Portfolio CFO Systems Integration Forum and Guidance for UK-Based PE Firm

Private Equity

Value Highlights

One of the UK’s leading mid-market Private Equity investors had identified a number of ERP related issues within its portfolio. Panamoure was engaged to present to a forum of investee CFOs aimed at addressing those issues, but also to provide guidance and impart wisdom and lessons learned that are critical for successful ERP implementation.

The approach taken was an informal presentation mixed with the ability to Q&A throughout, with practical, high value-add “take away” packs provided to all participants. The work was provided entirely as Panamoure’s investment.

What Were the Challenges?

A number of the PE firm’s portfolio companies had questions regarding ERP introduction, implementation and future investment. Each of the companies were at different stages of the ERP journey:

Some required ERP issues fixing or ERP upgrades
Some were just considering their first ERP investment
Some had already a new, chosen ERP selected that required implementation
All were focused on reduced implementation costs

Common problems communicated across the portfolio included:

Disparate systems that had not been integrated
Duplication or manual interventions frequently required for finance processes
Prevalence of poor data quality, finance transparency and financial control, and escalating costs

So, What Did we Do?

Panamoure consultants were engaged to present to a number of the private equity firm’s portfolio CFOs

ERP guidance and knowledge was delivered to the group across the following practical areas:

Overview of an ERP system
Why do you need an ERP solution?
CFO challenges today
Enhancing finance and operations
ERP implementation walkthrough
Developing the business case

Results

The private equity firm remains a valued client and subsequently introduced a number of the attendee portfolio companies to appoint Panamoure for value-add engagements.