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TH Milk, a leading producer of fresh milk and dairy products in Vietnam, was facing challenges with its outdated distribution and sales process. The company's sales force would gather at the distributors’ offices each morning to get their sales plans and then spread out to the retail outlets, physical forms in hand, to take orders and disseminate information. At the end of the day, the sales teams returned with orders that had to be entered manually at each distributor’s office. TH Milk would then consolidate the data from the 180 offices. This process was tedious and resulted in a lack of market visibility and salesforce compliance.

KFC Singapore, a leading restaurant chain in the country, was looking for an infrastructure that would serve as its accounting solution and provide workflow processes that could be used by all of its HQ employees from any device, at any time, from anywhere. The company was using JD Edwards Financial Management Module, but upgrading it to meet its expanded needs would have been too costly. A review of other solutions did not meet the expectations and budget of KFC Singapore.

Hi Spec Doorsets, a UK-based manufacturer of high-quality doorsets for the construction industry, was previously using a client/server-based system called EFACS. This traditional ERP package did not meet the company's expectations, particularly for the sales staff who had to wait until they returned to the office to update their leads, contacts, opportunities, or sales orders. This resulted in wasted time and frustration. The company needed a solution that would allow their sales staff to update information in real-time, regardless of their location.

Fixnetix, a London-based managed service provider for the global financial community, was initially using QuickBooks for its U.S. and UK operations. However, the firm quickly outgrew the software due to its limited functionality and slow processing speeds. The software was unable to handle the volume of data, causing frequent data errors and loss of customer accounts. It took over 30 minutes to run a financial report, and customer accounts would be lost at least once a month, causing major operational issues. The firm needed a more robust and reliable accounting system that could handle multiple currencies and subaccounts.

Caystone Solutions Ltd., a small but ambitious company, aimed to provide a variety of services to entrepreneurs and individuals globally. To achieve this, Caystone needed to operate with extraordinary efficiency and be able to easily manage growth. The company required an accounting system that could support its own business requirements as well as its clients’. The system needed to be customizable, support multiple currencies, and unlimited users. It also needed to provide both Caystone and its clients anytime, anywhere access from any web browser. Caystone required a system that wouldn’t necessitate a big—and costly—hardware infrastructure. And Bahamas-based Caystone needed the comfort of knowing its client data was stored locally.

Parallels, a rapidly growing software company with offices and subsidiaries in multiple countries, faced a complex set of business requirements for managing continued profitability. The company's rapid growth led to an environment with several different accounting systems, including Dynamics SL, Sage, QuickBooks, 1C, and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. Each subsidiary utilized a separate chart of accounts and a unique reporting process. Managing a growing multi-national business such as Parallels required a centralized set of books and reports which could be rapidly created and distributed to key decision makers scattered across several geographical locations. At the end of each reporting period, each subsidiary closed its books, created Excel spreadsheets, and emailed the results to a central accounting group. The central accounting team manually compiled the spreadsheets and created a set of consolidated financials. The process of manually converting several sets of books with different charts of accounts was both time consuming and error prone.

Traveldoo Technologies, a corporate travel and expense management company, was acquired in 2011 by Expedia Inc. The company was based in suburban Paris and had about 25 employees. It relied on an outside accounting firm and a few Excel spreadsheets to handle accounting. This meant that Traveldoo didn’t have access to real-time financial data and was not able to manipulate or analyze data because only top-level data was delivered in reports. In late 2012, Rachid Ouaddour joined Traveldoo to head up the financial team at the company, which had rapidly grown into a mid-sized company. His first task was to find a flexible accounting system so he could bring accounting in-house. Mr. Ouaddour also wanted the ability to manipulate and analyze Traveldoo’s financial information and needed a system that could handle its travel suppliers, travel products and resellers of the company’s travel and services.

