Ground Control speeds its close 55%, frees up over £900k in cash flow

Ground Control helps customers connect devices in some of the world’s remote regions with satellite IoT (Internet of Things), machine-to-machine, and cellular technology.

Ground Control communications solutions are used in agriculture, environmental, mining, forestry, and other applications—even by anti-poaching teams protecting wildlife in Zimbabwe.

Based in the U.S. and U.K., Ground Control has grown steadily since 2002, serving 4,500 customers in 130 countries.

With growth, the company needed a system that could unify its business, based on a merger of the separate firms Ground Control, Rock Seven, and Wireless Innovations.

It turned to Sage Intacct when its previous business solution faced an end-of-life cutoff.

Sage Intacct met Ground Control’s needs for multi-entity financial consolidation and recurring revenue management, with both functionality and affordability that competitors such as Oracle NetSuite and Xero couldn’t match.

“The Sage Intacct consolidation module was better than any of the others that we’d seen on the market, with the ability to do a proper consolidation that stands up to an audit,” says Steve Smith, CFO. “Its focus on recurring revenue streams, managing invoicing and renewals, was another key reason why Sage Intacct was the product for us.”

Double-digit reduction in overdue debt

Live in 2020, Sage Intacct is helping Ground Control streamline and scale its business through efficient financial management, improved business visibility, and intuitive ease of use.

The company has:

• Reduced monthly close time 55%, from 11 days to five
• Cut overdue debt from 22% to 8%
• Opened over £900k in operating cash flow
• Improved staff productivity, retention, and job satisfaction
• Increased order-to-cash efficiency via Salesforce integration

“Our percentage of debt over 60 days old has dropped from a high of about 22% six or seven months ago to about 8% right now,” Smith says. “That’s been partly enabled by having all our information in one place with Sage Intacct.”

Trimming overdue debt has opened over £900k in cash flow, a welcome improvement for Ground Control and its private equity backer, Horizon Capital.

“Having our aged debt and all relevant information in one place with Sage Intacct allows us to chase debt more effectively,” Smith says.

Delivering accurate finance data faster

Streamlined financial consolidations have helped Ground Control close the monthly books in just five days, down from 11 days previously.

Leadership now has timely and accurate financial reports twice as quickly as in the past.

“One big value we have with Sage Intacct is one source of data truth we can rely on once we close the books, versus always second-guessing yourself,” says Tina Gantley, group financial controller.

Speed and visibility in order to cash processes have improved markedly with Sage Intacct’s order entry module integrating with a Salesforce CRM application.

“Once a sales order closes in Salesforce, the data comes into Sage Intacct for invoicing,” Gantley says. “A unique identifier lets you trace through the journey, from the original order down to the cash.”

Improved sales and customer retention

Additional time is being saved thanks to the ease of information access in Sage Intacct.

“For the first time in my career, my team can intuitively get data out of a finance system for our decision making,” says Smith. “Personally, it’s made my life easier to use a system where it’s quite obvious what you need to do to get the information you’re looking for.”

That intuitive, on-demand data access has proven especially valuable when Smith is asked a question by sales or operational teams that requires a look at data.

“I’m expected to have an answer if sales or commercial teams have a question, mostly on customer-facing issues,” says Smith. “Using Sage Intacct shortens my life to respond by a day—basically ‘half-lifeing’ the time it takes a team to address a customer issue.”

“That has a lot of value to us in improved customer retention and improved sales conversion,” Smith adds.

Higher job satisfaction and retention

Smith isn’t alone in appreciating the ease of use found in Sage Intacct. The entire finance team has embraced the system.

“This is the only time in my career when the finance team isn’t complaining about the finance system constantly,” Smith says. “I don’t hear the moaning that, ‘I can’t do my job because the system is rubbish.’ They trust that the data is right and like the way they can work in Sage Intacct.”

As a result, Ground Control has improved job satisfaction and retention across the finance team.

Efficiencies have opened new time for staff to take on value-adding projects and expand their skill sets.

Having used Sage Intacct at two previous companies, along with competing applications, Gantley gives the system high marks.

“Sage Intacct is one of the best systems I’ve used because of its simplicity — you don’t get lost in the details like you do with bigger systems,” Gantley says.

Learn more

Ground Control is one of a growing number of SaaS/software companies to adopt Sage Intacct.

Sage Intacct is the #1 solution of choice for SaaS companies outgrowing QuickBooks or migrating from a legacy system, according to a study by The SaaS CFO.

Learn more about what Sage Intacct can do for your software and services company here