Archives 2022

The direct vs partner riddle is one that most companies encounter when implementing a cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

At the outset, the choice may seem simple. Why work with a partner like PointStar Consulting when a solutions provider, like Oracle NetSuite, is the maker of the software, right? Well, not that simple.

Businesses in the digital age operate using a variety of best-in-class solutions to address the different pain points they face. Meanwhile, direct sellers may not often offer solutions for all your pain points, beyond their realm of speciality.

In an age where high-growth businesses have stacks of solutions to fuel their operations, there is no single “silver-bullet” solution that can resolve the different challenges businesses face. This is when the variety of specialised solutions and services offered by a partner like PointStar Consulting shines through.

1. Financial Digital Transformation Consultancy

Oracle NetSuite provides you with the world’s No. 1 cloud ERP system to manage critical financial processes such as financial planning and budgeting. Oracle NetSuite has been the flag bearer when it comes to financial processes management. It operates fully on the cloud, offers a robust financial management solution for high volumes of transactions, and automates tedious processes.

Meanwhile, PointStar Consulting provides businesses on a high-growth trajectory with a comprehensive suite of specialised financial cloud solutions that complement Oracle NetSuite. These include solutions such as BlackLine that help accommodate high-value, high-volume transactions by automating bank reconciliations and accelerating the financial close process. 

PointStar Consulting also has strong partnerships with a variety of cloud solutions providers that specialise in other accounting and financial processes management, such as PyanGo, which provides automated budgetary control for users of the Oracle NetSuite cloud ERP system, and Netgain, which is a built-for-Oracle Netsuite native regulatory compliance software that helps companies, especially those in the leasing business to adhere to standards such as IFRS 16, ASC 842, and GASB 87.

2. Presence cutting across different countries and regions

One of the primary benefits of working with a partner is that they have a presence in the region that you are based in, if not the country. PointStar Consulting, for instance, has a presence in Singapore, where it is headquartered, but also in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, China, and Taiwan. While the direct software maker may be available in many regions, partners still carry out the implementation. The competence, experience, and reputation of the partner implementing the Oracle NetSuite cloud ERP system is extremely important as it is a complex and costly undertaking with far-reaching benefits.

The key takeaway here is that when you engage in the services of a stellar local partner, you often experience the intimacy of being served by a team of consultants whom you can always rely on when you need help. Partners like PointStar Consulting also have extensive experience and regional understanding that is decisive as they understand the problems that businesses face that may be unique to the region or country that they are operating in.

3. Comprehensive Set of Solutions Bundled Together to Address Your Different Pain Points

When working directly with a software developer, you will quickly realise that their expertise, while impressive, is limited to the products that they sell. Whereas, for a partner like PointStar Consulting – with 14 years of experience in various countries – the breadth and depth of solutions offered are wide and deep.  

PointStar Consulting offers a variety of cloud systems that, when bundled together, offer you a comprehensive solution to address your different pain points. Our partnership with Workato enables businesses to integrate their stack and unleash automation at scale. Workato’s low-code, no-code platform enables businesses to integrate the different solutions critical to the operations of their business with very little technical expertise required. 

Meanwhile, our partnership with BlackLine helps us deliver a cloud accounting solution that builds on Oracle NetSuite’s robust financial features to automate reconciliations and significantly reduce financial close time.

4. Extensive Experience

The experience of serving customers in Asia for over 14 years has also allowed PointStar Consulting to develop a keen understanding of the common business challenges in the region, and the shortcomings and strengths of different systems. This allows PointStar Consulting to seek partners whose solutions complement Oracle NetSuite and identify gaps to offer a comprehensive solution that addresses a company’s different pain points. 

While it continues to provide stellar services to its Oracle NetSuite customers as evidenced through its dedicated customer success division, PointStar Consulting has also solidified its position as the one-stop consultancy that businesses go to when they undertake their financial digital transformation. 

Our presence at the local level also allows us to hire highly skilled locally-based consultants, who understand your unique needs.

For all their use of modern technology to deliver ease of use to consumers, many fintech businesses still find themselves manually managing their back office processes. These processes are riddled with human errors and data duplications. 

The cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is one that is at the forefront of technologies that are helping businesses automate manual processes and introduce operational efficiencies.

Automation of key financial processes – The manual management of data through spreadsheets result in human errors and data duplication. Mistakes like this can delay financial close time, and affect the financial standing of fintechs, in addition to resulting in costly fines by regulatory authorities. This puts the onus on fintechs to equip themselves with the best that cloud technology has to offer. 

Cloud ERP systems help businesses automate key processes such as bank reconciliations, helping fintechs accelerate their close times. Endeavours such initial public offering (IPO) require businesses to rigorously report their finances. Cloud ERPs deliver robust financial reporting functionalities that ensure fintechs are well prepared for an IPO.

Multi-company Financial Consolidation – Fintechs need cloud solutions that can help deliver a consolidated and global view of all their businesses and subsidiaries in different countries. Cloud ERP systems are equipped with global financial management tools that deliver visibility, and are also preconfigured to cater to different currencies, and languages.

Hardly a day goes by without regulatory authorities mulling the imposition of new regulations on fintech businesses. Cloud ERP systems are also preconfigured to enable financial reporting according to global regulatory requirements, ensuring fintechs seamlessly manage their finance on one platform serving as a single source of truth.

Scalability – Fintech businesses operate in an industry that is presently primed for growth. Unfortunately, legacy systems and other small scale solutions do not have the ability to accomodate the often meteoric growth prospects of fintech.

Fintechs will quickly realise that a system that is built to handle 50 users may never be able to handle 500 users. Cloud ERP systems, due to the virtue of their architecture, cloud ERP systems allow fintechs to scale in parallel to their growth. You can often add users and customise the system in line with the growth of your business.

360-degree, real-time visibility – The financial markets that fintech businesses operate in can often be highly disruptive and volatile. The suite of different, best-in-class solutions that fintechs use can sometimes resemble a mountainous stack. Oftentimes these systems are not integrated, do not talk to each other, and end up in silos, greatly diminishing the value of data.

Cloud ERP systems offer robust integration functionalities that can help the different solutions that fintech businesses use, giving business owners a 360-degree, real-time view of their business processes and customers. This can significantly aid fintech businesses in unlocking key insights that can fuel their growth.

When facing mounting challenges posed by an increasingly disruptive marketplace, and also a volatile global business environment, there is little time to stop and think of ways to resolve problems, or innovate.

Cloud solutions such as an ERP system are equipped with robust forecasting tools that enable businesses to plan for their future. A cloud ERP solution also unifies data and provides fintechs with key insights for business growth. The real-time nature of the data you receive with cloud ERP solutions enables you to have your finger on the pulse and respond quickly to changing market or consumer trends.

In an age where remote working and work-from-home (WFH) have spawned their own jargon, it may sound a little out of place to accentuate the crucial role that the physical presence of people can have on businesses. 

Yet, Oracle NetSuite partners had learned long ago that theirs is an industry where direct, face-to-face, physical interaction with customers goes a long way towards delivering top-notch services to clients.

An Oracle NetSuite partner that serves various countries will always find itself in good stead. The experience of serving different markets, and helping customers implement the Oracle NetSuite cloud ERP system strengthens a partner’s knowledge of its customers locally. It also allows Oracle NetSuite partners to identify gaps in the solution they provide and venture into partnerships to fill these gaps and offer comprehensive solutions.

To ensure a successful venture to a market abroad, successful Oracle NetSuite partners often invest heavily in hiring local talent who provide intimacy and can relate to their clients’ needs.

Michelle Alphonso, CEO of PointStar Consulting, says knowing a product well enough alone is no guarantee of success. 

“We have learned that it is not enough just to know the product well, but it is important to have a local team,” said Michelle at the Oracle Netsuite Asia Conference 2022 recently.

“You do need to invest when you go out into different countries and encounter different cultures and languages. This will not just help you succeed in closing sales, but also ensure successful implementation of projects.”

Meanwhile, at the same event, PointStar Consulting bagged Oracle NetSuite’s Asia Solutions Provider Partner of the Year FY22, Asean New Logo Rockstar Award FY22, and Asean Top ARR Award FY22 honours.

