Mozaic Launches New Strategy Saving Other Nonprofits with Flexible Acumatica Cloud
Industry: Non-Profit, Manufacturing, Services, Healthcare
Location: New York State
Company Size: 500-999 employees
Replaced: Microsoft Dynamics, Sage
Acumatica is powerful. It is subscription-based with upfront costs but nowhere near the order of something like SAP, yet it comes with all the functionality.
Innovative Cloud Solutions Helps Mozaic Beat Ransomware, Launch New Strategy Saving Other Nonprofits
With Acumatica The Cloud ERPKey Results for Mozaic
Gained a powerful platform on which to grow through acquisitions, mergers, and new lines of busines
Increased peace of mind with a secure solution that kept operating despite ransomware attack
Acquired a cloud-based system allowing employees to access critical data from anywhere
Gained a financial system that flexes to the way nonprofits operate, handling fund accounting with ease
Saved financial team countless hours by eliminating manual processes and speeding financial close
Improved access to data, allowing employees to drill down and access information in real-time
Slashed admin costs in half for an outside nonprofit via a new partnership, saving the outside nonprofit
The Challenge
Mozaic is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization born from the merger of two The Arc of New York chapters: The Arc of Seneca Cayuga and The Arc of Yates. The organization serves more than 2,000 individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families, in the Finger Lakes Region in New York, making them the largest provider of services for individuals with disabilities in the Central NY region.
Some 700 staff members offer a complex array of services: employment services, transportation, preschool education, custodial services, snow removal and lawn care, as well as Medicaid-based services, clinic services, day and residential services, community support services and rep-payee services for individuals, meaning Mozaic manages money for individuals.
In addition, it operates a thriving integrated enterprise, Finger Lakes Textiles, which has made winter hats and other apparel for the U.S. Armed Forces for more than 25 years, and more recently, the public at large under the Arctic Gear retail brand with 100% of the proceeds going back to the mission.
“We are very complex for a $30 million operation,” says Tammy Raub, CFO of Mozaic. “Our newest strategic initiative is managing and saving other nonprofit organizations.”
The Solution
Acumatica Cloud ERP provided an easy-to-learn interface, self-service functionality, and automation, and it could allocate and parse expenses. “Acumatica can do that, and not a lot of others can unless you pay a gazillion dollars for an SAP-like system,” Raub says. “Acumatica is reasonable and powerful. It is subscription based with upfront costs but nowhere near the order of SAP, yet it comes with all the functionality.”
Yates implemented Acumatica with help from technology partner Innovative Cloud Solutions. Raub appreciated that Innovative Cloud Solutions took a facilitator role, not just a sales role and paired her with knowledgeable team members for the implementations.
Whether it was accommodating Mozaic employees at their Buffalo office, providing information for a grant or streamlining communication and training, ICS went above and beyond, she says. “Colleen facilitated conversations and brought in expertise so that I always got what I wanted and I never had to explain myself to 14 different people. She was a big timesaver.”
Innovative Cloud Solutions takes a “train the trainer” approach when it comes to implementations. They just don’t dive in and fix broken systems but share knowledge.
“We really take a lot of time to understand our customer’s business,” says Amy Rizzo. “We had a good knowledge base with Arc of Yates because we supported them on the Microsoft platform. When they came over to Acumatica, we had to get their people on board, implement, and then train their people on how best to utilize the functionality that is offered in Acumatica.”
“We envision ourselves as an extension of their business,” she adds. “The more we know about them, the better we are at guiding them through and navigating the waters of implementing the new platform. We explain what it will take, frame it, and set the proper expectations.”
Implementing Acumatica at Yates shaved seven days off month-end closes because shadow spreadsheets were no longer needed; data was now in one system. Executives gained access to real-time information, and today multiple employees work in the system without it crashing like the legacy system did if more than one person was using it.