{"id":2797,"date":"2025-09-30T17:57:43","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T21:57:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog2wrkdev.wpenginepowered.com\/dahlsens-growth-engine\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T08:25:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T12:25:00","slug":"dahlsens-growth-engine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/dahlsens-growth-engine\/","title":{"rendered":"90% Faster Product Catalog Syncs and Beyond: How Dahlsens Modernised a Legacy Stack into a Growth Engine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With a legacy spanning over 145 years and one of the largest trade store networks in Victoria, Dahlsens<\/a> has established itself as a trusted supplier to builders of all sizes across Australia. Delivering unsurpassed service excellence is core to their identity, but to continue delivering this, their CIO, John Bajan, recognised an urgent need to modernise their operations. He hired Fahd Khan, their Head of Enterprise Technology, entrusting him to devote himself to this quest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manual, Fragmented & Unscalable<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At the heart of Dahlsens\u2019 quoting process was a custom-built customer data exchange (CDX) tool, BuilderConnect, which pulled pricing data from their Frameworks ERP. Sales teams banked on this data to generate pricing books for BuildXact \u2013 a crucial tool for contractors (i.e. builders, plumbers, and electricians) to determine the final cost of projects. If pricing in BuilderConnect was outdated or inaccurate, it compromised their ability to generate fast, reliable quotes and directly impacted sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BuilderConnect, originally reliant on WSO2, increasingly struggled to handle pricing syncs reliably. Syncs sometimes failed, forcing teams to restart processes and causing inefficiencies. Stop-gap fixes using Logic Apps provided temporary relief, but the system was approaching its limits of scalability and sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dahlsens stores also had varied approaches for quote approvals \u2013 some via email, others via Microsoft Teams. While this supported local flexibility, it limited overall visibility and consistency across the network. With competitive pressure mounting, Dahlsens needed a new approach that preserved local strengths while standardising processes for scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Brittle to Brilliant Pricing Flows <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fahd took charge of the transformation. With no automation infrastructure in place and a legacy system reliant on Power Automate, he sought a more robust platform that could connect disparate systems seamlessly, support real-time data sync, standardise yet customise quote approval flows, and scale with business ambitions. The goal was to transform Dahlsens into a highly automated, data-driven organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After evaluating multiple platforms, Workato was selected as the best fit for Dahlsens\u2019 current and future needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fahd and team swiftly used Workato to mend the data sync between estimation and offtake BuildXact software and their ERP, the source of pricing information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This spurred them to also replace several fragile Power platform flows that touched other processes, such as using Workato to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n