X

J. Goodin is a manufacturer and distributor of fashion jewelry that needed an ERP system to manage sales orders, purchase orders, inventory, and accounting. The system had to be efficient in order to process a large daily volume of orders and customizable in order to support both current and future business processes. The new software needed to support several sales models including a make-toorder process as well as a make-to-stock process for distribution through several sales channels such as Amazon.com, jewelry wholesalers, and retail outlets. The company had previously used ERP software and a NetSuite solution, but found them lacking in speed, reliability, and support.

The Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce, one of the largest chambers of commerce in the U.S., was using Sage for its accounting for over two decades. However, the manual upgrades for three entities took several days and often provided little in the way of new features. The Chamber ran Sage on an old server that mysteriously went down at odd times, rendering the accounting team idle for several days every few months. This became an issue when the server started going down every few months for a few days for no reason. Then it would be spotty and you never knew when it might go back down again; it was random.

The Macabe Associates, a leading reseller and developer of Sage Software, was facing the challenge of outdated business systems that were not tightly integrated. They had been using Sage applications for 28 years and the systems were retiring. Their CRM was not integrated with ERP, timekeeping and expense entry was a separate application, and technical support incidents required duplicate entry for billing. They wanted a single next-generation application that could run on any device, from anywhere, one that could meet customer service, sales, project management and finance requirements. They were not satisfied with the hybrid process of some client-server components and some web-based services offered by the new Sage applications.

Nebraska Vet Services (NVS) was founded in 1985 with one veterinarian, John Boucher, and his wife who worked as a receptionist in the office. NVS now has 8 veterinarians, 4 offices, and 20 employees. NVS provides small animal and large animal care and treatment, animal health product sales, and is involved in many veterinary and veterinary technician student externships. NVS also has a sister company, NVC Vet Supply, with sites in South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Iowa. With multiple offices, an ever expanding product line and growing inventory, and a varied client base with patients, product resellers and other veterinary clinics, NVS needed a better way to manage it all. Tana Jacobson, Office Manager at NVS recalls, “Our system simply wasn’t working for us anymore. We had outgrown it and we needed something that would work to help us manage the different branches and multi-location inventory issues.” NVS had been using veterinary-specific software for accounts receivable and inventory, and QuickBooks for the accounts payable and accounting side of the business. They needed a higher level of efficiency and accuracy from a single, integrated solution. It would need to manage the warehouse and inventory, provide inventory valuation accuracy, ease inventory tracking, and be robust enough to handle a large amount of data with room for expansion.

New England Tile, a tile and stone importer and seller, was facing issues with their server-based Everest ERP software which they had been using for 14 years. The server was dying and the company was constantly trying to patch it up. When they contacted Everest to upgrade, they found the prices had skyrocketed and were not satisfied with the level of support that would be provided. They started looking into other options, including NetSuite, but found NetSuite's user interface to be primitive.

Northline Express operates three e-commerce sites offering over 17,000 SKUs to their customers. With online competition growing, CEO Robert Cochran realized the need for a new solution to improve the ease of setting up new products and automating functions. The old system was not designed well for getting data in and out, and integrating third-party apps was almost impossible. The company spent three years searching for the right product to address its needs. The biggest requirement was that the new system had to integrate with the Magento e-commerce website and handle configurable items.

Open Mobile, a mobile telecommunications service provider in Puerto Rico, was using an outdated UK-based system inherited from its predecessor company. The system was inconvenient, lacked essential features, and did not offer connectivity with Microsoft Office. The company had no control over the system and had to rely on the vendor for even minor issues. They were looking for a system that would improve their accounting processes, enhance financial reporting and analysis, and increase data integrity.

