SiriusXM Canada Case Study | Surge ERP Consulting

WHEN TWO BECOME ONE:
THE MAKING OF SIRIUSXM CANADA

MERGING CULTURES AND SYSTEMS

A NEW BROADCAST

Satellite Radio competitors Sirius Canada and XM Canada joined forces to form SiriusXM Canada. With the merger there were many synergies to be realized. Among them the merger of systems was key to resolving duplication of efforts: two definitions of a subscriber, two sets of processes to support them, two call centers … and the maintenance of two ERP systems.

Both companies used Oracle’s BRM (Billing and Revenue Management) System. But they were on different versions, with different levels of customization to support different processes.

The goal was simple: to get to a single view of a subscriber under a unified system with unified processes as quickly as possible.

SETTING THE RIGHT FREQUENCY

Surge ERP was retained to manage the “Unification Project”. We drew from our past experience and focused the organization on these critical success factors:

Setting the Right Tone at the Top

Clear sponsorship at the executive level
Representation of all business units at the Steering Committee.

Understanding What We Needed to Achieve:

Define Clear Objectives (SMART ones!)
Define unified business processes upfront
Outline needs from a business perspective instead of a systems perspective

Agreeing and Managing to the Plan:

Establish a clear roadmap with deliverables and milestones
Adhere to a formal Change Control Process.

Being Transparent with Issues:

Focus on problem solving and being proactive
Actively manage issues and risks in a timely manner

Tunes Along the Way

The project kicked-off with both CEO Mark Redmond, and CFO Michael Washinushi at the helm, re-enforcing the need for the whole organization’s involvement and support. They also worked with Surge ERP to lead the team through the project achieve success:

We spent extra time upfront to fully understand the “must have” business requirements and to design business processes that could equally support Sirius and XM subscribers with minimal customizations to the system. The upfront investment in time paid dividends in efficiency and quality during the “Build” and “Testing” phases of the project.

We stayed true to being transparent with risks and issues, especially when dealing with the biggest project risk – data migration. In spite of the Project Team’s stellar planning and testing of data migration, a third party expert was brought-in for a final risk assessment before go-live – which we passed with flying colors.

We leveraged the leadership of the Steering Committee along with strong Project Management from Surge ERP to manage resourcing and permit the project to proceed at pace without impacting day-to-day operations.

Given the right tone at the top and our clear understanding of what we needed to achieve, we were able to keep the static noise out and focus on the smooth streaming of project deliverables.

Finding Their Sound

SiriusXM Canada is now the unified business it set out to be. It has a single view of their subscriber base, one set of processes to support them, all housed in a single system. With the “nuts and bolts” in place, the company has been able to focus on what they do best – deliver high quality audio entertainment to its subscribers. As this article is being written, SiriusXM reported “record total subscribers and revenue for Fiscal 2015 year-end and fourth quarter”. Not too long after the merger, SiriusXM has found its sound.

“This was one of the largest projects undertaken by the company. Thank you for your help in creating a realistic roadmap with mile markers along the way for this critical project. Your expertise was instrumental in getting us to the finish line.“

— Michael Washinushi, SiriusXM Canada CFO during Unification Project

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