Enespro PPE is a new product line of electrical safety and personal protective equipment (PPE). Unlike most other companies in the market, Enespro sells directly to electrical contractors, industrial manufacturers, and electric utilities via its ecommerce website. Before launching its first product, the company decided to create a robust and scalable foundation of core systems that would support its growth trajectory for years to come. It engaged Armanino to install Sage Intacct, a cloud-based financial management solution, and train Enespro employees on how to effectively use it.
After decades working in the personal protective equipment (PPE) industry, the three founders of Enespro PPE believed they could offer breakthrough improvements in the performance, comfort and functionality of electrical safety personal protective equipment (PPE). They conducted extensive research with electricians and other electrical safety professionals who use PPE products for protection against severe injuries or death, then created their first product line of arc flash kits, arc flash suits, rubber voltage gloves and glove kits, hood and face shields, and PPE storage bags.
The founders were extremely confident that the vastly improved PPE products Enespro was bringing to market would capture interest immediately, followed by strong, rapid growth in revenue. Based on these projections of increasing market share, revenue growth and product expansion, Jason Bischoff, a founder and the director of operations at Enespro, knew he wanted the startup to be well prepared to support and sustain significant growth.
Before the first product was even launched, he set out to establish a solid foundation of core technology systems, starting with the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. “In my roles at previous companies, I experienced the extensive challenges of working with outdated, ill-suited legacy systems and then having to migrate to enterprise solutions,” says Bischoff. “I knew that deploying the right systems from the start would save us a lot of time and pain later on.”
For Enespro, this meant choosing an ERP that could easily scale with the company as it rapidly grew, providing all the functionality the organization needed both as a startup and as a mature company.
After evaluating various options, Enespro PPE chose Sage Intacct, a cloud-based financial management solution. “I was really impressed with Sage Intacct and particularly with what other users were saying about the solution,” says Bischoff.
Equally as important to Bischoff was the comfort and confidence he felt with the implementation partner for the new software. “I don’t have an IT background, so it was critical for me to find a partner who would provide the support and training we needed to be successful,” he says. He found that partner in Armanino LLP, one of the 25 largest independent accounting and consulting firms in the U.S., and an end-to-end Sage Intacct implementation, customization and integration consulting provider.
As the Armanino team began planning for the deployment of Enespro’s new ERP system, it recommended an additional solution for Enespro to consider: Nexonia Expenses, a cloud-based expense report management solution that integrates with Sage Intacct. “We selected and implemented Nexonia on Armanino’s recommendation, because it was much easier and faster to use than the spreadsheets we relied on and would integrate easily with our new ERP,” says Bischoff.
With consulting and training from Armanino, the deployment of the new ERP system was completed on time and ahead of the launch of Enespro’s first products. “Working with Armanino was great,” says Bischoff. “The implementation went very smoothly. One of the reasons for that was the responsiveness of the Armanino team to any questions or issues we had.”
After less than one year in business and only six months of using the new ERP system, Enespro is already seeing the benefits of both Sage Intacct and Nexonia. “Everything from inventory to purchasing, order entry, expense reporting and financial reporting is working great,” says Bischoff. “In my previous company, it would take a week to get a profit and loss report. With Sage Intacct, we have reports at our fingertips.”
The Nexonia Expenses solution eliminated Enespro’s time-consuming spreadsheet work to make the expense reporting process extremely efficient for the company and its employees. The integration with Sage Intacct synchronizes data automatically between Nexonia and the ERP system. “Nexonia saves everyone time on expense reporting,” says Bischoff.
The combination of Sage Intacct and Nexonia will help Enespro avoid many of the issues that startup companies experience with software they’ve initially implemented and then rapidly outgrown. “As we expand our share of the electrical PPE market, areas such as inventory and financial management will become even more important to our operational stability,” says Bischoff. “I’m confident that in Sage Intacct and Nexonia we have the scalable, robust back-office foundation that will support our business for many years to come.”
Bischoff acknowledges that as the company grows and matures, it will need additional functionality and systems beyond the initial ERP implementation. “One area that we want to handle in-house in the future is fulfillment,” he says. “To support that critical capability, we will need to deploy an inventory management system.” A robust ecommerce platform is also on the company’s near-term horizon.
As Enespro expands its foundation of core systems and processes to support long-term, sustainable growth, it plans to rely on Armanino to provide all of the technology and accounting expertise it needs. “We trust Armanino to help us deploy and integrate the right technology for our business now and in the future,” says Bischoff.
Download Case StudyApril 02, 2019