P’kolino, a design company which focuses on smart play products for children, needed a solution to manage its entire product value chain—from tracking customer leads, to importing products, to managing customer orders. But QuickBooks, the accounting software it had been relying on for several years, could not match P’kolino’s rate of expansion. As business grew, the inconveniences piled up. Since QuickBooks was installed on every individual machine, it meant that every time there was a software update, each machine needed to be updated separately. As the business grew, P’kolino’s inventory expanded to fill three warehouses. “QuickBooks didn’t have the capacity and capability for tracking inventory across multiple locations,” says P’kolino Operations Manager Francisco Pardo. Also, because QuickBooks could not easily be integrated with other third-party software applications, P’kolino staff had to laboriously re-enter sales orders and other information, manually copying information from one platform to another.

As they formulated their business plan, the founders of PayWith were faced with a big challenge: how could they handle the large number of transactions and customers they envisioned without making a huge investment in an enterprise-grade ERP? While they initially used Sage 50 to handle startup basics like payroll and expense tracking, they knew they needed to find a cloud-based solution to implement their mobile loyalty marketing and data analytics products. They needed a system that could not only handle their first customer, but their 100th and 1,000th and the tens of thousands of mobile transactions they imagined as PayWith scaled. PayWith needed an agile system that wasn’t too expensive out of the gate, and one that could change with time as their business model became refined.

Pool Source LLC, an independent distributor of pool supplies located in Nashville, Tennessee, needed an ERP system to manage inventory, track prices, manage sales and returns, track customer accounts and receivables, and deliver profitability reports. They wanted to get up and running quickly without the need to purchase hardware or hire information technology staff to manage ongoing upgrades and maintenance requirements. Their existing point of sale solution was simple and easy to use, but it did not have the ability to manage complex pricing or link purchase orders directly to customer sales orders. To meet these needs and gain more control over inventory, Pool Source began investigating ERP solutions that could serve a broader set of needs.

PostcardMania, a direct mail company, was facing challenges with their existing system of QuickBooks and custom software to manage their financial and customer information. The growing complexity of their operations led to the realization that they needed an ERP system. The existing system was not holistic and lacked accounting features. The company also realized they needed to increase their efficiency, but they only had so many expenses they could cut before they wouldn’t be able to do their jobs. They were very data-oriented, in terms of how they track progress in every division of their organization. It took a lot of money and effort to get that data. So for them, upgrading to an ERP was a matter of becoming more efficient, growing the EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) and profitability.

PracticeMax, a medical billing and practice management provider, was facing issues with its data management and financial reporting due to its rapid expansion through acquisitions. The company was relying on QuickBooks, which was unable to keep up with the growing demands of the business. The company decided to look into an ERP system and initially chose a system developed for oil companies. However, this system proved to be unsuitable due to its outdated platform and high costs for customization.

The Quantum Group, a producer of high-quality, custom-manufactured fabrics, had a complex corporate structure consisting of seven companies in three different physical locations. Managing this corporate structure without excessive software expenses was critical for Quantum’s business. They needed a solution that could manage general ledger, receivables, purchase orders, and payables functionality performed by several different individuals. The solution had to be accessible from any location without the expense and challenge of installing and maintaining client software. Prior to implementing Acumatica, Quantum used NetSuite to manage their financials. However, NetSuite didn't provide Quantum with the control they needed over their costs, support, or user licensing.

S&L Hospitality had been relying on outdated software, Yardi Property Management and Yardi Construction Management, which was not progressing with the company's needs. In 2011, S&L started to research their options and went with M3 Hotel Accounting for one of their hotels. However, it was not as customizable as they had hoped and had flaws with reports. In August of 2011, a fire destroyed the S&L Hospitality headquarters, forcing the company to scramble to put together an entirely new system.

S&S Activewear, a wholesale distributor of activewear apparel and accessories, was using a Telnet green-screen system to organize its business information. As the company's needs became more sophisticated and better technology became available, it decided to look for a more advanced system in a .NET environment. The company hired a consultant to evaluate various ERP options in the market, some of which cost several million dollars. However, none of the options, including big-name players like Microsoft Dynamics and BlueCherry, were found to be suitable. The company had developed its own inventory management system to manage the array of colors and sizes for every single style of clothing, and many other ERP systems were not equipped to do this.

