In the rapidly evolving world of education technology, staying ahead requires not just innovation but also the efficient integration of complex systems. Pathful, a leader in providing career and technical education tools for students, faced a challenge when it merged two industry-leading companies, Nepris and Virtual Job Shadow.
This merger presented an intricate web of systems, data, and processes that needed to be unified into a single source of truth. That’s when Pathful came to Plative to leverage the powerful capabilities of NetSuite, Salesforce, and Boomi to overcome these challenges and set their course for future growth.
Understanding the Need for Change
Pathful was born from the merger of two companies, Nepris and Virtual Job Shadow, at the end of 2021. With the goal of offering innovative career and technical education solutions, Pathful had to integrate its operations, teams, and go-to-market strategies.
“A lot of the complexity was having two sets of accounts and two separate processes for doing almost everything, so how do we combine all those within 12 months?”
– Ed Rayner, Chief Financial Officer
The initial phase of the integration revealed a web of different systems and processes. Each company operated on separate platforms, with Nepris using Salesforce and Virtual Job Shadow on Zoho. Additionally, the companies utilized different accounting and revenue recognition systems.
Choosing the Right Technology
The decision to adopt NetSuite and Salesforce was a logical step for Pathful. These platforms had previously proven effective for handling SaaS accounting and real-time data integration in other enterprises.
“We didn’t conduct an extensive vendor survey,” Ed noted. “For us, it was more of a ‘why not Salesforce’ or ‘why not NetSuite’ than ‘why would we want to go’.”
Implementing Salesforce, CPQ, and NetSuite and integrating them works very well, particularly if you’re a SaaS business looking to track SaaS metrics and/or do SaaS accounting.
“They work well together, so for us, it was a pretty easy choice to make.” – Ed Rayner.
Integrating NetSuite & Salesforce with Boomi
Integrating these systems was only part of the solution. Pathful needed robust middleware to facilitate seamless communication between Salesforce, NetSuite, and its other platforms. The Boomi Enterprise Platform emerged as the ideal choice, offering scalability and ease of management.
“There’s a host of systems that we use to capture different pieces of data, so having Boomi do that felt really positive — and it could continue to grow as we integrate more [systems].” – Ed Rayner.
Another reason for choosing Boomi was that it made it easier for Pathful’s team to adjust and keep things running smoothly without relying on Plative or needing extensive coding.
“Even if it’s something as simple as adding a product to Salesforce and we need to map that to a product in NetSuite, we should be able to do that ourselves in 5-10 minutes, and you can do that with Boomi without going under the hood to code; that is just something we need in order to be scalable.”
Challenges in the Integration Process
Merging two distinct companies brought its own set of challenges. Pathful had to align different CRM systems, sales processes, and data sets. The task was to create one coherent system where both companies’ data could coexist and provide clear visibility into business operations.
“The biggest thing was really just visibility and transparency into how the business is doing. It was a lot of manual work to combine that data in a regular and systematic way.”
– Mark Fry, SVP Operations
“One thing that was an issue was just the process of working together. How do you train people and work across two different CRMs and see the customer in a holistic way if we share a customer.”
In a Fireside chat with Plative and Pathful, Larry Woo, Team Lead and Principal Consultant for Plative, noted, “I found that your team was just ready to go in terms of change management, and that’s always a piece that folks underestimate. Doing the technical change is one thing, but the people change is a big part and I found that they were just ready to go.”
A big part of Pathful’s change management success was Mark and Ed collaborating to unite the teams, selling them on the vision and outcomes of this project, and generating excitement about the changes to come post-go-live.
Post-Go-Live Successes
Adopting NetSuite, Salesforce, and Boomi has transformed Pathful’s operations. The immediate benefits included normalized data, a single source of truth, and the ability to focus on growth rather than daily operational hurdles.
“It’s all about data now,” Mark added. With their systems aligned and connected with Boomi, they can spend more time on strategic initiatives.
The Pathful success story offers valuable lessons for companies embarking on similar journeys. The importance of having strong leadership, selecting the right partner, technological foresight, and an engaged team cannot be overstated.
For businesses looking to follow in Pathful’s footsteps, consider exploring integrated solutions that offer scalability and adaptability. Whether you’re merging companies or simply seeking to streamline operations, the right technology can unlock countless opportunities for growth and success. Our experts at Plative specialize in both Salesforce and NetSuite and are ready to help answer any questions you may have.