Raymond Chabot accounts for growth by moving to Oracle Cloud
Leading Canadian professional services firm migrates on-premises software to a complete cloud suite, achieving a single source of truth in real time.
“We needed an ERP system that would grow with us. Oracle Cloud ERP is a modern and mobile ERP system that is enhanced every quarter.”
Business challenges
Part of the global Grant Thornton organization, Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton (RCGT) is a professional services firm based in Quebec that’s been dedicated to the success of organizations and their leaders since 1948. The Canadian firm provides expertise in assurance, tax, advisory services, business recovery, and reorganization, with more than 2,700 professionals, including about 200 partners, in over 100 offices across Quebec and in the Ottawa and Edmundston regions.
The firm had outgrown its legacy ERP system. While the on-premises system, Epicor ERP, had once been a good fit, it required so many customizations and enhancements over the years by the IT department that it became almost impossible to enhance the system through upgrades. The legacy system’s delays were making it hard for management to make critical business decisions in a timely manner. Additionally, the complexity of the system made it so that RCGT relied heavily on the IT department to maintain and use the database, so much so that the end-of-month closing process was supported by IT.
Without the ability to upgrade its legacy system, RCGT decided to assess cloud software vendors in order to adopt a modern, cloud-based financial foundation.
Having a cloud solution provides all kinds of benefits. It allows us to be mobile. I don’t know what we would have done during the pandemic with an on-premises ERP system.
Why Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton chose Oracle
RCGT shortlisted three cloud-based applications: Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, and Oracle. After interviewing over 200 employees and completing an extensive evaluation of solution requirements, the firm selected Oracle Cloud because it provided the most complete suite of cloud applications that would accompany RCGT in its growth.
After deciding to move its financials to Oracle Cloud ERP and EPM, the firm additionally chose to implement its sales and marketing software on Oracle Sales and Oracle Eloqua Marketing Automation. “It was a no-brainer,” says Peter Layoun, RCGT vice president of information technology.
Results
Using Oracle Cloud ERP and EPM, RCGT gets access to real-time data. Rather than waiting hours for reports, the finance department, as well as management, can pull reports within minutes, and information can be used to quickly make better-informed business decisions.
Oracle Cloud also helps the firm manage the billing cycle more efficiently, so partners know where each project stands, how much billing they have, and how much more remains. Faster invoicing improves cash flow.
With Oracle Cloud ERP and EPM, the finance department is more empowered and no longer is heavily dependent on IT to do their jobs. And tasks that were previously manual and time-consuming, such as preparing financial statements, are now automated, reducing errors and rework.
By leveraging Oracle Cloud’s automatic quarterly application updates, RCGT has access to a continuous stream of innovation that keeps the company on the cutting edge of technology. Consistent enhancements such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning-based capabilities allow RCGT to spend more time on strategic initiatives to expand the firm.
In the business’s front office, Oracle Sales provides a single platform for salespeople to manage their sales funnel and build dashboards. Eloqua integrates with the CRM solution to enhance sales and marketing efforts with email campaigns personalized to the client’s industry and unique interests. The company also uses Eloqua's A/B testing to create, test, and modify email marketing campaigns to help determine what their audience is interested in and how they respond.
“Eloqua is the channel where we can reach our client very specifically, and it's the channel that brings back the most value in terms of return on investment. The fact that both Eloqua and our CRM are centralized into one database really helps us build better efficiency and more performant marketing solutions," says Patrick Danis, director of business intelligence and customer experience.
Ultimately, RCGT accomplished its goal of having a unified cloud platform that will scale with the company’s growth. Expanding the firm and acquiring new businesses is now easier than ever. “We’re a little team, and we just roll it out now. We make it happen,” says Mireille Dallaire, senior director of operational systems.