the eight points of sale or serve customers globally when they bought at branches outside their home municipality. Added to this were organizational errors and inefficient practices — the result of years of molding the system to the way the business worked, instead of strengthening that way of working with a robust system.

The solution

The solution implemented was SAP Business One, hand in hand with iNBest, which made it possible to integrate all of the company's points of sale and improve customer service — including customers who buy at branches outside their municipality, who can now be served as if they were in their own. Working with a world-class system also meant the group adjusted its own processes, organization, and internal controls, with both technological and organizational benefits.

Changing systems brought major challenges, fear, and uncertainty: how to migrate existing information, how to integrate it, how well the process would go. That is where iNBest's close support made the difference — not only on the technology side, but on the human side as well.

In addition, Grupo Ferretero Fhegarsa is taking its first steps in artificial intelligence with a clear purpose: developing a virtual sales agent that provides 24/7 customer service, not only taking orders but also offering technical advice, fed with accurate, complete information — even provided directly by its suppliers.

Results

• Full integration of the eight points of sale, with information and inventory connected in real time
• Better customer service regardless of the branch, leveling the experience across municipalities
• Greater organizational efficiency, thanks to better-defined processes and internal controls
• An AI-ready technology foundation, already supporting the development of its first virtual sales agent