For AE Firms, the Case for Switching to Unanet Grows Stronger

Customers who have made the switch identify three key reasons for moving to Unanet. Firstly, Unanet is not just a vendor but a true business partner with 30 years’ experience delivering business management software solutions designed specifically for AE firms. Secondly, Unanet provides best-in-class customer service and support, prioritizing building strong customer relationships. Lastly, Unanet offers easy-to-use tools that provide a seamless user experience, drive company-wide adoption, deliver actionable insights, and streamline and optimize project accounting, project management, time and expense, and business development.

Users themselves are the truest measure of a software solution. And among ERP users, here are a couple especially telling data points:

• Almost half — about 45% — of Unanet’s AE customers chose to switch away from Deltek.
• When Unanet goes head-to-head with Deltek in vying for an ERP customer’s business, Unanet wins 70% of the time.

What’s more, in independent rankings published by G2 Reports and based on ratings from the actual AE firms and people using project-based ERP software, Unanet is consistently listed as a HIGH PERFORMER, outperforming Deltek in a range of key categories, including:

• Ease of doing business with
• Ease of set-up
• Quality of support
• Ease of use
• Meets requirements
• Ease of admin
• Being a good partner in doing business
• Product direction

As firms across the AE business will attest, there are substantial benefits to moving to Unanet from Deltek. Some examples:

• ISG, a multi-disciplinary design and engineering firm with 11 offices throughout the Midwestern United States, was struggling with its highly inefficient and ill-fitting legacy ERP system and a lack of support from the system provider. With Unanet, ISG met its aggressive 120-day implementation schedule, and since then has scaled the firm to double its size while maintaining a lean back office support staff. It’s also enjoying massive time savings on core processes, and a more consistent and predictable revenue stream thanks to streamlined billing. “Because of Unanet AE’s innovative platform, we now run faster and more nimbly,” said ISG’s Alec Pfeffer. “We’re increasing revenues and providing an even better client experience without adding to back-office headcount.” For more on ISG’s ERP journey, check out the full success story here.
  
  
• NewFields, a 350+-person global environmental, engineering and construction management consulting firm with 19 offices in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the U.K. and Brazil, decided to shift to Unanet because people lacked trust in the data inside its legacy ERP system, and because that system was reinforcing inefficient business processes that yielded countless hours of duplicative work on billing alone. After casting a wide net for a new ERP system, the firm chose Unanet ERP AE for several reasons, chief among them its ability to integrate seamlessly with other go-to software. Via the Unanet Connect integrations marketplace, NewFields can access pre-built application connectors to build a digital ecosystem around its ERP system. Eric Salnas, CFO at NewFields, says the firm “saw a more than 100% increase in quarterly profit at one of our offices, and I can say with certainty that was a direct result of people trusting, then acting upon, the data and insights they are now getting from Unanet ERP AE on job costing, break-even points and other project KPIs.” For more on Newfields’ experience after moving to Unanet ERP AE, check out the full success story here.

The verdict from these and other AE firms that moved from Deltek to Unanet is clear: Unanet ERP AE provides the best combination of robust product features and capabilities, innovations that make sense, an outstanding user experience, a high return on investment and truly superior service and support — from a provider who is deeply invested in the success of each customer.

These are firms that easily could have stuck with their legacy ERP system and provider, but instead decided it was in their best business interests to move away from the big brand name, to a modern ERP solution that brings better overall value. And once they committed to switch, what they found was a Unanet implementation team that has helped hundreds of AE firms migrate their data, systems, and processes from Deltek systems. As far as Deltek-to-Unanet migrations go, they speak the language and know the process inside and out, so implementations often take a matter of months, not the better part of a year or more. This means quicker time to value and maximum return on your ERP investment.

The tech infrastructure decisions an AE firm makes can impact the business for years, even decades. Our advice when evaluating your ERP options: Do your research, solicit recommendations from your peers across the industry, weigh the factors that matter most to your firm and its people, and may the best solution for the job win.

If you’re ready to experience the benefits AE firms like yours are enjoying as a result of switching to Unanet ERP AE, our sales team would love to hear from you. There’s nothing to lose — and much to gain — simply by exploring your options.