Seaport Capital, a private investment firm, was using an outdated accounting system that was severely affected by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The hurricane caused flooding in the basement of Seaport Capital’s lower Manhattan building, shutting off electricity to the 29-story building and the company’s on-premises servers. This resulted in the loss of access to their data for a week and had to operate by cell phone for two weeks. The aftermath of the storm revealed that much of the data in their main company was either corrupted, lost, or inaccessible, as was some of the data for some of their funds. The company was doing a substantial amount of their accounting in Excel and manually managing and allocating money among as many as 40 entities.

Seville Farms, a horticulture wholesaler, was using a combination of QuickBooks and specialized software designed for the plant-growing industry. However, the financial software was extremely limited and difficult to customize. The system would also shut down unexpectedly, causing some accounts to get out-of-balance. After migrating to a new sales inventory software, they needed a financial management product that could integrate with the new software. One of the critical requirements was the ability to handle 52 periods, as the industry is driven by the week.

Target Enterprises had been using Microsoft Dynamics SL for all of its accounting since 1995. Over the years, the vendor identification system in Microsoft Dynamics SL became disorganized and hard to use. The original set-up became cluttered as more elements were added, making it difficult to find the vendor number needed to write a check. The system was not interconnected, making the process of finding AP info for a specific company time-consuming and cumbersome. The company needed a more streamlined and interconnected financial data management system.

Youngevity, a health and nutritional products distributor, was facing challenges in automating its accounting and distribution processes. With over 400 products, thousands of orders per day, and over 100,000 customers, the company needed a robust system to manage its operations. The company had six warehouses located around the world and required a system to deliver a centralized view of several product lines. Prior to Acumatica, Youngevity was using QuickBooks for financial management and an Access database for inventory. However, these systems were not providing a consolidation solution, out-of-the-box inventory management, multiple currencies, nor APIs to connect to Youngevity’s Genealogy System that manages client orders and relationships.

Ergoresearch Ltd., a leading manufacturer of intelligent, custom-fit foot orthotics and other non-invasive, non-toxic biomechanical devices and software, was grappling with multiple accounting systems, databases, and operating systems due to its rapid growth. The company's existing on-premise ERP system and later an open-source web-based ERP were not sophisticated enough to handle the company's growth. They lacked the level of ongoing development and support needed for continued growth. Ergoresearch needed a single, unique ERP solution that was flexible enough to allow their technology developers to link the software with the custom software they already had. In addition, the ERP needed to be compliant with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

AME Corporation is a mid-sized company that specializes in custom rubber and plastic components and sealing solutions. The company has operations in New Jersey, US, and Shanghai, China. Like many companies with a global presence, it wanted to move all its business processes to the cloud, so that any of its 20 staff from around the world could easily access information and collaborate. AME had already implemented Acumatica’s Distribution and Financial Management suites on version 2.2 in 2011. However, the company stored a large amount of its business documents on Box, an online content sharing platform. AME staff had to access Box and Acumatica separately, which was not efficient.

Toffeln, a UK-based company that designs, produces, and distributes ergonomic footwear for hygienic environments, was facing challenges with its data management systems as it expanded. The company was using Sage Accounting, Sage ACT for CRM, and Orderwise for managing stock and order processing. However, the lack of connection between these systems was causing problems, particularly when sales personnel could not easily access customer records. As Toffeln's sales grew by about 12 to 13 percent each year, the company realized that it had outgrown its existing systems and needed a more integrated solution.

EOS Group, a company that sells and services medical equipment solutions to hospitals and doctor’s offices, was outgrowing their aging ERP system of nearly 17 years. As EOS’ business had grown, so had the number of creative exceptions they made for customers. These were more than their accounting solution, SBT Accounting, could handle. Forced to use Excel for some processes, the company’s workflow was becoming cumbersome and inefficient. EOS also needed their ERP system to be flexible enough to adapt to the complex tax issues unique to Ecuador.

