Unlimited User Pricing Key
With Acumatica, Firewire Surfboards adds as many users as it needs without requiring additional user licenses. “Acumatica’s unlimited user licensing weighed heavily in our decision and was a huge selling point,” Shiraki says. “It gives us the flexibility should we want to set up a customer portal. We also won’t have to worry about adding licenses as we grow.”
Modern, Flexible ERP
Acumatica’s flexibility was also a key differentiator. “We were looking for something that gave us as many options as possible. Our company today won’t be the same five years from now,” Shiraki says. “We’re not stagnant; not locked into policies, procedures or software. Everything we do is with the long-term perspective in mind, and we need an ERP system that can evolve with us.”
Acumatica’s open platform integrates well with several third-party partners, which helps Firewire remain the leading surfboard maker in the market. Acumatica is linked automatically in the U.S. and Australia, and soon Europe, to Brandscope, Firewire’s custom production database, as well as its Verifier tag software, which tracks boards through manufacturing.
“Acumatica has an open platform, which was a huge selling point,” Shiraki says. “The company looks for outside innovation and to work with as many ISV’s as possible to provide a multitude of solutions. We believe in that ethos because that’s how we operate.”
“We’re really a surfboard technology company more than a surfboard manufacturer,” he adds. “We’re trying to be as open source as possible in what we do and source new ideas to build better boards sustainably.”
Smooth Third-Party Integration
Brandscope is Firewire’s sales and inventory management solution for its customers, giving them full insight into inventory levels, allowing them to place orders for stock, “so we know what to make for them if something is not already in process,” Shirak says. In the future, Firewire plans to add Microsoft’s PowerBI to its Acumatica integrations.