What Successful Long-Term Relationships are Built on…

Eureka Solutions celebrates continued partnership with their first ever NetSuite customer – Smarter Grid Solutions

Smarter Grid Solutions is a leading enterprise energy management software company, specialising in distributed energy resource (DER) management systems (DERMS) and operating internationally from bases in the UK and US.

Eureka Solutions has been working with the finance team at Smarter Grid Solutions (SGS) for almost ten years. This long-term relationship is particularly special to Eureka Solutions, because SGS were the first company Eureka Solutions implemented Oracle NetSuite for, after becoming a NetSuite partner in 2012.

At the time of approaching Eureka Solutions ten years ago, SGS were growing rapidly and using disparate systems across their locations. The initial key-wins from their NetSuite system were that the month-end workload significantly reduced, processes were streamlined and revenue-recognition vastly improved.

Lee Fernie, Finance Manager at SGS, has been with the business since 2015 and has witnessed continued growth and success, explaining,

“The business has continued to grow over the years and reach out to new customers and markets. In 2021, we became part of the Mitsubishi Electric Group, an exciting time for the business as we look to grow and enhance our products and position in the market.”

The growth that SGS has experienced is perhaps best illustrated by the 129% growth in headcount in the last five years. Thanks to NetSuite and NetSuite OpenAir (NetSuite’s Professional Services Automation platform), this growth has not resulted in any requirement to review business management software, as NetSuite is completely flexible and scalable, nor has the finance team had to increase in size to service it. Lee puts this down to a combination of the quality of the initial system set-up by Eureka Solutions and the capabilities of the software itself,

“NetSuite plus OpenAir is a live, active system that is continually updated – from project managers updating their project plans, expenses, and timesheets, through to us as accountants updating rules, running reports, and utilising the data that is pulled together in one system. From an accountancy point of view, having project information and the related financials all in one system makes such a difference when compared to other project management platforms I have used.

“NetSuite is a great tool. Once the initial set-up is complete it makes life a lot easier and has enabled us as a finance team to support that growth in headcount across the wider business.”

For Eureka Solutions, partnering with SGS for the long-term, continuing to support their growth with the evolution of their NetSuite platform as well as ongoing software support in the more traditional sense, is a fantastic illustration of the founding principles of the Eureka Solutions business model coming together.

David Lindores, CEO of Eureka Solutions, comments,

“Our relationship with Smarter Grid Solutions is one in which we take enormous pride. As our very first NetSuite implementation after we had taken the decision to diversify into cloud-based software, that they remain a satisfied customer almost ten years on is testament to the principles of customer service and technical expertise that we instill throughout our teams – from account management and consultancy through to, very importantly, customer support. We have been delighted to observe their growth both in the UK and internationally, and we look forward to the next ten years of working together.”

This is evidenced well by Lee’s experience when he joined SGS back in 2015. He had previously used legacy, on-premise financial software combined with spreadsheets; therefore beginning a position where NetSuite was his ‘go-to’ for all things finance was a big change.

“After joining SGS, the Eureka Solutions team were a massive help to me. They arranged sessions with their technical team to quickly build my confidence using a system that was new to me, training me to be a super user very quickly. These sessions were invaluable. One of the first things I noticed was the level of detail available compared to systems I had previously worked with.

Our Account Manager takes the time to get to know our business and ensure we continue to get the best value from our NetSuite system. The ongoing responsiveness and quality of assistance we get from the Support Team with any day-to-day issues is extremely high.”

As two successful, growing Scottish software businesses, Eureka Solutions and Smarter Grid Solutions both look forward to a future of continuing to work together.