Triode Group Limited, a New Zealand-based company manufacturing parts for the electronics industry, was struggling with managing complex information as its business grew. The firm was using multiple spreadsheets, folders, files and even word-of-mouth to share information. To extract data on one job, they had to open something like five documents. None of the different systems they were using were talking to each other. This led to employees wasting time looking for parts that were not properly tagged, and would mistakenly buy parts the firm already had on its shelves. The problem just got bigger and bigger and it was a real nuisance. They realized they needed a proper system.

JAMIS Software, a company that provides ERP and labor tracking software solutions for federal government contractors, was facing limitations due to its aging system built on COBOL and the COBOL-based MCBA accounting system. The company realized that the dated technology was limiting the type and size of customer that would accept their solution. They started to rewrite their code using C# and Visual Studio, but they still needed a replacement for the accounting, job costing and billing components. They believed that by moving to a cloud-based solution built on newer technologies, they could target larger corporations and double the size of the company. However, they needed a contemporary technology overall to help them move to the cloud.

HAI Group's software division, Housing Systems Solutions, Inc. (HSS), started hearing from some of the 1,000 HAI Group Members about software challenges they struggled with. The challenges rose to a level where HSS felt it was worth doing the research to determine if there was a market for a comprehensive software solution for their Members. After market research to determine the gap between what housing agencies were working with and what their ideal solution would be, HSS concluded that they could indeed develop a solution that would benefit their customers.

JAAS Systems, a global supplier of manufacturing software, was looking to transition their Advanced Manufacturing Software (JAMS) from a client-server architecture to a web-based solution. The company believed that a web-based solution would be easier to deploy, reduce their clients' costs, and provide more flexible integration with modern cloud-based accounting systems. However, JAAS was concerned about the challenges of moving years of manufacturing expertise to a web-based environment and building complex accounting and inventory functions in a cloud environment.

M5 Software, a software development company, was facing limitations with Dynamics SL (Solomon) and other development platforms. The company was looking for a platform that could offer more advanced features and capabilities. The existing platforms were not evolving and were not meeting the company's needs. The company was introduced to Acumatica, a platform that was described as being more advanced than Solomon. After attending an Acumatica training for developers, the team at M5 Software was impressed with the framework and tools offered by Acumatica.

Global Beauty Care, a wholesale beauty product distributor, was facing challenges with its legacy financial system. The system was unable to accept digital orders or invoices, leading to manual data entry for every transaction. It also lacked connectivity to other applications and did not provide the agility the company needed to handle orders from large retailers. The lack of visibility into financials led to a lot of time spent on manual calculations, such as determining how much was owed to an overseas vendor, which often resulted in errors. The biggest challenge was processing orders from its largest customer, whose 40+ distribution centers placed orders every Thursday. The orders needed to be routed within a couple of hours, causing the entire company to halt other operations and focus on order entry.

Fidelux Lighting, an LED lighting manufacturer for commercial customers, changed its business model to sell through distributors and implemented a commission structure. This change required a better way to track and pay commissions, manage inventory, and new financial software to manage operations. The company was using QuickBooks, which couldn't handle the complex inventory and assembly and kitting requirements, or commission processing it needed. QuickBooks was not customizable, nor did it connect to other software, which meant Fidelux had to import and export data in and out of QuickBooks just to create standard financial reports and handle commissions.

R.A.S. Logistics Inc. was founded in 1998 as an appliance installation firm in Milwaukee, Wis. The company’s business changed dramatically just three years later when GE won the supply chain contract to deliver appliances for Home Depot. GE tapped R.A.S. to handle delivery and installation of its washers, dryers and refrigerators to Home Depot’s customer’s homes. As Home Depot grew, R.A.S. grew. Other large customers also turned to R.A.S. for deliveries, including Wayfair, Restoration Hardware and Mattress Firm, among others. Soon R.A.S. was delivering furniture, spas, mattresses and exercise equipment. The company grew from its single location to 21 locations, all east of the Mississippi. Today, R.A.S. is headquartered in Elkhart, Indiana. Each of the locations was a separate legal entity and as such an operational silo. Unfortunately, its financial system, QuickBooks, couldn’t handle the needs of what had become a more than $40 million in sales company. R.A.S. used a custom SQL database program to invoice its customers. It wasn’t connected to QuickBooks; information had to be manually input into QuickBooks. R.A.S. uses 200 to 300 independent contractors to perform the deliveries. R.A.S. used a third party to handle independent contractor payments, which added another manual layer of complexity. Further complicating payments to independent contractors was a program with Enterprise Truck Sales whereby R.A.S. would financially help the independent contractor secure its delivery truck, and then deduct the rental payments for the vehicle from the revenue of the deliveries. Ultimately remitting that payment from the independent contractor directly to Enterprise.

