Tag Archives: Familyowned
How One Family-Owned Business Laid its Foundation for Success
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If you would have asked the founders of a raw marble slab wholesale business where they thought the company would be in 40 years, you might not have expected to hear ‘doing international business through a virtual showroom.’ However, that is exactly how the family-owned Cosentino Group, now a $ 1 billion-dollar global business, finds itself; interacting seamlessly and virtually through its state-of-the-art online kitchen and bath showroom with customers from all over the world.
The company that got its start selling to stonemasons in the regions surrounding the Sierra Nevada mountains in southern Europe has gone through several transformations since its beginning. Much of this is due to the shift kitchens and baths have seen over recent decades, going from utilitarian necessities to luxurious statement makers. With high-end materials in high demand, the family-owned business took off.
The stone slabs themselves weren’t the only thing in demand—customers wanted a full experience. To view inventory, envision what their homes might look like with surface upgrades, and interact with the business to learn more about their options. This meant complete business reinvention for Cosentino.
As business grew, the company had to set up new distribution centers around the world—and hire people to work at them—in order to keep up with demand. Going global has its set of challenges, though. Cosentino needed to extend its holistic approach to business around the world while also adhering to local regulations. To keep the family-owned culture intact, the company implemented an integration system to keep everything (and everyone) connected.
Cosentino tried a few different solution providers before ultimately settling with TIBCO. TIBCO offers a single-platform, cloud-based solution that comes with IT support, including off-site maintenance and upgrades (a must for a company with headquarters in a secluded Spanish valley). But for Cosentino, it wasn’t purely a decision based on the quality of the technology—cultural alignment between the company and TIBCO played a role in the success of the project as well. Learn how Cosentino Group went from wholesale granite miners to international digital influencers with the help of TIBCO.
Compac Industries: A Family-Owned Manufacturer and Distributor Driven by Family Values
Posted by Kristin Swenson, Wholesale Distribution Industry Marketing Lead
A family-owned business founded by Jamaican immigrant Frederick Hart in 1980, Compac Industries is an admirable example of what most would consider the American Dream. The Georgia-based business is a manufacturer and distributor of products designed to make life simpler, ranging from kitchen gadgets, to oral care, to baby accessories. Compac Industries was built on an important set of shared values focused on serving others. Now run by Frederick’s son Dean-Paul, Compac Industries continues to embrace its roots and identity as a tight-knit, family-run company committed to improving the lives of others. The company still employs Dean-Paul’s mother and father as well as other extended family members, but considers all employees to be members of the Hart family.
Responding to Industry and Consumer Trends
Over its 40 years in operation, Compac Industries has navigated many significant changes across technology and consumer behavior that ultimately shaped the way the company went to market. By closely following and responding to these changes, Compac continues to grow.
Historically concentrated mostly on the B2B space, Compac Industries has traditionally relied on its partnerships with retailers to reach end customers. B2C was less of a focus, driven primarily by call-in customer orders from product catalogs. Yet, as technology advancements drove the growth of the ecommerce sector, both Compac’s consumer and competitive landscapes were revolutionized. Exposed to the shopping and buying experience of companies like Amazon, consumers began to expect similar online shopping experiences elsewhere. As a manufacturer and distributor of solution products, Compac understood the importance of keeping pace with consumer expectations. Compac chose to partner with online retail giants like Amazon and Wal-Mart to put their products in front of online consumers.
Additionally, Compac began to recognize that consumers were beginning to identify and engage directly with brands. That led the company to rethink both its product delivery and brand strategy, seeking to create a stronger connection between its customers and its brands. Between 2015 and 2016, Compac rebranded all of its products, putting them into specific segments under corresponding brands. Compac now maintains five distinct brands of products, allowing the customer to more closely engage with a specific brand, driving customer loyalty and like-product purchases.
