Connect Achieves 146% growth in two years with NetSuite ERP

Connect deploy and support Unified Communications (UC) infrastructure for a global client base of enterprise businesses, supporting business critical infrastructure for some of the world’s largest companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Diageo and BT. Based in Central London, Connect draws on over 25 years’ knowledge and experience to help Contact Centre and Unified Communication estates to deliver exceptional customer experience and implement digital transformation.

What were Connect’s challenges

Prior to contacting Eureka Solutions, Connect were using an outdated Sun Accounts finance system and numerous spreadsheets to track billing and revenue recognition which had to be updated manually. As a result of data being held in multiple places, management and statutory accounts, plus simple reports such as aged debtors and aged creditors had to be produced outside of the finance system. This manual reporting system was prone to errors and meant that key finance staff were spending too much time trying to fix mistakes and manipulate data in Excel. Compatibility with Microsoft Office and Windows operating systems was also an issue caused by the Sun system being out of date.

Connect were therefore looking to implement a modern, cloud-based finance system which would manage all financial process for their global operations, and would provide users with access to the system regardless of where they were working.  Other key drivers for the project were to reduce duplication and manual effort, and to provide users with a user-friendly interface to boost productivity and provide real time reporting across the business.

The Solution

Having evaluated various options, including FinancialForce and an upgrade of Sun Accounts, Connect selected Eureka Solutions to implement the world’s number one cloud ERP, NetSuite. NetSuite was selected as Eureka Solutions were able to use their experience of implementing the system for similar technology companies to demonstrate that the system would meet Connect’s complex billing and revenue management requirements, as well as providing global financial reporting, all from a single system.

Having gone live in 2016, NetSuite now provides Connect with a 100% cloud-based financial management system with all billing and revenue recognition processes managed from a single interface. NetSuite also offers multi-company, multi-country accounting and group consolidation in one database, providing automated group reporting and real time visibility.

Staff can access the system from any device with an internet connection, meaning they can work from home or when travelling, which has increased productivity. All key reports are now generated from within the system and can be analysed in real-time with powerful, interactive dashboards, which frees up staff to work on important tasks and provides actionable insight much faster than before. Eureka Solutions has tailored the system to automate the chasing of outstanding debt, which has led to further efficiencies and quicker collection of cash.

Connect has grown significantly as a business since implementing NetSuite, both organically and through acquisition and NetSuite has provided a flexible and scalable platform to support this growth. New companies can be set up and integrated into the current financial setup very quickly and easily, allowing staff to focus on integrating the new businesses instead of dealing with disruption of moving systems.

As NetSuite is a true SaaS solution, the system automatically upgrades every 6 months, meaning Connect are always on the latest version of the software, don’t have compatibility issues and don’t have to experience the disruption or costs associated with upgrades of traditional on-premise applications.

“NetSuite has far exceeded our expectations and has become our ‘one stop shop’ for all of our financial information. This, along with the excellent support we receive from Eureka Solutions means we are keen to use NetSuite as a platform for growth and we plan to work with Eureka Solutions to extend the system to cover other areas of the business such as project management and timesheets in the near future.”

Jenelle De Peza | Director of Finance | Connect Managed Services

Connect’s future plans

Since implementing the core financial management modules of NetSuite, Connect have realised the potential of the system and have extended usage of the system to cover more functions such as expense claim management, supplier/contractor rate analysis and automation of debt chasing.