Project Title:  ERP Migration at Carbonite: Sunset Netsuite ERP into Zuora utilizing Salesforce CPQ

Problem Statement:
In 2019, Carbonite faced significant challenges with its heavily customized ERP system, which struggled to scale following several mergers and acquisitions. The platform’s inability to support standard reporting metrics and the complexities around implementing new products, pricing, and quoting processes were impeding the company’s growth. To resolve these issues, Carbonite opted to migrate to a more flexible, scalable subscription management and billing system to streamline ordering and billing processes, reduce customizations, and enable effective scaling.

Solution & Implementation:

• I led the ERP transformation initiative, overseeing a 30-member cross-functional team of business analysts, engineers, solution architects, quality assurance professionals, data analysts, and business leaders. Recognizing the limitations of the agile methodology initially adopted, I reorganized the program using a hybrid approach that combined agile and waterfall frameworks, ensuring a more structured and efficient execution plan with clear milestones. According to Project Management Institute (PMI), adoption of hybrid methodology has increased a staggering 57.5% over the last three years, from 20% in 2020 to 31.5% in 2023.
• Collaborating with Finance and Sales leadership, I identified 50 key use cases that addressed diverse selling and accounting scenarios for Carbonite’s product offerings, including those for resellers, distributors, and system integrators. I aligned these use cases with broader business goals to ensure product offerings adhered to key guidelines.
• Through a thorough discovery phase, I coordinated with stakeholders across Sales, Finance, Product, Engineering, and IT to ensure all perspectives were included in the planning process. This collaboration was crucial to maintaining project timelines and successfully delivering key initiatives.
• My planning of the ERP migration emphasized minimizing disruption while ensuring the new billing platform supported Carbonite’s complex business processes—ranging from new purchases to renewals and maintenance agreements. I employed a phased implementation strategy, prioritizing the migration of 6 out of 10 key products first, with the remaining products phased in over time.

Key Outcomes:

• Operational Efficiency Gains: By streamlining the onboarding process for new products, I reduced the time required to introduce new products into the subscription billing system by 40%, enabling faster go-to-market strategies. This allowed for quicker rollouts of new pricing models and subscription-based services. Additionally, month-end processing improved, accelerating the Finance close by 2-3 days.
• Cost Savings: The ERP migration led to the consolidation and retirement of legacy finance systems, resulting in a 25% annual reduction in IT maintenance expenses—saving Carbonite approximately $1.2 million annually. Streamlining reporting and automating analysis processes also reduced the need for IT support, enabling a 15% reallocation of resources to more strategic initiatives.
• ROI and Project Acceleration: The project delivered a significant return on investment (ROI) within 12 months, with a payback period of under 18 months. By adopting a hybrid project management approach, I reduced the ERP migration timeline by 30%, completing the program three months ahead of schedule with minimal business disruption.
• Scalability for Growth: The new ERP system provided Carbonite with the scalability to support an aggressive 5% year-over-year growth in its subscription customer base. Based on the MoldStud research team, 85% of software development projects fail due to scalability issues. Businesses that invest in scalable software solutions see a 30% increase in revenue growth. The system was designed to handle double the number of subscription transactions without performance issues or increased manual intervention, positioning Carbonite to expand into new markets with ease, particularly with the introduction of mid-market and SMB-focused subscription plans globally.