Hartzell Construction, a South Florida-based construction firm, was facing challenges with its legacy software, ProContractor. The software was difficult to use and failed to provide the insights, data, and back-office foundation the company needed. The company had to create manual workarounds for vendor and subcontractor approval processes, which were lengthy and prone to errors. The paper trail per project was often hard to reconstruct and reconcile, and as the company grew, so did the paper - mountainous piles and files eventually filled an entire room. The company was also frustrated with ProContractor's per-seat licenses, which were expensive and limited the number of users who could access the system at the same time.

M3 Technology Group, a company that designs, builds, and installs turnkey audiovisual systems, was facing growth challenges due to its outdated Everest finance software. The software was slowing down sales and finance operations, making the creation of customer quotes a laborious process. The software was also slow when run over a VPN, which was problematic as the company had grown from one location to multiple branch offices. Additionally, the software couldn't handle project cost accounting for new lines of business, requiring a lot of manual entry. The company needed financial software that could display project-cost profitability in real time instead of waiting until project completion.

Kelly Products, Inc. is a holding company for 13 diverse agribusiness brands. The company was operating on a legacy ERP system, with each new division having its own instance of the ERP. These instances were not connected and were managed by different people among the various businesses. This led to inconsistencies and difficulties when someone was out, as others were often unfamiliar with the specific business system’s coding and transaction process. Tracking inter-company transfers was also a challenge, as many transfers between businesses were paper-based and physically mailed from one company to another. This held up monthly reporting and increased chances for manual-entry errors. With its ERP solution nearing the end of its life, Kelly Products began looking for a new software solution.

Power Storage Solutions, a company that provides engineering, fulfillment, installation, and maintenance of DC-power backup systems, was spun off from Interstate Batteries. The company had a 9-month window to continue operating on Interstate’s financial systems, leaving little time to choose and implement systems of their own. They had previously implemented Salesforce.com, Steelbrick CPQ, Concur, and Workday with the belief that implementing best of breed software would make the startup efficient and data rich. However, they faced tremendous problems connecting the software. They compared Oracle NetSuite, QuickBooks, Sage, and Microsoft Dynamics but found them either too expensive, cumbersome, or lacking the functionality they needed.

Premier 1 Supplies, a retail and e-commerce company specializing in agricultural and farming supplies, was using an aging Sage MAS500 system for its operations. However, when credit card companies notified the company that it had to upgrade its payment software to remain compliant, CEO Ben Rothe began looking for a new B2C ERP system. The company's software was so old that no one knew how to upgrade it, and the cost of keeping Sage alive was estimated to be almost like starting over. Rothe wanted a modern, easy-to-upgrade solution from a provider poised for growth. He researched cloud-based SaaS software firms and considered a custom-made solution. However, he found that many B2C solutions only offered pieces of what Premier 1 needed.

Ask Afrika, a market research company with over 23 years of experience, was facing a logistical challenge in keeping track of project costs, budgets, employee allocation, invoices, and profitability due to the large number of projects they manage at any given time. The accounting team was spending up to eight hours to create a snapshot of company profitability. The existing systems were no longer suitable for Ask Afrika’s requirements, prompting the search for an ERP system that could reduce the time it took to create reports, verify data, and maintain accurate project budgets.

