Saddleback Leather

Open Platform for Development

Munson liked that Acumatica was an open platform for developers. The solution was very user friendly and offered progressive consumption-based pricing. It was also mobile, easily connected to third party software, handled inventory well, and was in the cloud, he says.

The company began implementing Acumatica with help from Acumatica partner Kensium in April and went live Oct. 1. Saddleback Leather’s IT development team shrunk from 14 to 2, reducing the company’s costs by some $750,000 annually, Munson says.

“We let all the NetSuite people go, which was sad because a lot of them were friends,” Munson said. “It stunk. One person threatened that we’d be out of business in three months if we left NetSuite.”

Obviously, that didn’t happen.

More Revenue, Less Cost

Saddleback Leather is now thriving thanks to Acumatica’s connected software, its ease of use and ability to work seamlessly with third party software. Sales have increased while its technology costs have shrunk dramatically.

“Our technology costs are now 33 percent cheaper and we have 10 times the functionality,” he says. “Our organic traffic is up 45 percent and we are selling more because we are off NetSuite and on Acumatica.”

The company’s inventory is more accurate than it’s ever been, and inventory is not messing up the company’s financial numbers, he says.

Real-Time Information

Even better, for the first time in many years, executives have access to the same version of the company’s financial truth and can make decisions faster. They don’t waste time trying to figure out whose numbers are right or wait for month-end any longer. “With NetSuite, we tried for years to get a unified dashboard for executives,” Munson says. “No one at NetSuite could tell us how to get the same numbers which made it very difficult to get a clear understanding of our business and make decisions.” Now, with Acumatica, Saddleback Leather has one version of the truth at their fingertips in real-time. Executives have access to the same information and decisions are made much more quickly.

Easy to Use

Saddleback employees are actually using the software because it is so easy to use, Munson says. “With NetSuite, it was so difficult to remember how to get to the right screen, so employees began using Google docs, Sheets, and Excel as a workaround because they didn’t want to ask how to do something again,” Munson explains.

They have not had that problem with Acumatica. “I find more people are using Acumatica because it’s intuitive, makes sense and is so easy to use,” he says. “We don’t have spreadsheets flying around and people have access to the same data all the time.”

Much Lower Operating Costs

Not only has Saddleback Leather reduced its overall operating costs because it doesn’t need to carry a large development staff or maintain costly infrastructure on premises, but the company isn’t paying out as much for the solution either.

“We’ve significantly lowered our tech costs because Acumatica charges based on consumption rather than per-user license,” Munson says. “And we don’t have to worry about adding users because it’s not a huge cost at all.”

Munson says Saddleback was paying some $230,000 annually for Oracle NetSuite and most likely spent another $4 million over seven years to keep it running with the large development staff.

He estimates Oracle NetSuite’s inefficiencies also cost the company millions because of the online traffic they didn’t get and the sales they didn’t generate.

Marketing Possibilities

Because Acumatica seamlessly connects to many third-party applications, Saddleback Leather has become much more effective in its marketing. Now, in addition to their website via the Native Big Commerce Connector, the company uses NETSTOCK, ShipStation, and ChannelAdvisor.

They can make product landing pages, add SEO and launch email marketing campaigns easily, all tasks extremely difficult to do with Oracle NetSuite.

“We’re implementing actions and a forum on our site, which we couldn’t do before, “he says. “We wanted it for years and years, and there is a long list of marketing things we can do now that we couldn’t before.”

Conclusion

Acumatica’s user friendly, connected platform allows Saddleback Leather to capture increased online sales at a lower operating cost, making the company more profitable. Most importantly, Dave can increase his focus on his personal mission of improving lives and providing opportunities globally.

“We’re getting more done since April than in almost 10 years,” Munson says, adding one employee approached him and said the progress was incredible. “He told me how he noticed we had done more recently than in all the years he had worked at Saddleback.”

“I had a million ideas but all of them were impossible with Oracle NetSuite. Now, I sleep, dream and hope – three things I was not able to do with NetSuite. Our culture and atmosphere are so much more positive, and people are in a good mood. Everything is coming together, and our company is growing at a fast rate. It’s fantastic.”