ATOM fuels their ambitious growth plans supported by NetSuite and Annexa
At a glance
Terminal management firm ATOM had growth aspirations unsupported by their existing ERP. With Annexa’s best-in-class NetSuite cloud ERP integration and implementation approach, ATOM’s revenue grew over 72% in just three years.
Industry
Products
Services
Systems replaced
- MYOB Advanced
- Excel Spreadsheets
The client
Australian Terminal Operations Management (ATOM) is a joint venture between BP and engineering and services provider UGL. Specialising in the operation and maintenance of fuel and energy terminals across Australia. With a focus on hazardous liquids, ATOM manages over 20 bulk fuel storage facilities nationwide. Under the leadership of CEO, Chris Gatt, ATOM champions the principles of intelligent innovation. The company is recognised for its progressive approach and agility, prioritising safety and continually seeking to enhance its operational processes and infrastructure.
At the highest level, we were looking to adopt a cloud platform that could support our growth aspirations and streamline reporting processes. Everything was far too manual.Rhys Long, IT manager, ATOM
The challenge
As a leader in advancing the standards of terminal management, it’s no surprise that ATOM turned to digital transformation to support their ambitious growth plans.
ATOM were facing several significant issues with MYOB Advanced that prompted them to seek a new ERP solution.
"In terms of best practices, we found ourselves having to improvise more than we liked. We were really looking for a solution that would align us more closely with industry best practices."
- Rhys Long, IT manager, ATOM
MYOB Advanced was no longer able to support scalability, particularly when handling multiple customer segments. This was a significant drawback for ATOM as they had plans to expand their customer base.
Limited reporting capabilities were making it difficult to efficiently generate reports. The system required manual data extraction and manipulation in Excel, which was both time-consuming and error prone. The heavy reliance on manual processes also introduced risks to key financial operations, including the potential for errors and the override of controls. This was particularly problematic in their procure-to-pay processes, which were not only manual but also lacked the necessary controls to ensure accuracy and compliance.
These limitations led ATOM to address their ERP system needs, aiming to replace MYOB Advanced with a solution better suited for growth. This led to the selection of NetSuite and the introduction of Annexa as the integration partner, chosen for their cultural fit and expertise.
“Early on, we felt that Annexa was a great cultural fit, and this was confirmed as we moved into the implementation. They were incredibly supportive and always available, guiding us through the implementation process and helping us adhere to best practices. It was a very positive experience from the beginning, allowing us to lean on Annexa’s expertise to enhance our practices and improve our operations.”
- Rhys Long, IT manager, ATOM
Automated accounts payable processes
Revenue grew over 70% in 3 years
Near touch-less invoice processing
Custom project tracker tool
The results
ATOM has scaled its business with a modern cloud-based NetSuite platform – integrated with safety management software MyOsh - that’s given operational and finance staff the flexibility and automation-driven processes to refocus on initiatives that drive growth. In fact, in the three years following deployment, ATOM’s revenue has grown over 70%.
ATOM’s implementation was completed in two stages. In stage one, we introduced core accounting capabilities and transitioned ATOM from manual Excel methods to NetSuite Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (PBCS), improving budget management and financial monitoring across all regions. To ensure timely and accurate data, we integrated MyOsh external Excel reporting with NetSuite using CSV drag-and-drop capabilities on the Annexa Connect platform.
Stage two was centred on closing a gap between project and business financials. The goal was to provide ATOM with clear visibility on project expenditures, better control over financial flows and more seamless project management capabilities.
We built a custom project tracker tool to facilitate the automated import of project data - including budgets and forecasts - into NetSuite through a simple drag-and-drop interface. This innovative tool provides comprehensive parent-level summaries of child tasks, capturing both CAPEX and OPEX totals, and tracking budget variations with an integrated approval workflow. The imported data integrates seamlessly with NetSuite Planning and Budgeting (NSPB), delivering clear, actionable insights into project performance through advanced project summaries. Additionally, milestone automation empowers users to create milestones from templates and update them automatically based on system events, keeping projects on track while addressing deviations. To cater to the needs of diverse project teams, the project tracker features robust security protocols, facilitating secure access for both internal teams and external contractors.
In addition, ATOM utilised NetSuite's AI driven end to end automation with a goal to achieve touch-less invoice processing. This eliminated the need for manual uploads of PDFs and data matching, significantly reducing manual tasks while ensuring strict compliance with company policies.
NetSuite has deeply enhanced ATOM's compliance with BP’s evolving financial standards, improving their response to operational changes and risk management. As BP’s operations grow, introducing more complex demands and diverse stakeholders, NetSuite supports ATOM to efficiently manage, and scale operations as required.
Using NetSuite to automate our accounts payable process has really cut down on the manual workload and freed our accounts payable team to concentrate on higher value tasks.Rhys Long, IT manager, ATOM
