Alvarez & Marsal

DS Waters of America, a home and office water delivery service created through the
merger of two North American water groups, sought to take advantage of the combined
companies’ geographically complementary territories, gain competitive advantage and
realize savings through operational and back-office consolidation. The company engaged
Alvarez & Marsal’s Business Consulting to assess accounting, payroll, payables
and revenue management processes. Alvarez & Marsal recommended consolidating
cash applications, credit, collections and billing processes as well as creating a project
management office (PMO) to manage the consolidation of numerous field finance offices
into a centralized finance organization. Based on Alvarez & Marsal’s recommendations
and the value received in the assessment, DS Waters engaged the team to manage the
PMO, provide leadership in designing a shared finance center, and redesign and implement
improved revenue management processes. Today, DS Waters is on its way to realizing
savings from operational and finance consolidation.