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For Erickson International, switching from Sage 100 (and QuickBooks) to Acumatica’s cloud software has unified and strengthened their multi-location operation. According to CFO Elena Mheidze in the company’s Acumatica customer success story, “If you are a midsized business that desires to grow and has the need to unify your locations, Acumatica brings this amazing gain; it connects people. In today’s world, we need communication, and Acumatica provides the ability to have information at your fingertips that’s unified and delivered fast.”
She adds, “Acumatica has everything I need.”
Erickson International’s Backstory
A “Made in USA” company, Erickson International manufactures and distributes a full line of window films for the automotive, residential, and commercial market. With their headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada and six distribution centers across the U.S., they are an eco-friendly manufacturer that ensures the highest standards of quality, subjecting their warranty-protected products to rigorous testing. And they use cutting-edge technology to keep them at the forefront of the industry.
One of their innovations has been a proprietary coating process. It has increased production efficiency, decreased handling, and increased cleanliness for high-quality film. Unfortunately, the company’s use of cutting-edge technology stopped at their choice of financial software. Originally running on QuickBooks, the corporate office moved to Sage 100 while several of the distribution center remained on QuickBooks.
The upgraded system proved to be a disappointment. Sage’s legacy manufacturing model:
- Was difficult to implement
- Ran slow on the company’s on-premises servers
- Didn’t support multiple entities
- Lacked process manufacturing benefits
Elena also says they had to manually move inventory and sales data from one system to the other using spreadsheets. It was past time to find a comprehensive manufacturing ERP solution that could handle their manufacturing needs.
The company’s ERP wish list included inventory transparency, remote access, affordability, flexibility, and visibility into every aspect of the business. The top wish? A cloud-based ERP solution.
“With Sage 100, we had to maintain a server and that server had a lot of associated costs,” Elena says. “So, removing the headache to maintain the on-premises system was the number one reason we chose to go with Acumatica.”
Mobility, Accessibility, and Unification with Acumatica Cloud ERP
Erickson International’s technology partner, Information Integration Group, Inc. (IIG), introduced Acumatica as an option. Elena compared Acumatica’s true-cloud ERP solution with an upgraded version of Sage 100, and it was an easy decision.
“Sage Cloud is only semi-cloud,” she says. “It’s very cumbersome and time consuming. Correcting something required complex steps; one step forward then three steps back to correct. There was also a lot of batch processing, which meant a lot of waiting.”
In addition to these concerns, Elena says, “The Sage price with additional users was at a bizarre amount. I liked that Acumatica doesn’t care how many users you have but how much data you use.”
The three-month implementation of Acumatica Advanced Financial, Manufacturing Management, and Wholesale Distribution Management went without a hitch, thanks to Elena’s dedication, IIG’s expertise, and Acumatica’s ease of use. Now, Elena and her team are reaping the rewards of mobility, accessibility, and unification.
For example, every location is running on a single, integrated solution; the locations are unified, have streamlined processes, and have real-time view of their inventory. Spreadsheets are a thing of the past as are data exports/imports and batch processing. As well, communication without email has become the norm.
They also rely on AWS to provide their automatic back up and security procedures. “Before there was a lot of cost, maintenance, and roadblocks about security. I was constantly worried. Now, all I need is a solid internet connection to get to the ERP from anywhere.”
“It’s Like a Lego”
In addition to being the CFO, Elena is also the head software trainer for the company. After training herself, she remotely trained the staff. “Acumatica’s user interface is absolutely fantastic, engaging, and intuitive. If you are moving between screens or places, it gets you back to the same place—you don’t have to retype or remember something. Acumatica is very dynamic and intuitive and customizable; all our users are happy.”
In fact, Acumatica’s customizable dashboards are a hit. In reference to the employees’ ability to personalize their dashboards as they need, Elena likens it to a popular kids toy. “It’s like a Lego.”
If having a personalized cloud ERP solution with manufacturing and distribution software that promises increased mobility, accessibility, and business unification, contact our team today. We’ll be happy to answer questions about being an Acumatica customer and to set up a demonstration.
And don’t forget to check out Erickson International’s company’s success story to learn more about their decision to choose Acumatica over Sage.
