Client - Active Interest Media Inc. (AIM)
Industry - Media & Entertainment
About the Client
Active Interest Media (AIM Media) is one of the world’s largest publishers of leading consumer magazines. AIM operates websites, runs consumer and trade events, produces and markets films, TV shows, videos and books, and organizes competitions such as boat and fitness shows. It spans a global reach of 40 million readers, fans, and attendees in 85 countries. AIM was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in El Segundo, California.
Products & Services
- Oracle Cloud Financials (GL, AP, FA, Cash Management, Expenses, and Procurement)
- Data migration
- Salesforce.com
Client Speak
Jade Global has been instrumental in navigating us through the complex and difficult processes to convert our business to the Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP and EPBCS products. The lead manager on our account was remarkably patient, knowledgeable and helpful...Jade brought in their prebuilt artifacts and solutions, which were instrumental in our success. Jade has been a reliable professional partner in our path to a new ERP solution.
Thomas W. Urbanski CPA
Senior Director, Active Interest Media
Business Requirements
- Migrate data from Oracle EBS 11i to Cloud Financials
- Represent financial reporting of each acquired group independently to retain the business as a separate entity.
- Automate inter-company processes and transactions across group companies
- Implement Shared Services model (for back-office operations) particularly for invoicing, collections, payments and cash applications requirements
- Real-time integrations with Salesforce.com for Revenue transactions
- Establish procurement controls and business approvals for expenses and tangible items
Seeking Automated Business Systems after Growth from Acquisitions
AIM Media has grown quickly, especially through acquisition. The acquired companies had varying business models. AIM wanted to retain the separate entity of all its acquired businesses. A financial reporting system was required to help all the companies work independently and under the same umbrella.
AIM also wanted all inter-company processes and transactions to be automated and streamlined from the system. It was looking for a Shared Service Model implementation for its operations including invoicing, collections, payments and cash applications. For revenue transactions, a real-time Salesforce.com integration was required so that sales teams could share the details of conversion.
Disparate Systems Impact Customer Experience
After AIM acquired various businesses, it had to meet the challenge of dealing with diverse needs of these businesses. These acquired businesses were using different and disconnected platforms or systems. A single source of information for customer and vendor relationships was not available.
The existing system could not meet the financial, operational, and product sales reporting requirements of all the businesses keeping them as separate entities. Automated integration with the payment gateway was not possible, impacting the customer experience. AIM approached Jade for help with these challenges.
Jade Global did an initial evaluation of the business and identified various other potential challenges. AIM needed to build a system to not only help in tracking and reporting transactions, but also to provide customer and product information in a systematic manner.
Business Challenges
- All the acquired businesses were using disparate platforms and multiple applications. These needed to be integrated in a single system
- AIM wanted to add controls for expense management
- Traceability of expenses & payments was required
- Reporting & distribution needed to be streamlined. Accurate accounting was required to allow business reporting for each group as an independent entity.
- AIM wanted to reduce manual activities and ensure systematic accounting throughout the organization
- AIM wanted to integrate a new sales engine with the accounting system
Oracle Cloud Financial ERP Solution and Integration
Jade Global suggested a solution to be implemented on Oracle Cloud ERP. This Core Financial Cloud ERP product implementation with Procurement and Inventory helped AIM Media set up a seamless accounting process for both deferred revenue and prepaid expenses.
This new solution is capable of operational and financial reporting for all AIM companies, while maintaining their separate entities. Separate user roles were defined with access permissions to view, edit or add data. This helped in setting up effective controls and approval processes.
Users could now generate reports and access information from a single source whenever needed. The solution was also integrated for banking transactions to enable instant payments and to automate the cash application processes.
Jade Global also integrated the Oracle solution with Salesforce.com to help AIM Media quote, track, and invoice customers through a simple user-friendly platform in a timely manner. Additionally, AIM users could get real-time reports on customers across all AIM companies.
The Solution
- Jade Global facilitated and developed uniformity in AIM Media’s business processes
- Implemented Oracle Cloud Financials (GL, AP, FA, Cash Management) Expenses, Procurement and Inventory
- Jade developed a solution using a Shared Services Model to manage all current entities, and a framework to manage future additions
- The solution used built-in and automated accounting rules for revenue and expense recognition
- Enhanced user experience with one process across groups and sub-group operations
Improved Business Processes and Results
After the solution was implemented, the business processes across all groups were streamlined. The new system was designed on Shared Service Model for back-office operations. It established internal controls and systematic workflow processes for specific approval needs and accurate accounting representations. An expense traceability mechanism was implemented for accurate accounting. For intercompany accounting and analysis, consolidated reporting was put in place. New reports were created for supplier payables, customer receivables, financials, and revenue reporting.
Jade executed the project with an onsite-offshore development model. It provided AIM with 24/7 customer support for the project at 20 to 30 percent less than the cost of implementation.
Business Benefits
- Better and scalable Cloud platform
- AIM Media teams trained in new streamlined systems
- Onsite-Offshore Development model helped in getting a 24-hour coverage for the project and user team along with a lower cost of implementation
- Jade’s Cloud toolkit helped save between 20-30% of typical Cloud implementation cost.