Innovative membership organisation serving the cutting edge of bio-manufacturing calls in Eureka Solutions to establish finance platform for growth

Outwith the life sciences sector, the name BioPhorum may not ring a bell, but to its members it has become an invaluable hotbed of innovation and best practice in biotechnology. The current impressive membership statistics comprise 160 manufacturers deploying over 7500 subject matter experts to contribute to ten ‘phorums’, where they openly share and discuss the emerging trends and challenges facing the industry.

Reaching a point in its growth where the membership, business model and growth plans driving BioPhorum were such that the capacity of Xero – the accounting software the finance team were running – was proving too limited for requirements, Tim Wood, BioPhorum’s Chief Financial Officer, sought change.

“Xero and systems like it are just not designed for companies like BioPhorum who have a corporate group structure, or who have a group structure on the horizon. We were also having to do an increasing amount of our accounting in Excel, particularly around the revenue recognition piece, and we needed to step up our software to something that could handle this within the system.”, explains Tim.

Tim has worked with leading UK software partner Eureka Solutions on finance systems reviews and implementations in two of his previous roles, and got in touch with them again to achieve a system step-change at BioPhorum.

Eureka Solutions specialises in deploying and supporting Oracle NetSuite and Sage, both being ‘best-of-breed’ software options, but both are suited to different types of businesses. Eureka Solutions had no hesitation in recommending true-cloud system NetSuite to BioPhorum; NetSuite’s ‘bread and butter’ is multi-subsidiary, growing organisations that need a scaleable solution that will grow with them.

“BioPhorum is a private equity backed business, the style of which NetSuite is at a good price point for.”, comments Tim. “It’s not too expensive, you can approach things in a staged fashion and keep costs down. Private equity backed businesses can be expanding and acquiring really regularly, and when you are using NetSuite you can just bolt the new businesses on – dealing easily with new companies, different currencies, different charts of accounts – it’s all very versatile.”

Aside from that flexibility, NetSuite’s core functionality is an ideal fit for Biophorum’s processes, as Tim added,

“Even just from an invoicing point of view, our processes and business model match NetSuite’s capabilities, the contracts module and the revenue recognition module suit us perfectly.”

That customers like Tim repeatedly turn to Eureka Solutions for support when they move to a new role, or have new requirements, is testament to the principles of technical expertise and customer service that the Eureka Solutions team adhere to in everything they do.

Tim’s first project with Eureka Solutions was in 2015, and he has witnessed the further growth of Eureka Solutions as a professional services organisation in that time, commenting on the importance placed on project management and documentation, but also that the core team involved in his first implementation have been there for the second and third, appreciating the expertise they bring.

“The reason I come back to Eureka Solutions is, ultimately, that they know what they are doing. They are a professional organisation that really know NetSuite. If we have to get into the whys, wherefores and techy stuff they have the knowledge there, and the support customers receive is very good.”

BioPhorum’s project plan is phased – core financials followed by purchase order approvals, sales order and sales credit approval, expenses, and other modules down the line, as well as the potential integration of NetSuite with other key systems that the business uses, calling on Eureka Solutions’ integration expertise.

David Lindores, CEO at Eureka Solutions, and his team are relishing the new project with Biophorum, commenting,

“This year marks our tenth anniversary as a NetSuite partner and having Tim return to us with another new project is a great marker for our success and proof that we are getting things right. We look forward to implementing NetSuite in a staged approach for BioPhorum that has been designed to suit their needs and priorities, and to developing a successful and supportive long-term relationship with the business.”