Better Data-Driven Decisions at International Pipe
With Acumatica, International Pipe employees access critical data throughout the business within seconds and make much better decisions, decisions that are driving increases in revenues and profits and can be made from anywhere in the world.
McCalla, for example, is happier, much more productive, and enjoys telling new recruits how much they will love using Acumatica and its modern user interface.
“It’s been a significant enhancement for me, and I can attest to Acumatica’s ease of use,” he says. “With SouthWare, we lacked reporting functionality for the entire business – financials, sales or whether it was AR or AP. In Acumatica, there’s a lot more report functionality and it takes just a click to generate a report.”
Modern, Easy-to-Use Interface Replaces Archaic Codes
The owners use dashboards to see cash balances, the state of accounts receivable, and then can decide what data they want to drill down on at the click of a mouse rather than referencing secret codes to hunt around for the information and wasting a lot of time. McCalla says he has saved a significant amount of time using Acumatica’s dashboards, which serve up critical information when he logs in.
“Acumatica allows me to uncover pinch points quickly,” he says, explaining previously he had to painstakingly log in and out of each company, gather data from various silos, and then crunch numbers manually in the hopes of discovering problems. “Now, I’m just a log in away from everything I need. The time savings is significant.”
Previously, it took his team some 15 days to close the books for two companies each month. With Acumatica, he has shaved it to three to four days because he’s taking his time as they get used to the platform. He says the company will soon reduce that to two days to close all three companies.
“The intercompany module is super easy to use,” McCalla says. “It’s easy to bounce back and forth from one company to another without needing all new passwords, new user names, and different log ins. Now I can do a report that rolls everything up rather than wasting time manually tracking things on Excel and using a calculator.”
Ease of Use Drives Adoption
McCalla is so impressed with Acumatica’s ease of use that he’s touting it as a job perk. “It is a draw to say we have the latest and greatest ERP software on site,” he says. “That’s exciting to us and we’re already mentioning it in interviews. Before we wouldn’t mention a thing and we’d surprise them on day one by giving them the list of three letter code words and I’d just get the look: ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’”
Acumatica’s user interface has led to high adoption, McCalla says. “The users were so tired of the old system. Once they realized how intuitive Acumatica is and discovered that if they got lost, there’s help available on each screen, so they weren’t going to get stuck, the buy-in was there.”
Accelerating Sales
The sales team at International Pipe is divided along industry types rather than geography. Each person kept notes on their own spreadsheets and no two were the same. SouthWare lacked tracking on the customer and sales side, McCalla says. There was no process to track or share leads as they came in through social media or via phone calls and as leads increased, sales asked for better tools.
“With Acumatica, one of the big changes is that we can now track a lead to a customer with all the associated notes along the way so we can capture that information,” McCalla says. “With better information and improved reporting, we’re expecting to see better sales results and improved customer retention.”
Access from Anywhere
Executives and owners at International Pipe who travel to their 15 yards frequently are no longer required to print out reams of paper or struggle to access critical data while on the road. Previously, logging in securely via the company’s VPN was difficult and if someone had a newer laptop, he or she would have to crank up the zoom just to read the type in SouthWare, McCalla says.
“Acumatica was an absolute upgrade to the 21st century. It’s a dream to log in and get to the center of our business universe,” he says.
Fully Supported and Poised for Growth
McCalla had high praise for Acumatica’s team, calling it “an energized, smart, intelligent, and caring group of people” who has created a “cutting-edge” platform. “They understand ease of use and speed of business,” he adds. “They are willing to bend over backwards to make sure everything works to fit your business needs and works the best it can.”
A Modern Approach to Business Management
Acumatica has profoundly changed the way many at International Pipe operate daily.
“Acumatica allows my focus to be more on the business rather than wondering where I go to find the information I need,” McCalla says. “Knowledge is power and the quicker you can get to the knowledge, the better off you are.”