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MarketSphere Reduces Operating Costs with Sage Intacct Accounting Software

Customer: MarketSphere

Location: Omaha, NE

Solution: Sage Intacct Accounting Software

Based in Omaha, Nebraska and with offices in five other states, MarketSphere® started as a consulting business in 2002 specializing in enterprise system advisory and implementation services. As the company grew, additional niche solutions and businesses were developed. Over time the largest solution it offered evolved into an enterprise-sized technology consulting and implementation business, which was eventually divested. That led the company to become the smaller, leaner holding company it is today.

Under the holding company, the organization consists of five business units:

  • MarketSphere Unclaimed Property – Specializing in unclaimed property services and providing annual compliance, audit defense, liability reduction, and capital recovery solutions.
  • EMMsphere – Providing marketing technology advisory, implementation, and managed support services with a primary focus on Teradata marketing operations software.
  • Pound250 (#250) – An abbreviated dialing code with a voice keyword recognition platform that helps advertisers connect with consumers in a quick and seamless fashion.
  • MarketSphere Innovation Center – Offering technical resources to develop software, build applications, and provide helpdesk services.
  • Marketing Performance Group – Focusing on providing marketing analytic solutions that enhance information flow to marketing executives using technologies such as Allocadia® and Salesforce.

The Challenge: New Accounting System Requirements Due to Divestiture of Largest Business and Restructuring of Company

When enterprise system implementations were MarketSphere’s primary business focus, not only had they implemented platforms for their clients, but they also used large enterprise systems in-house.

“Going from an enterprise-sized business to a smaller company didn’t leave us with the internal resources to support such a large, complex, and expensive system. And our legacy accounting system hadn’t been configured to handle and report financial data for multiple entities,” explained Brian Myers, Chief Financial Officer at MarketSphere. “We needed an accounting platform that was intuitive to use, that would aggregate data effectively, and would suit our needs as a lean and smaller organization.”

The Solution: Intacct Cloud Accounting Software Implemented By Cargas

MarketSphere decided to transition to Intacct cloud-based accounting software. The platform’s project accounting, revenue recognition, and order management features; its ability to handle multiple entities with different accounting structures; and its open API, which allows it to easily integrate with other systems, sold them on the solution.

MarketSphere initially worked with Intacct directly and was then introduced to Cargas to execute the implementation.

“Cargas was instrumental in helping us set it up, understand it, and work through the questions we had about the system. Our goal was to learn the system inside and out,” shared Myers. “They also helped us control some of the implementation costs.”

Benefits: Increased Visibility to Data, Reduced Operating Costs, More Time to Focus on Innovation

According to Myers, MarketSphere’s accounting department staff members have benefited most from the change to Intacct; they now have a more user friendly, versatile system to work with on a daily basis.

“Our end of month close has decreased by a day to a day and a half. We can get things done more quickly,” said Myers.

The company as a whole is reaping the rewards, too.

“All of our business units have dashboards with real-time data at their fingertips to help them analyze and make decisions,” shared Myers. “And we’ve saved significantly over what we were paying to maintain our legacy on-premise enterprise system. Our costs are approximately half of what they were before.”

Aside from the quantifiable monetary savings, Myers said there have been other benefits, as well.

Intacct enables them to do project billing on an amortization basis, time and material project billing, and recognize revenue instantly.

And because the system requires less of his attention, Myers now has more time to focus on other areas of the business. “I can put my mind to being creative and thinking about how to grow the company rather than worry about how to configure the system or troubleshoot.”

A Rewarding Collaboration

“Having worked in the software consulting space for so long, I felt like I was working with some of my own, so to speak.” said Myers. “Connie and Jodi from Cargas are knowledgeable about the product and skilled at project management. They fit well into our company culture.”

Based on his experience with other software implementations, Myers found Cargas’s approach to implementation cohesive and thorough.

“As with any implementation project, there were some issues—that goes with the territory. Connie was extremely effective at troubleshooting to find workarounds, and she included the entire team so everyone was in the know.”

According to Myers, it has been a successful implementation and a successful solution.

The company continues to consult with Cargas through a Level 2 support agreement to help MarketSphere with larger initiatives.

“I would certainly recommend Cargas. They are knowledgeable and offered good project management and oversight,” shared Myers. “They know how to be a good implementation partner because they understand the challenges the client is facing.”