Case Study | DirectBooks Transforms its Financial Management of Several Entities with NetSuite

The Company

DirectBooks is a fintech company and market leading platform for communication in primary markets, specializing in structured deal data, documentation, and information exchange. The DirectBooks platform offers transformative automation and standardization across global investment grade, high yield, and emerging markets fixed income products.

 

The company’s finance team was preparing itself for major changes and growth in the company’s operations that were going to significantly impact existing processes.

The Challenge

DirectBooks was experiencing many changes, including the introduction of new revenue streams, a larger client base with significantly more customer data to manage, as well as the potential for many new subscriptions to manage and track, which included varying subscription periods and pricing models. All of this on top of a multi-entity, multi-currency financial structure.

 

The company’s invoicing process and revenue recognition had room for improvement; its subscription invoices and revenue recognition were both manual processes before making the switch to NetSuite. Additionally, the company’s existing system was not equipped with the tools to carry out accounting processes for multi-subsidiary consolidation, and the company needed to supplement those functions by using other third-party consolidation and reporting tools for eliminations and FX translation. This was the only way for them to see consolidated financials and reports, which did not allow for the flexibility of real-time reporting.

The Solution

After much research and due diligence, DirectBooks decided to make the shift to NetSuite in order to be prepared to scale with the company’s growth and expand the capabilities of their finance tech-stack.

 

The team chose Caravel as its implementation partner due to its structured approach, robust resources, and hands-on process. Caravel’s experience, knowledge, and segmented approach to implementation made them feel at ease. “I felt like the pacing was perfect, and I never had too much on my plate at a given time,” said Ben Karpas, Finance Associate at DirectBooks.

 

Initial sessions with Caravel began with them learning about the DirectBooks business, current finance tech-stack, and processes so they could tailor NetSuite to their needs. They had clear communication throughout the implementation and beyond, and weekly check-ins were very helpful to keep expectations, deliverables, and the overall product on track and on budget.

 

Caravel assisted with customizations such as custom workflows, CSV imports, custom fields and reporting, and custom client-facing PDF invoice formats. Caravel also helped the DirectBooks team make efficient use of time when it came to data migration by providing standardized templates and giving guidance on what was necessary and what was “nice-to-have”, as well as providing experiences from other customers on how to best carry out not only the migration, but the go-forward use and administration.

 

To read about the significant results DirectBooks experienced, please download the full case study below. 

Webinar on Demand | Revolutionizing Financial Planning & Analysis with AI and Automation

In a live, 30-minute webinar, Caravel’s EPM Consulting Manager, Sadman Rahman, will discuss NetSuite’s NSPB for budgeting and forecasting.

 

He will reveal capabilities that propel businesses to make more informed decisions with:

 

  • Predictive planning using machine learning by offering:

 

    • Forecast Variance and Bias Insights
    • Prediction Insights
    • Anomaly Insights

Mastering FP&A with Automation and Machine Learning

Many organizations are fraught with inaccurate data that is siloed from business operations when conducting planning and budgeting cycles, resulting in arduous manual work that is time-consuming and loaded with errors. Not to mention, relaying this vital information to leadership and key stakeholders can be laborious and flawed.


NetSuite Planning and Budgeting, or NSPB, is a powerful tool used by organizations to budget and forecast utilizing financial data from NetSuite. This robust solution propels finance teams to spend less time on manual tasks, saving them time and energy.


It is collaborative, scalable, automated, and accurate. NSPB provides predictive analytics, sophisticated modeling capabilities, “what-if” scenarios, rolling forecasts, reporting and approval workflows, transparency into performance, and real-time decision-making capability.


Predictive Planning with Machine Learning

The power behind NSPB is due to the integration of machine learning to automate processes, enhance accuracy in forecasting and budgeting, and offer deep insights into financial data, which enables users to make more informed decisions.


With predictive forecasting, machine learning algorithms analyze historical data and identify patterns and trends that financial analysts can miss. This aids in generating more accurate forecasts for future periods based on past performance. These same algorithms can automatically detect anomalies in financial data, which is helpful for pinpointing unusual spending patterns, unexpected variances, or mistakes in budgeting.


NSPB can leverage machine learning to optimize budget allocations based on various constraints and objectives. This might involve recommending adjustments to spending levels across different departments or projects to achieve desired financial outcomes.


Machine learning can help in generating and analyzing multiple scenarios based on different assumptions and inputs, which allows finance professionals to evaluate the potential impact of various business decisions or market changes on their budgets and plans.

Real-Time Data and Collaborative Endeavors

Because NSPB integrates financial planning across the entire organization, data is consolidated from various departments and functions which offers a wholistic view of performance and forecasts. Real-time financial data enables teams to make informed decisions based on the latest information, rather than outdated facts and figures.


With “what-if” scenarios, NSPB allows businesses to create several scenarios based on multiple assumptions and variables, which helps in comprehending potential outcomes of different strategies and decisions. This facilitates better risk management and contingency planning.


The collaborative approach that NSPB takes facilitates different teams to work together and ensures alignment with overall business objectives, assuring that everyone is working for a common purpose. Tools for monitoring performance against budgets and forecasts helps to identify deviations early on, and fosters corrective action to be taken sooner, helping to stay on track with financial goals.



Save Time, Cost, and Hours

Integrating NSPB into your NetSuite instance will greatly help financial teams to cut time on the budgeting cycle. It not only reduces human error in detecting anomalies, it also frees time from analyzing data and allows financial professionals to actually do the work and make decisions. Its out-of-the-box functionality allows teams to leverage these tools to get accurate forecasts without significant upfront costs.


Because all financial data, forecasts, and budgets are stored on a centralized platform, it eliminates the need for spreadsheets and disparate systems across departments. This ensures more accuracy and consistency in financial planning.


Manual work such as data entry, consolidation, and reporting are automated, which reduces time spent on these tasks and allows FP&A teams to focus more on analysis and strategy. Its customized reporting capabilities allows users to generate reports and dashboards that are tailored to specific needs, giving way to a more transparent view into performance and better decision-making. Financial plans and budgets also adhere to regulatory requirements by offering audit trails, version control, and security.

NSPB enhances FP&A by providing a unified, collaborative, and automated solution that seamlessly integrates with NetSuite ERP and empowers organizations to make more intelligent decisions based on accurate data, more precise forecasting, and ultimately improves overall performance and strategic outcomes.


For expert guidance on NSPB and NetSuite and how it can drive your organization to be more efficient and effective, contact us below.

NSPB Tips & Tricks

On Thursday, September, 7th we hosted a live training session about the tips and tricks our team have for NetSuite Planning & Budgeting.

 

Caravel covered the below topics:

– Infolets

– Dashboards

– Cell Level Security

– Clone Migration

– Navigation Flow

– Action Menu

*Agenda subject to change

 

Presenters

Arbi Villena | EPM Director

 

 

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