Background

For ten years, Lynx Network Group (now Everstream after 2017 acquisition) operated as a resale telecommunications provider, purchasing circuits wholesale and reselling them to customers. They were using NetSuite for all of their business activities and appreciated the software’s capabilities and cloud-based platform. In 2010, the company expanded its services to become the owner and operator of a fiber optic network. This meant more sophisticated business management processes would be necessary to manage internal information, service, records and billing.

A Trusted Source

Everstream executives called on Keystone Business Services to customize NetSuite to perform the more complex billing transactions they now needed, and to integrate the telecommunications circuit and equipment management application they targeted to install. Keystone Business Services originally had implemented NetSuite for Everstream back in 2006 and according to Scott Windemuller, General Manager at Everstream, the company “felt pretty good and had success with that installation. So we contacted Michael and Eric and had them tell us what they could do to NetSuite to make it work for us.”

Discovery and Due Diligence

Attention to clients is a hallmark of Keystone Business Services. They take the time to work with a client onsite in an intensive discovery process to understand the ins and outs of business operations and supporting systems requirements, and to identify the gaps. “Michael came to our location and we actually mapped out the flow of the sales order through to order acceptance—order processing, installation of the service to invoicing,” said Windemuller. “Then we looked at our service order ticket flow and how that would process as well. That was really effective. It helped us make sure NetSuite was being modified properly. It also helped us as a business to really validate and understand what we needed.”

Improved Service Data and Metrics

The customized NetSuite configuration Keystone Business Services developed for Everstream integrated their new telecommunications operations control solution and helped them better utilize metrics and improve invoice accuracy. Working with Keystone through the modification process, Windemuller realized they were not as effectively using NetSuite for the customer lifecycle from prospect through new order. “But we really needed it. We needed to begin using that in order to really develop the metrics and the reports that we needed to manage the business.” Also, previously, an input to a record wouldn’t automatically translate into an invoice impact. But with the new NetSuite functionality, Everstream was able to improve the data content, quality and use, which allowed for better margin analysis, service audits and invoicing. “Whether it’s cash flow or profitability, top line sales or bottom line income, all of that is impacted because we can now manage that whole process and the data within it.”

Resulting Cost Savings

Through their industry expertise, Keystone Business Services was able to customize NetSuite to improve customer data capture and perform expanded, automated billing operations for Everstream, providing a more cost-effective option to an industry-specific solution provider. Keystone also integrated the inventory and circuit management solution so operations, customer data and billing could work together seamlessly.