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Introduction

The founders of Instaclustr first identified a gap in the market for systems with big data capability.Benjamin Bromhead, Adam Zegelin, Peter Lilley, and Doug Stuart wanted to deliver reliability at scale – so in 2012, they started the company in Canberra, ACT, and have been scaling their business operations since. Instaclustr quickly grew into a global company with over 100 staff in Australia, the US, and the UK. Well-known customers include Atlassian, IBM, BlackBerry, and SONOS.

Instaclustr provides the integrated data solutions that help customers achieve scalability, reliability, and performance. To support the company’s rapid growth and aggressive International expansion plans,a scalable and adaptable business management system was needed. That system was NetSuite cloud ERP software.

Why did Instaclustr choose NetSuite?

As an Australian tech start-up, Instaclustr was experiencing stellar growth. The company’s turnover was doubling every 12 months. But, a system that could scale and support its local and global expansion plans was crucial to ongoing success.

Instaclustr began operations using Xero for its accounting needs, along with several other in-house systems. The company quickly found these systems weren’t keeping up with its fast growth. A critical requirement which those systems couldn’t meet was the consolidation of financial accounts at a group level with multi-currency

“We were suffering from an inability to measure results, limited capacity to extract data, and our processes were becoming inefficient. There was also too much room for manual error – particularly in the billing process. We needed a solution that met the needs of the business as we grew – something that was market-leading and feature-rich,” explains co-founder and COO Peter Lilley.

Several ERP business management systems were evaluated, including SAP. After careful consideration, NetSuite’s MidMarket edition was chosen due to its flexibility, agility and scalability – it was exactly what Instaclustr needed.

“We were looking for more than just a management system, we wanted a cloud transformation system,” Peter says. “We wanted to bring all of our global accounts together”

Introduction Keeping pace with hyper-growth

Instaclustr had no previous experience with NetSuite. Selecting the right ERP implementation partner was, therefore, key to success.

The company partnered with JCurve Solutions (ASX: JCS) to implement NetSuite cloud ERP. Working with the team of NetSuite experts at JCS was a “meeting of minds”. JCS helped to fast-track the setup, taking less than six months to see Instaclustr go-live with its new ERP system.

The NetSuite implementation included complete optimisation of processes and workflows. Previously, various operations had been tracked and reported manually – “a very complicated and inefficient process”, as Peter puts it. “NetSuite demonstrated the ability to overcome our lack of visibility and cut the processing time by more than half. Additionally, the new internal billing system also cut financial reporting down to within two to three days of the accounting period,” continues Peter.”For me, NetSuite is all about the ability to proactively make decisions about what we need to do and when we need to do it, as well as increased confidence around business reporting on a monthly basis.”

Instaclustr also loved the easy integrations to extend NetSuite’s functionality, including Infinet Cloud’s payroll application and a full HR solution, Subscribe-HR. These integrations helped Instaclustr consolidate its back office and corporate functions into the one system, NetSuite.

Peter explains further, “We can also get a snapshot mid-month of our sales target and see if we are on track and know where our focus needs to be directed. Leaders in the business have access to vital, live data right at their fingertips and day-to-day operations are managed off the one unified platform.”

The cloud-based ERP system has also added transparency across the company, and certainty for the company’s investors about its long-term financial stability.

Outcomes

• Fast, 6-month implementation of a system to support continued growth.
• Generating financial reports reduced from 20 days to 2-3 days.
• Consolidation of all entities in Australia, United Kingdom and United States with a centralised finance operation in Australia.
• Leaders in the business have access to vital, live data right at their fingertips.