Operationally restructuring a retail holding in fast growth. From WhatsApp with 180 people in one channel to Discord per-branch, from verbal „that's how we do it here" to written SOPs. 130 branches, 300 employees, six layers built one on top of the other.
VAVO Group is a Polish capital group with own brands in retail. I joined VAVO in 2024 as a regional manager when the group had 37 stores. Today there are 130 of them, with around 300 employees, across several operational regions. Three promotions in twelve months — regional manager → manager → Operations Director. Today I am responsible for operations across the whole group.
Writing this case study, I'm looking at the present — a system that works. But it started with chaos that doesn't differ from what I've seen in other 100+ person companies in Poland. That's why this case is meaningful as proof: not as a consultant from outside, but as the person who lived through it and answers to the board for the result.
When I first walked into VAVO, I saw what I'd already seen in other 100+ person companies — operational chaos that the company had normalised, because nobody had ever had time to clean it up:
System stock ≠ shelf stock. Our Excel keeps drifting. Every department has its own version of the truth. — familiar sentences from the first conversations
Operationally cleaning up a 100+ person company is not about „deploying an ERP". It's about building layers, one on top of another, in a fixed order. Skip a layer = the system doesn't work, even if all the files are in place.
I started with what was cheapest and fastest. The first written SOPs: cash, warehouse, returns, complaints, onboarding. Leave — the process for requesting, approving, team calendar. Not perfect — sufficient. Every procedure had an author, a date, a version. The reason: without procedures there's nothing to automate.
Migration from WhatsApp (180 people in one channel) to Discord with channels per-branch, per-region, per-role. Everyone has their channel. Everyone sees only what concerns them. HQ posts once and it reaches the right branch. The rest — history, tags, search. The relief was visible in the first week.
M365 SharePoint as the place where everything lives: procedures, reports, templates, training. Every employee knows where to look. Every manager knows where to publish. End of sending attachments by email — link, version, change history. The first attempt to bring the company into a documented rhythm.
For the first time in VAVO's history, the board had a dashboard that doesn't lie and doesn't require manual compilation. KPIs per region, sales per branch, margin, operational costs — all in one place, refreshed automatically. Decisions based on numbers, not on who called louder.
Vape Retail System — an in-house platform to run the retail network. Shift schedules, attendance, sales per-branch, alerts. Built around VAVO's specific processes, not abstract needs. The decision to build in-house instead of buying SaaS was deliberate — too many specific cases for SaaS to cover without compromise.
After the daily operations layer was deployed, VRS expanded into the analytical layer: regional comparisons, KPIs per-branch, deviation alerting. Data flowed in by itself — nobody had to gather it once a week. Power BI stays for the board, VRS — for daily operations.
WMS deployed at the central warehouse. Move to a new location — larger floor space, better logistics, lower operating cost. Throughput increased (more parcels/day with the same team). Warehouse procedures written, measured, optimised. An operation that used to be a bottleneck became predictable.
The stack is not the goal — it's a tool. Each layer answers a specific need: SharePoint = documents, VRS = daily operations, Discord = team communication. Swapping one tool without rebuilding the process = swapping a piece of furniture in a kitchen where cooking still has no rhythm.
Order is everything. Procedures → communication → source of truth → analytics → system → warehouse. Skip a layer and the system doesn't work. — what I'd leave unchanged
Main lesson: AI won't solve operational chaos. Procedures, data, communication rhythm — that's what creates the structure on which AI then makes sense. Most companies of 50-300 people buy AI before they have SOPs. The result: AI in chaos = automation of chaos. Skeleton first, muscles after.
Operations audit · 7 days — process map, list of 5-10 losses, 3 quick wins, 30-60-90 day plan, direction recommendation (AI vs ERP vs processes). No commitment to further engagement. Pricing set after a short conversation, once I see the scale of the company.