Checkers Drive-In Restaurants

Founded nearly 40 years ago as two separate companies, Checkers and Rally’s both specialized in American classics, including hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries and milkshakes. Merged in 1999, the restaurants now operate at approximately 900 locations in 28 states and the District of Columbia.

Challenged by a small internal IT team and high turnover rate that is built into the nature of the quick-service restaurant business, Checkers Drive-In Restaurants needed strong support during its move to SAP S/4HANA.

More so, though, the double drive-thru restaurant chain needed help after its move.
As new apps became integrated and new processes became standardized, Checkers needed ongoing support to truly maximize its SAP investment—but the company lacked the internal resources needed to manage each aspect of its enterprise application.

Checkers worked with Dickinson + Associates, a Navisite company, on its SAP S/4HANA implementation project in 2017 and 2018, so when the time came to choose a partner in application management, the choice was easy.

“We feel safe and secure with Dickinson + Associates,” said Michael Burch, IT application manager at Checkers. “Their expertise and enthusiasm makes the challenges we face easier to overcome—and they add value and insight every step of the way.”

The story of Checkers is not a unique one. When it comes to managing core applications, many mid-market companies have the same needs as large enterprises—and their continued success requires the same level of support. However, they often don’t have the time, money or resources to make it happen. That’s why many businesses leverage application managed services to reach their short- and long-term goals.

Amidst its SAP S/4HANA go-live and subsequent changes, Dickinson + Associates provided Checkers with an experienced team and wide variety of resources to help optimize the technological advancements—and put out any fires along the way.

“We really didn’t know what we would need until we needed it,” said Jon Tryzbiak, senior director of enterprise applications at Checkers. “But every time something came up, Dickinson + Associates quickly brought senior resources to the table and ensured our problems were solved.”

Since the outset of the partnership, visibility across Checkers has greatly improved, according to Tryzbiak. Now, a single view of the entire enterprise enables leaders to efficiently and consistently make better business decisions every day.

“We’ve managed to cut down on manual processes, secure our financials and improve many facets of the business from an IT standpoint,” said Tryzbiak. “Dickinson + Associates really helped us elevate our game.”

Navisite’s application managed services are built around a continuous improvement model. At the outset, support is focused on stabilization post-go-live. But over time, it moves into optimization, enhancement and extension of the SAP S/4HANA solution and its capabilities.

“We were able—at any time—to attain the exact level of support we wanted and needed,” said Burch. “Dickinson + Associates brought an expert, proven team and, more than that, was always available with personalized support consultants. They were irreplaceable.”

Application managed services gives businesses ongoing support that continues long after the go-live. Whether its resolving incidents, delivering new functionality, rolling out modules or guiding businesses along their SAP roadmap, application managed services helps businesses discover and build the right solutions at every step of their journey.

Burch also pointed out that Checkers’ small in-house IT staff was greatly enhanced through the application managed services model.

“Instead of having four separate internal resources to support fixed assets, financial accounting, financial planning and analysis, and sales and distribution, we were able to turn to just one resource: our Dickinson + Associates super employee,” Burch said.