Customer: Dixie Gas & Oil
Location: Verona, VA
Solution: Sage Intacct Accounting Software
Founded in 1946, Dixie Gas & Oil Corporation is a leading provider of propane and petroleum products for residential, commercial, agricultural, and industrial customers in western and central Virginia. Headquartered in Verona with additional locations in Elkton, Lexington, and Covington, Dixie offers propane, gas fireplaces and accessories, heating oil, kerosene, diesel fuel, gasoline, and a full range of bulk and packaged lubricants. In addition to quality products, the Dixie team is committed to providing outstanding service by developing and maintaining personal relationships with their customers.
To continue their success in a competitive marketplace, Dixie needed modern technology to support their staff and meet the expectations of today’s customers.
A Blast from the Past
Since 1989, Dixie had used an operational system built for the petroleum industry and customized for them. The system managed everything from general accounting to inventory to pricing and integrated with Dixie’s delivery system to provide a total solution. It was robust technology for the time and Dixie used it successfully for more than 25 years. But they realized they were missing out on the benefits of a more modern solution.
“While it was nice to have everything in one system, our existing solution was inflexible and difficult for new team members to learn,” explained Tina Estes, an accountant at Dixie. “It was UNIX-based, which limited its compatibility with Microsoft applications like Excel and its ability to integrate with other modern software. It was no longer a system that allowed Dixie to be on the cutting edge of technology and innovation.”
The Dixie team knew a more state-of-the-art solution would improve their day-to-day accounting operations. They also realized it would give them a competitive advantage by efficiently providing better business insight, allowing them to better serve customers and to make strategic decisions more quickly.
“Today, you must make decisions quicker, so management wants more instantaneous access to information,” said Danny Alexander, Executive VP. “Customers have a new level of access to information through the Internet and social media and it changes their expectations of products and services. To stay competitive, we must meet those expectations. And with our older accounting system, we were not able to manage data needed to effectively plan.”
Dixie began a process to update all their systems, including new delivery and back-office solutions. For the accounting function, the team wanted a cloud-based system that was intuitive to learn and use and one that would easily integrate with other programs. They wanted something flexible, with workflows that could be customized for different roles within the company.
With the legacy system, Dixie was using OKI Data printers to print reports or using a conversion program to move the UNIX-based data into Excel. Streamlining reporting and import/export capability was a must for any new solution.
A Two-for-One Deal
Dixie first implemented a new delivery system by Cargas Energy and was also impressed by the Cargas back-office solution. Upon a recommendation from Cargas, Dixie elected to evaluate Sage Intacct for accounting. The fact that Cargas used Intacct for their own accounting and that the software already had a deep integration with Cargas Energy were positive factors.
Dixie visited an existing Intacct customer and liked what they had to say about the product and felt Cargas had knowledge to help the team succeed with both systems.
“The most impressive thing was the knowledge the Cargas team had when they presented the demo,” said Alexander. “The ease of communicating with them and the understanding and depth of knowledge I felt Cargas had was important moving forward.”
Ultimately, Dixie decided to embark on a dual implementation of the Cargas Energy back-office solution and Sage Intacct.
“The most impressive thing was the knowledge the Cargas team had when they presented the demo,” said Alexander. “The ease of communicating with them and the understanding and depth of knowledge I felt Cargas had was important moving forward.”
Danny Alexander, Executive VP
From Manual to Modern
With new software in place, Dixie is realizing many benefits of a fully modern system. With Intacct’s multi-entity capabilities, the Dixie team can centrally manage all locations easily.
“The ability to drill down to the detail is much, much easier and quicker,” said Alexander.
Reporting is perhaps the most significant improvement, with the ability to produce electronic files directly from Intacct and export them with the click of a button. During the implementation process, Dixie took the opportunity to revise their general ledger and reporting structure to focus their financial statements to the desired detail and format. With Intacct’s capabilities and a more focused approach, Dixie is gaining new levels of insight into their business.
“With the options that are available, there really is no limit on report content,” said Estes.
Executives are now able to get needed information from reports and dashboards in Intacct, without having to delve into the details of the back-office software. At the same time, Sage Intacct’s integration with Cargas Energy provides levels of detail needed by the accounting team. Previously, researching historical transactions literally required a trip to check paper files. Now, team members just click a link in Sage Intacct and are directed to customer account details in Cargas Energy.
Intacct’s recurring automatic journal entries and automatic reversals are saving time, while the integration with Cargas Energy is reducing transaction mistakes and adjustments. Dixie transfers data from Cargas Energy to Intacct daily, which makes errors easy to find and correct and allows for up-to-date flash reporting at any point in time.
“Reduced manual data entry is an understatement,” said Estes.
With the right solutions in place, Dixie has the tools to make smart decisions about their business and to better serve their increasingly tech-savvy customers. And with a trusted partner at their side, Dixie feels confident about their future success.
“Cargas is willing to help in any way they can so we can meet our goals,” said Alexander. “It was the best decision we could have made.”