While system changes can seem daunting for anyone in the GovCon sphere, many firms are finding that what worked in the past simply won’t support their future needs and goals.
This was most recently the case for Radiance Technologies, a firm out of Huntsville, AL, that develops solutions for defense, intelligence and civilian clients including the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force. An employee-owned company with approximately 1,000 employees, Radiance conducted an annual review that revealed their ERP provider was actually making their business processes more cumbersome and less efficient. Their team then launched a search for a robust, end-to-end solution with exceptional customer service and received multiple referrals for Unanet.
Similar challenges emerged for Offset Strategic Services (OSS), another firm out of Huntsville providing engineering services chiefly to the U.S. Department of Defense and its military operations. After considering the cost of issues like disconnected software tools, manual updates, and subpar security, replacing their legacy ERP systems with Unanet GovCon ERP was an easy call.
The Radiance and OSS teams shared a few of their top reasons for making the switch.
“...we were spending a lot of time taking data out of one system through downloads, and entering or importing it into another system,” Nix said.
After an extensive search and review, Radiance found that Unanet could fully integrate and automate multiple tools with low implementation and maintenance time. Streamlining these processes meant their employees could spend less time manipulating data, and more time focusing on strategic growth.
Another priority for Radiance was reducing their rate of error. Difficulty with functionality and technical issues, including upgrades rolled out hastily with errors in them, left the team frustrated and expending more time and resources to make things right.
According to a recent annual survey of more than 1,100 GovCon customers, Unanet users are seeing a significant decrease in day sales outstanding (DSO) simply because of the reduction in errors that Unanet’s ERP solution provides. More than 14% of users reported a DSO of 15 days or less.
Radiance understood that automation would be critical for making their business processes more efficient and creating smoother internal workflows.
“For example, getting consultants and subcontractors to input their purchase order/invoice data into an efficient system will ensure all costs incurred each month are captured in our invoices. This will enhance our speed and visibility to project actuals — creating one efficient solution for our subcontractors/consultants and our accounting team,” explained Nix.
OSS was looking to move away from paper-intensive manual processes to a largely paperless operation — not only to decrease labor, but to increase security. Lloyd Sanders, the company’s chief technology officer, knew their team had to be intentional about choosing an ERP product that would enable them to manage accounting and other key business functions efficiently, especially through growth and change.
Growth is on the horizon for GovCons, which is why so many are seeking an ERP solution that is powerful enough to scale with them, whether they are a small, mid-size, or enterprise business.
Prior to partnering with Unanet, OSS was about to become much larger — both in staff numbers and project workload. Sanders knew Unanet could help them scale seamlessly, with a quick and tailored implementation, and the features and functions to support their growth.
While any business can benefit from enhancing automation and streamlining processes, GovCons know they can’t sacrifice security in doing so. OSS was confident going paperless securely thanks to GovCloud — Unanet’s increasingly popular feature providing a cloud-based environment from Amazon Web Services that was designed and certified by the government under FISMA to the FedRamp high-impact level for systems holding sensitive data and supporting regulated workloads.
“Peer threats like China are very good at stealing data, and the small business is their prey,” said Sanders. “You really want an accounting system that gives government auditors confidence you can manage as a prime contractor. Our previous solution was not the solution for our future jobs,” he explained.
GovCons need a partner that will respond quickly to questions, listen intentionally to understand challenges, and provide meaningful solutions. Customer service was a high priority for both Radiance and OSS. Radiance received referrals for Unanet from companies emphasizing how the customer service team listened and turned their feedback into actionable results.
Unanet’s customer success team supports GovCons, not only during implementation, but every step of the way to ensure long-term success.
More than 2,000 fast-growing GovCon companies have selected Unanet GovCon ERP and CRM because the solutions have the right mix of functionality and accessibility, while also offering the ability to scale and grow seamlessly. Read more about Radiance and OSS in Huntsville Business Journal’s recent article, “Huntsville GovCons Choose Unanet Over Legacy IT Systems.”