Cloud ERP is more than just a finance upgrade for construction and field service companies; it is becoming the operating system for resilience, real-time decisions, and lean growth. Across three recent ERP Today Expert Exchange conversations with leaders at Tester Construction, Tech Electronics, and Carlson LaVine Construction, it became clear that moving to Acumatica was less about swapping systems and more about stripping out bureaucracy, unlocking frontline insights, and preparing for an AI‑driven future.
Resiliency in a Volatile Market
Tester Construction’s Acumatica journey began in the aftermath of COVID-19, when paper files, remote servers, and dial‑in QuickBooks proved painfully inadequate for a suddenly remote world. That crisis forced a rethink of back-office processes, pushing the company to digitize reviews, scan documents, and streamline workflows so project teams could keep “building beautiful projects” while finance stabilized the operation, Tester’s CFO Jay Feynman explained.
Four years on, Feynman describes a fundamentally different finance engine: real‑time data fed directly into Excel, tight controls that prevent silent deletions, and a month‑end close measured in days rather than weeks. With stronger controls on cost codes, reconciliations, and review steps, the team trusts the figures they see and spends far less time putting out fires, enabling earlier visibility into margin risks and market shifts.
Turning Integration into True Connection
Tech Electronics went live on Acumatica after realizing that integrated systems were masking a maze of indirect costs and delays. Project managers emailed warehouses to confirm materials, managers chased finance for basic numbers, and every report came with caveats about overnight batches and missing transactions.
For CEO Manish Chandrak, those signals showed the company was not truly connected. Employees were filling system gaps with email, spreadsheets, and shared folders, while customers waited days for answers that should have been instant. By moving to a single connected data platform, Tech Electronics cut duplicate licensing, eliminated many manual aggregation exercises, and began surfacing the same real‑time information to the field, the back office, and leadership.
Empowering Frontline Teams Without Losing Control
At Carlson LaVine, Executive Director Matt Shamp explained that Acumatica’s “maximum flexibility” forced a shift in mindset. Frontline managers could finally shape their own reports and views instead of waiting on IT. Shamp describes the change as moving from static PDF reporting to “live data that’s malleable,” where managers filter, pivot, and build what they need in‑house.
That democratization of configuration required new governance, not less responsibility. Carlson LaVine invested heavily in role design during implementation, setting clear boundaries on access and data entry so business users could experiment safely while finance and leadership protected integrity, security, and compliance.
Lean Operations, Faster Closes, Happier Projects
All three organizations report tangible operational benefits from moving to a cloud‑native, connected ERP.
Tester Construction has reduced back‑office headcount while improving the speed and quality of reconciliations, enabling daily bank recommendations , streamlined account payable, and the ability to turn around owner reports within 24 hours. Those efficiency gains allow the company to lower some fees and support open‑book reporting without adding administrative burden. On the project side, automated invoice notifications mean field teams spend more time building and less time chasing paperwork. Superintendents and project managers are prompted by email to review and approve bills, can drill into documents from anywhere, and can immediately tell subcontractors whether payment is delayed by funding, insurance, or compliance status.
At Carlson LaVine, flexible reporting has supported a lean staffing model and more direct client relationships by eliminating layers between the customer and the people doing the work.
Designing for Users, Not Silos
A common thread across the three episodes is the insistence that ERP transformation is a business project, not an IT upgrade.
Tech Electronics deliberately structured design sessions around cross‑functional teams, with a consulting partner bringing finance, operations, and field service expertise into the same room and a mandate to simplify and automate rather than re‑create legacy departmental handoffs. Leadership involvement proved critical to resisting the gravitational pull of old processes. Chandrak describes actively rejecting four‑step workflows that simply mirrored functional silos, insisting instead that a single role own an end‑to‑end task wherever the connected system made that possible.
Both Tech Electronics and Carlson LaVine emphasize that without this kind of user‑centric, cross‑department design, organizations risk turning a modern ERP into yet another bottleneck.
Future‑Proofing for AI and IoT
Looking ahead, these leaders see the ERP decisions they are making today as the foundation for the next decade of automation, AI, and IoT. Tech Electronics, deeply embedded in building automation, already connects signals from internet‑enabled devices such as alarms, HVAC systems, and security cameras into its ERP so that a detected issue can automatically generate a case tied to the correct contract and customer.
Chandrak expects ERP workflows to change radically within a few years as AI takes over much of the clicking, routing, and anomaly detection that currently absorbs human time. In that world, the companies with the biggest advantage will be those that already have clean, unified, well‑structured data in a truly connected system and a vendor that offers contemporary interfaces, open APIs, and a clear innovation roadmap.
What This Means for ERP Insiders
Connected ERP shifts construction finance from recordkeeping to real-time operational control. Across the three companies, moving to Acumatica allowed finance teams to shorten close cycles, improve data confidence, and surface issues earlier in the project lifecycle. When ERP systems deliver trustworthy, real-time information, finance leaders can move beyond historical reporting and play a more active role in margin management, risk identification, and pricing decisions.
Frontline access to shared data reduces friction across projects and customer interactions. Giving project managers and superintendents direct visibility into invoices, inventory, and payment status eliminates informal workarounds that slow response times and introduce errors. When the field, back office, and leadership all work from the same data set, organizations can reduce delays, simplify approvals, and respond to customers with greater confidence.
A unified ERP foundation prepares mid-market firms for AI-driven operations. By standardizing data models and streamlining workflows today, these organizations are positioning ERP as a hub that can orchestrate automation, surface insights, and respond to signals from connected devices. As AI becomes embedded in day-to-day operations, companies that have already embraced a connected ERP will be better equipped to adapt quickly—whether the next disruption comes from technology, regulation, or market volatility.
