Case Study: Vadar Systems
SmartBooks provides financial backbone to support Vadar Systems' 66% client growth and 70% revenue growth over 3 year period
Founded by Frank Natale, Roland Russell, Rob Natale and Ted Cormier in 1996, Vadar Systems is the premiere Massachusetts based provider of financial management software for both local governments and private sector companies. As the only platform customized for Massachusetts municipalities, Vadar Systems provides top notch technology and service solutions for local governments and private companies.
Challenges
When Vadar Systems’ long-time CFO retired in 2015, they struggled to fill the role. As there are two separate business lines under the Vadar Systems umbrella, their accounting needs were more complex than could be handled by an average bookkeeper, yet they didn’t need the services of an expensive full-time senior resource. Partnering with SmartBooks provided them access to senior level thought leadership and a team-based approach to their accounting needs, at a price that fit into their budget.
At the same time their CFO retired, they also experienced a perfect storm of disruption in their industry, when a large organization acquired all of their local competitors, leaving Vadar as the last locally owned and operated business serving local Massachusetts governments. This change kicked off a period of explosive growth for Vadar. In a business with an average sales cycle of 2+ years, Vadar onboarded 40 new clients in 40 months with 100% client retention! To support this important growth phase, SmartBooks put scalable systems and processes in place.
“With SmartBooks, business owners can rest assured that their books are competently managed and audit-ready. For me, since I knew I didn’t need to worry about my GL, payroll or audits based on the trust I had with SmartBooks, I could focus entirely on driving our growth at this key time.”
Frank Natale CEOHow SmartBooks Helped
After having an in-house CFO for the first 19 years of the business, Vadar Systems trusted SmartBooks to help them move to a cloud-based accounting solution delivered by SmartBooks’ remote team. While it was initially an adjustment, the ability to approve bills and run reports from anywhere, at any time, ended up being just what they needed during this time of growth.
In addition to online bill pay and a cloud-based GL, SmartBooks set up a cloud-based document management solution for Vadar Systems, which has significantly streamlined the search process whenever Vadar needs to locate a proposal, invoice or contract.
SmartBooks team-based approach and well-documented processes also ended up helping in unanticipated ways. While in the past, when relying on a single in-house financial resource, financial questions would have to wait if that resource was on vacation or out sick. During Vadar’s relationship with SmartBooks, there was always full transparency with their accounting and the service from the entire team was top notch.
“My primary SmartBooks accountant, Chelsea, is fabulous, responsive, service-focused and knowledgeable. When she was on maternity leave, her backfill was equally amazing. SmartBooks made sure that no one missed a beat.”
Frank Natale CEOOutcome
SmartBooks helped modernize Vadar Systems’ financial technology stack, enabling them to move to a fully transparent cloud-based solution. This solution, coupled with the service and accuracy delivered by their SmartBooks accounting team, enabled them to focus on growing the business, resulting in an impressive 66% client growth and 70% revenue growth over the last 3 years.