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Texas Scenic Company operates within several industries, including construction, manufacturing, and retail. They searched for a cloud ERP solution that could handle their unique business management needs, and the company’s CFO shares three reasons why they selected Acumatica.
For almost 80 years, Texas Scenic Company has designed, manufactured, and installed theatrical stage equipment. From performing arts centers to theme parks and from broadcast facilities to convention centers, the company offers both off-the-shelf and custom solutions for any size project and any size business. The company builds their own equipment, offers repair service, and operates an online catalog. Spanning the construction, manufacturing, and retail industries, the company needed a comprehensive and fully integrated cloud ERP to keep up—and their vetting process led them straight to Acumatica.
What Texas Scenic Company does and how they do it with Acumatica cloud ERP
As a full-service theatrical equipment company, Texas Scenic Company provides stage curtains, counterweight and motorized rigging, theatrical lighting, expendables and hardware, and custom equipment. Their team works with each client to create and install the systems and equipment they need for renovations or new construction, and any product they manufacture is held to the highest safety and reliability standards.
Jon Reed of diginomica sat down with Texas Scenic Company’s CFO, Ron Fairchild, and questioned him about jumping on board with Acumatica Construction Edition as an early adopter. In the diginomica article, Ron gave some background on their business, including the competitiveness of the industry and how technology plays a part.
“It’s a very competitive space. The downturn in 2008 created an environment where there was a lot of pressure on profit margins,” Ron explains. “Construction is evolving, but it’s still pretty much as it was forever, where it’s the low-dollar guy is the guy that wins. Because of that, you need every competitive edge that you can get.”
For Ron, who joined Texas Scenic Company as an IT consultant in 2001, technology is a key factor for gaining a competitive edge. The system they had in place—Timberline (now Sage 300 CRE)—was past its prime and required custom integrations. As he states in the digonomica article, “It got to the point to where it was time to either rewrite all of that stuff, or see what the alternatives were.”
The challenge, however, was finding construction accounting software that covered their unique business management needs. Thankfully, Acumatica VAR Clients First suggested Texas Scenic Company look at Acumatica cloud ERP. Ron could clearly see that Acumatica had the necessary ingredients they required in a modern cloud-based solution. When Acumatica Construction Edition released, it became apparent that Acumatica was a perfect fit, especially in three core areas:
- Covers all the bases: In addition to Acumatica Construction Edition, which seamlessly connects front and back office processes and provides a “single source of truth” for multiple construction projects, Acumatica covers TSC’s manufacturing, service, and retail needs with Acumatica Manufacturing Edition, Acumatica Project Accounting, and Acumatica Distribution Edition.
- Provides a centralized system: Acumatica Construction Edition provides Texas Scenic Company’s project managers a centralized system for retrieving project data in real time. Working with approximately 30 to 40 projects simultaneously, the project managers will be far more efficient when having to access only one system and will be able to make faster, more informed decisions.
- Integrates seamlessly: Acumatica cloud ERP allows for seamless integration with essential third-party applications, such as Procore, Smartsheet, Power BI, Tableau, and more.
“It’s a modern cloud solution that handles our manufacturing, service, distribution, and construction business in one cohesive integrated solution allowing a seamless flow of data,” Ron says.
Where Texas Scenic Company goes from here
Texas Scenic Company is on track to go live with Acumatica Construction Edition this month, with the conversion steps taking place as we speak. The implementation process often brings with it some push back from employees. Ron is excited that this is not the case with Acumatica.
“This is actually the first system where we actually have users asking, ‘When are we going to go live?’ Instead of, ‘I dread the day that we’re going to go live.’ That was a pleasant surprise. I’ve been doing this for 30-odd years. This is the first time I’ve had that,” Ron says.
And Ron notes other benefits of implementing Acumatica Construction Edition specific to Texas Scenic Company, including:
- Becoming more competitive by keeping track of their equipment and manufacturing costs
- Utilizing new features specially designed for Texas Scenic Company by Acumatica, such as uploading vendor catalogs
- Eliminating custom coding and relying instead on add-ons
- Being able to share business information and act on it immediately vs. reacting after the fact
Texas Scenic Company’s unique requirements call for a unique cloud ERP system, and Ron and his team are ready for Acumatica Construction Edition. “We’re excited about it, we really are,” Ron says.
Questions about Acumatica’s cloud ERP software and Acumatica Construction Edition? Contact our experts today, and they’ll share how cloud construction software can assist construction businesses with budgets, tracking project progress, document control, project management, employee utilization, daily site operations, and more, taking them to the next level.
You can also see Acumatica’s innovative cloud ERP solution firsthand by attending our annual cloud ERP event, Acumatica Summit 2020, taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, January 26-31, 2020.
