Groupon, sometimes touted as the 'fastest' growing company in the world, is going live on NetSuite in 26 international markets, replacing hundreds of spreadsheets with a single cloud ERP system.
With deals offered daily in 500 cities and 46 countries, Groupon has expanded both organically and through acquisitions. Since launching in November 2008, the company has added on average one new country to its operations every three weeks. Such rapid expansion meant a recurring problem. Each time the company entered a new market, the amount of time and effort needed to close the books grew, turning financial reconciliation into a painful process.
The collection of different programs, processes and spreadsheets made it difficult for Groupon to understand the full scope of its international operation, and made standardization of accounting and reporting practices impractical. At the SuiteWorld conference in San Francisco.
Groupon's international controller, John Bosshart confirmed that the firm's rapid expansion into 46 countries and 500 markets in just two years demanded a change of approach to its ERP strategy.
After signing with NetSuite in early February, within six weeks, Groupon went live with NetSuite OneWorld in five international markets. In three months, twenty-six international markets are expected to be live, while by year-end, Groupon expects to complete deployment in 46 countries.