Lockwood Products Inc., the inventor of the modular coolant hose known as Loc-Line, was facing challenges in managing its growing business with two disconnected financial systems. The company was using QuickBooks Enterprise for financials and an add-on product called Activate for inventory and order entry. The process of jumping back and forth between the two systems was becoming increasingly frustrating. Additionally, accessing data and creating reports was a complex task as it involved exporting data to spreadsheets, writing inquiries in the SQL database management console that was part of Activate, and creating reports using Crystal Reports.

ProPharma Distribution, a pharmaceutical distributor, was facing challenges with their existing system, Microsoft Dynamics GP and CRM. The system was complex and the different elements did not communicate with each other, leading to high labor costs for manual change management. They also faced issues with eConnect, which was added to pass orders from Dynamics CRM to GP to the warehouse. The company also had to manually track every medication for FDA Pedigree compliance, a complex and error-prone process. The legacy system eventually crashed due to a power surge, leading to data corruption and a complete shutdown of the company's operations.

OneMed Healthcare, a leading medical supply and equipment provider in Indonesia, was facing challenges with its homegrown ERP system. The system was initially designed to support a small company, but as OneMed grew from five to 15 offices, the program began to break down. The software couldn’t handle concurrent use by more than 150 users, security wasn’t good, and the program was limited. The program often crashed, and the company had to restart the server every two hours. On a bad day, the system was down for two to three hours. On a good day, it might be down for one to two. The home-grown ERP also didn’t have the functionality One Med needed. For example, to get a financial snapshot or reports, the company had to pay the developer, which was costly. It also took a few days to get the reports. The system didn’t have dashboards and was complicated and convoluted. In addition, while it offered basic accounting functions, it didn’t have a sales order process, just invoicing. The software also lacked the ability to assign access levels, so everyone could see sensitive financial information.

Firewire Surfboards, an eco-friendly surfboard designer and producer, was using a low-cost ERP called Greentree Business Software for basic transaction processing and as a company database. However, as the company grew, it became apparent that they needed a more robust system. The finance team lacked visibility into the firm’s European distribution entity and the finances of the company’s weekly production operations. The sales team also could not readily access data on specific retailers to learn which surfboards were selling and which weren’t. The company’s Australian distribution arm was growing extremely frustrated as they experienced multiple computer crashes when logging in since the product was hosted on-premises in the U.S. office.

OFSi, a field service company for the oil and gas industry, acquired the pipe services assets of Scotland’s ITS Tubular Services Holdings Limited, inheriting an aging accounting system, Sage MAS 90. The system did not provide basic accounting functions and the inventory system was not integrated with the accounting system. There was no way to track sales orders because most customers were invoiced after a sale was complete. Inventory levels were tracked based on what appeared to be in the yard. OFSi initiated a project in 2014 to upgrade the accounting system from MAS 90 to Sage 100. However, as OFSi grew, acquiring several companies, incorporating the new business units into Sage 100 was difficult due to problems with the software. OFSi couldn’t effectively do business without a primary system of accounting, and the need for a modern, integrated ERP became obvious.

Tayse Rugs, a rapidly growing company that supplies machine-made rugs to big box merchants and e-commerce companies, was facing operational challenges due to its increasing order volume. The company was using QuickBooks’ Enterprise software, which was not scalable enough to handle the growth from 100 orders a day to 1,000’s per day. The company was also looking to improve its e-commerce operations and streamline Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) with its many customers, each having its own unique EDI requirements. As the company expanded into new product areas and added additional customers, managing these unique requirements was becoming increasingly complex.

Curran Young Construction, a General Contractor firm, was looking to build a modern, innovative company that could quickly scale and support operations without needing constant upgrades or huge investments in technology infrastructure. They wanted to provide excellent customer service and needed modern and mobile tools that could give them a competitive edge. They also wanted a financial package that could integrate well with Procore Construction Management Software and other specialized applications. The software needed to have customized reporting, to distribute information to different levels of the organization and it needed to be intuitive, as they were not accountants.