NetSuite has revealed how Globalstar turned to NetSuite rather than SAP to help scale its international organisation. Globalstar is a US-based satellite communications country that operates a low Earth orbit satellite constellation for satellite phone and low-speed data communications. It connects people in over 100 countries and every continent globally, reaching regions that traditional communications networks cannot reach.
Founded in 2003, Globalstar was looking for a new solution to replace its on-premise Oracle Financials solution. It looked at several solutions, including Oracle NetSuite, SAP, Workday, and Microsoft Dynamics. After a careful selection process, it chose Oracle NetSuite ahead of SAP in the final selection in the first quarter of 2021.
Globalstar had clear criteria that it wanted to see in its next cloud-based solution. These included:
- To improve efficiency, especially in its financial processes related to the collection, management and analysis of its fulfilment and payment data
- A unified system that consolidates financial, CRM, quotations, order management, billing, and project management data and processes
- Geographic localisations and the flexibility to support industry variances as Globalstar scaled up the organisation
- Automation of error-prone manual processes
- Project planning and budgeting capabilities
- Inventory control with warehouse management with tracking, serial numbers support and cycle counting capabilities
- Mature reporting and analytics capabilities embedded within the solution
Rebecca Clary, vice president and chief financial officer of Globalstar, commented, “We’re a public organization, so we have to consider the reporting requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission as we grow.
“With NetSuite, Globalstar has an integrated business system that gives our team the real-time data needed to run efficiently and effectively. NetSuite has also helped us address our reporting requirements faster, eliminate two days off our close processes, automate operations, and ultimately do more with fewer resources.”
The implementation project
This started badly. Globalstar worked with one NetSuite Partner that was not a good fit, their approach was cost prohibitive, and it wasn’t a tight fit. After only a few weeks, Globalstar contacted NetSuite and asked for a different partner to work with. NetSuite identified several, and Globalstar selected NetSuite Alliance Partner Myers-Holum to implement NetSuite.
NetSuite is sometimes perceived as expensive. However, perhaps part of the issue lies in finding the right partner to work with, one where the services are aligned with the organisation’s needs. Some companies need more support, change management and technical expertise. Others, perhaps, like GlobalStar, don’t.
Myers Holum quickly understood the complexities of the GlobalStar and successfully delivered the project. It helped the company to deliver the required integrations and configured the solution.
Benefits of NetSuite
Globalstar has realised all its baseline objectives with NetSuite. Using NetSuite, it believes it has simplified its accounting and operational processes, increased sales, enhanced business insights, and generate more accurate financial forecasts. NetSuite has also improved its Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance process with more accurate data.
In a recent video, Clary commented, “It has simplified our business. It has streamlined so many accounting and operational processes. We are generally more efficient today, we probably shaved two days off our close process, and we can do more. But it’s steps to get there. You don’t want to be too aggressive and miss something. It’s an iterative process.”
Those improvements have also been made with fewer employees as many things have been automated that were previously manual. It has also delivered greater visibility across the organisation and the product lifecycle.
Globalstar will continue improving the deployment and will add NetSuite Planning and Budgeting. It will further improve its close process, sales order process and warehouse fulfilment.
David Rodman, senior vice president of customer success, Oracle NetSuite. “In a highly regulated industry, Globalstar is pushing the boundaries of communications and helping businesses and people stay connected. With NetSuite, Globalstar has been able to simplify its business processes while scaling its operations. As a result, Globalstar can accelerate its growth and focus on meeting skyrocketing demand for reliable connectivity.”
Enterprise Times; What does this mean
The story of this deployment is interesting. It demonstrates that Oracle understands that the best migration path for Oracle Financials is not always Oracle Fusion applications. Some customers are better suited to Oracle NetSuite. It also shows the strength of the NetSuite solution in comparison to competitive solutions. The final decision was close between the two solutions, but NetSuite won.
It also showed NetSuite in a good light as it understood that some partners are not always a great fit for companies. Not only did Globalstar make a brave but necessary decision, it made it quickly, and NetSuite found the right partner in Myers Holum to work with Globalstar effectively. Globalstar is also not standing still with the solution, understanding that the very nature and benefit of cloud solutions means they can continue to improve the solution.