Michelle paid tribute to the PointStar Consulting staff for their efforts, and added that Oracle NetSuite is an extension of the PointStar Consulting team as both have been working together for 11 years now.

“This award came about because of the hard work of the entire PointStar Consulting team. This is a team that has grown quite big over the years. So this award is really from all the hardwork from the guys in PointStar Consulting covering Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Shearwater for Japan, China, South Korea and Taiwan markets,” she said.

“PointStar Consulting was one of the first partners of Oracle NetSuite in the region, and we grew up together with Oracle NetSuite. I see the Oracle NetSuite family as an extension of us because we have been working together for so long.” 

Startups operate in a highly competitive and disruptive business environment. The quantum leap in technology has made disruption the norm, creating a “survival of the fittest” business environment where agile companies that can quickly respond to change, survive and thrive.

At the heart of most successful startups lie cloud solutions that facilitate automation of critical processes, and simplify workflows, enabling business owners to focus on growing their businesses. In a digital age business world that has taken further beatings from the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, companies have the privilege of being blessed with a variety of cloud solutions to choose from that can introduce operational efficiencies. 

The cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is a leading solution that helps businesses automate manual processes, integrate data from disparate sources to provide a single source of truth. 

Below we look at some of the challenges that startups face and how a cloud ERP system helps these startups overcome them.

1. Address Financial Reporting Issues Before IPO 

Hardly a day goes by without regulatory authorities around the world pondering on imposing new requirements on how companies report their finances. As businesses come under heavy scrutiny from regulatory authorities, manually handling tedious financial processes can result in costly fines if errors are found. 

Initial public offerings (IPO) are the sort of endeavours that require stringent oversight of the financial reporting processes. A cloud ERP system helps businesses automate these processes and ensure businesses are IPO-ready through its robust financial reporting standards that include compliance with IFRS, and GAAP, to name a few.

2. Data Silos Due to Lack of Integration

It is common for most startups to have a stack consisting of different best-in-class solutions to address different pain points. However, as your business grows, you will quickly realise that having data from multiple sources strips away the power of data. To make well-informed decisions and unlock critical insights, you need a solution that integrates the different solutions in your operations, and offer you a 360-degree, unified view of all your business processes. 

A cloud ERP system is equipped with solid API capabilities that allow you to integrate other solutions, have one single source of truth, and also prevent you from having data silos. What’s more, cloud ERP systems also provide startup businesses with a real-time view of all their customers and business processes. This ensures business owners have their fingers on the pulse, to respond swiftly to changing market conditions and consumer demands.

3. Unable to Get a Consolidated View of Subsidiaries

Companies who expand and have a presence in other countries often find it difficult to standardise business processes, in addition to manually managing data from subsidiaries. This process causes data duplication and human errors.

Intercompany financial consolidation is a crucial element of managing companies with subsidiaries. Having a unified view of the business processes and financial health of your various subsidiaries helps you make well-informed decisions. A cloud ERP system offers robust intercompany consolidation functions that not just help you run your company effectively, but also help you unlock critical insights to aid your strategic decision-making.

4. Unable to Scale When Workforce Grows 

Startups on a high-growth trajectory often realise the difference between accommodating a workforce of 10 staff and a workforce of 100 staff quickly. As your headcount increases, ensuring all your staff comply with your business processes becomes increasingly tedious. 

By virtue of its architecture, cloud ERPs are built for growth as they are highly scalable and allow you to quickly accommodate your increasing workforce while ensuring total compliance with your time-honoured business processes.

Conclusion

Startups today operate in volatile times. Being agile allows startups to respond quickly to changing market demands. Integration helps startups unlock new insights. Automation of manual accounting processes and robust financial reporting solutions ensure startups are more than adequately prepared for an IPO. 

Predictive analytics has emerged as one of the key components of efficient management of the supply chain. If you are a startup involved in retail, or other areas that require warehousing, chances are you may have experienced a deeply troubled time of late. 

A cloud ERP system is one that caters to a wide-array of industries. It is now more important than ever for startup businesses on the high-growth trajectory to implement a robust business management solution such as a cloud ERP system.