State Bank of India (SBI) UK, a branch of the largest commercial bank in India, was facing challenges in managing their customer communications due to their rising customer base across ten branches in the UK. The bank needed a system that could streamline their services, consolidate customer information, and offer a rapid and effective service to increase customer retention rates. The system also needed to be flexible to fit the unique needs of SBI UK and offer a high degree of control. The bank wanted to implement the CRM solution in a short time frame and required ongoing support and guidance throughout the implementation process.

Universal Forest Products operates 130 facilities worldwide, with each location acting as an independent operation. Initially only one plant had a CMMS/EAM system, a few locations had paper work order systems, but most had no system in place at all. Maintenance staff at the sites varied as well, ranging from one or two individuals to a team of 15 to 20. The lack of a formalized preventive maintenance system was having an impact on productivity in the plants. Unexpected breakdowns were causing costly repairs and overtime expenses. There was no precise method available to management to identify maintenance expenditures. With more sophisticated equipment being introduced in the plants, it became vital that the equipment be maintained to the manufacturers’ recommendations in order to preserve warranties and realize the expected increases in productivity.

In 2009, three separate Janome subsidiaries — Janome America, Jamac and Elna — consolidated under the Janome America banner. This consolidation presented a challenge in terms of managing the operations of the three entities efficiently and cost-effectively. The company needed a solution that would streamline processes, minimize hardware needs and associated consolidation costs, and manage the new entity without increasing IT staff. Additionally, many of Janome America's trading partners required electronic data interchange (EDI) compliance as part of their customer contract, making it a crucial component of their business agreement.

PEZ Candy Inc., an international manufacturer of brick candies, was facing challenges with their outdated technology which was impacting productivity. They were unable to work on multiple tasks at once within their distribution center. The company was in need of an upgrade to their mobile devices whose operating system was no longer supported by the provider. The purchase of mobile computers was a substantial investment, so the company felt they needed to provide a solution that looked beyond new devices and offered operational improvements that would boost productivity as well.

PEZ Candy Inc., an international manufacturer of brick candies, was facing challenges with their outdated technology which was impacting productivity. They were unable to work on multiple tasks at once within their distribution center. The company was in need of an upgrade to their mobile devices whose operating system was no longer supported by the provider. The purchase of mobile computers was a substantial investment, so the company felt they needed to provide a solution that looked beyond new devices and offered operational improvements that would boost productivity as well.

American Tubing, Inc. (ATI) was facing a significant challenge with scheduling. Their customers were demanding shorter lead times and ATI’s existing ERP system was not capable of providing the necessary information to respond quickly. As a result, ATI was losing business. Additionally, ATI was transitioning their equipment from manual operation to automation, and they required a system that could schedule efficiently and had machine loading capability. It was crucial for ATI to view their shop floor load at any point in time, allowing them to identify potential problems and create corrective solutions on the production line before slowdowns occurred.

Dow-Key Microwave Corporation, the world’s largest manufacturer of electromechanical switches for radio frequency (RF) and microwave applications, was struggling with its existing ERP system. The company had implemented Made2Manage ERP in 1996 but failed to take advantage of the full functionality within the system, leading to a lack of confidence in the system and a proliferation of spreadsheets, databases, and sticky notes. Employees would come to meetings, each with his own spreadsheet, and spend the meeting time trying to decide whose information was correct. Reporting requirements and audits by government customers and the imperatives of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance placed additional burdens on a company awash in often conflicting data but starved for real, reliable information.

Aurora Organic Dairy, a supplier and packager of private-label store-brand organic dairy products, was facing significant operational inefficiencies. They were not effectively analyzing their downtime data, which led to missed opportunities for improvement and cost savings. One of the major issues was the resin loss team losing about $25,000 a month. The company lacked the necessary software and processes to properly track this loss, leading to a significant financial drain.

Plymouth Tube Co. identified the manual nature of its product pricing process as a serious weakness during one of its annual off-site managerial meetings. Each customer service representative (CSR) prepared quotes based on price sheets, knowledge of the markets, the customers and other often undocumented “tribal knowledge.” The process itself was cumbersome, which led to frustrations for both Plymouth and its customers, especially when a back-up CSR was covering for one who was out of the office.