Choosing the Right Technology Partner
As the business continued to evolve, Compac recognized the limitations of its antiquated ERP system and its manual processes often done in Excel. To propel its brand strategy and future growth, Compac knew it needed the right technology partner to manage the entirety of the business, from customers, to inventory to financials. Compac ultimately made the decision to switch from its Sage ERP platform to NetSuite in 2017. Compac is utilizing the full business management suite, managing financials and accounting, inventory, warehouse, customers and email marketing on the NetSuite platform. During a recent webinar, Dean-Paul proudly shared that, after installing NetSuite, the company’s inventory was fully reported and work orders were automatically generating for the first time in 20 years. He values the out-of-the box dashboards the system provides, allowing him to keep tabs on all major departments while empowering his employees to focus on their value.
Ensuring Multi-Generational Family Business Success
Compac has successfully navigated 40 years of operation through two generations of Hart leadership. Building on the foundation of strong family values established by his father, Dean-Paul has helped guide Compac Industries through changing customer and competitive landscapes. As he looks to the future, he knows he needs to use what he learned about his own succession into company leadership to plan for the future leadership of Compac. To learn more about Compac Industries’ approach to succession planning, download the recording of NetSuite’s “The Family Business: Succession Planning” webinar here.
by NetSuite filed under
Family-owned Businesses, Divestitures and Innovators: NetSuite Customers Shine in 2017
Posted by Barney Beal, Content Director
As we start the new year and begin to line up new projects and initiatives, I think this is the 
best time to do some reflecting on the past. And the more we think on it, 2017 was ruled by our customers. NetSuite’s vision has always been to transform how businesses operate so they can achieve their business vision, and those transformations have been ubiquitous on our blog. From family-owned businesses expanding beyond expectations to software companies divested from their parent company and thriving, these customer stories speak to our vision.
Here we take the time to showcase some of the best customer stories featured on the NetSuite blog in 2017, as an ode, a tribute, adoration for our customers who help us achieve our vision every day.
MotoAlliance Turns Family Business into Global Manufacturer, Outgrows QuickBooks
MotoAlliance, a manufacturer and distributor of power sports accessories, started as a family-owned business and has grown to manufacture with partners in the U.S., China, Australia and France and sells its products through 400 dealerships across the country including large retailers like Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops. Read their growth story and hear directly from their president, Maury Kapsner.
Tech Sparks Transformation of Action Health
Action Health, a healthcare packaging distributor, is another family-owned business that has transformed its business to drive rapid growth. Taking on a new mission to deliver savings to the supply chain, the management team knew that technology would play a critical role. Read their growth story and learn how they decided that selling part of the business was the best strategy.
OpenSymmetry Replaces Salesforce, FinancialForce with NetSuite for ERP, PSA and CRM
For OpenSymmetry, a management consulting and system integrator focused on sales performance management, the vision was clear. In order to grow, it needed a single platform that provided ERP, CRM and PSA software that can scale. Read their story and find out why NetSuite OneWorld was the right choice all along.
Quicken Hastens Toward New Future with NetSuite
In March of 2016, Intuit announced it would divest Quicken Inc., the 30-year-old flagship personal finance software, to sharpen its focus on small business. Quicken viewed it as an opportunity filled with potential and a big part of solidifying their future was building the new company on a foundation that was agile and scalable enough to move at the pace the industry demanded. Read their story and see how they prepared their business for growth.
Home Audio Retailer Fluance Makes Beautiful Music with NetSuite
Fluance, a leading manufacturer and B2C ecommerce retailer of speakers, turntables and home theater systems that focus on high performance, is a small family-backed company that pivoted from brick-and-mortar sales of third-party equipment in favor of a budding Fluance brand, opening a first-generation webstore on Yahoo. Read their growth story and learn how Fluance is taking sound to the next level.
These five customer stories embody the different experiences, circumstances and dynamics that running a business entails and their path to growth. Come back to read part 2 of “Customers Shine in 2017” and to see what else we have in store to get you ready to grow in 2018!
by NetSuite filed under