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How well does Xero deal with large transactions loads? GrowthPath presents results of intensive stress testing.

Cloud ERP Reviews

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Cin7, Dear Inventory, Unleashed, Trade Gecko inventory management reviews, with an expert's eye on accounting, costing, inventory management, supply chain, reporting and integration.

Cloud Accounting Review

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GrowthPath's review of Xero, MYOB, Quickbooks is a detailed analysis of the leading cloud accounting packages.

Cloud Security Risks

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Cloud software presents new business risks, and removes existing risks.

A small team with great leverage

GrowthPath is a boutique consultancy; we work closely with technical resources at vendors and experts in our network. Our small numbers greatly magnify the effectiveness of many other people.

The team is:

  • Tim Richardson (founder)
  • Vern Abad, Implementation Assistant. Vern is an experienced Xero and QuickBooksOnline user, and assists with ERP implementations. 
  • Connie Caburnay, Implementation Assistant. Con is also an experience Xero and QBO user, a degree-qualified accountant, and she assists with ERP implementations. 

Con and Vern are being trained in Dear and Cin7 to take an increasing role and to help GrowthPath cope with our growth.

We also have relationships with strong developers when needed. Tim does a fair bit of coding, but sometimes tasks are too large or workload is too high. 

We have an 'agency' relationship with Andrew Clark, based in Sydney. Andrew is a specialist in warehouse management systems. His clients are increasingly looking for cloud ERP, or are 3PLs working with clients who are using cloud ERPs. GrowthPath and Logistics Help therefore have an overlap in Cloud ERP implementation, but we have different skills sets in logistics, where Andrew is a world-class expert, and in system integration, CRM and business intelligence, which play more to GrowthPath's strengths. 

Geographies and Time Zones

Tim is based in Melbourne. Con & Vern are based in the Philippines. We currently support clients in Western Europe, the Eastern USA, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. 

 

 

 

Andrew Clark

GrowthPath is a boutique consultancy; we work closely with technical resources at vendors and experts in our network. 

Andrew is a Sydney-based warehouse management and advanced logistics specialist, founder of Logistics Help. Andrew and his team are bringing the logistics tactics and technology used by large corporations to small and medium enterprises.

Andrew's clients include 3PLs who are working with businesses increasingly using cloud ERPs such as Dear Inventory, Unleashed or Cin7, and he also has such clients who run their own warehousing. Like GrowthPath, Andrew's business has a strong technical foundation.

Logistics Help provides support and a contact for GrowthPath in Sydney, and we do the same for him in Melbourne. We also use the expertise of the two businesses to help clients: GrowthPath provides advanced integration skills including with CRMs, analytical accounting, data warehousing and business intelligence. Andrew provided expertise in highly automated, large scale and complex logistics.

Tim Richardson, CPA: A "five-legged sheep"

I have a long and varied career working around the world. I'm strong at automation, being an experienced developer in modern technologies, I'm a CPA with CFO experience, and I've managed global supply chains. I was CFO (technically Finance Director) of two industrial groups in Europe (five factories), and before that, same role at an FMCG business supplying grocery and DIY in Western Europe. I've also been CFO of a global online business. Before this finance phase, I was an ERP and business intelligence developer and consultant. I have a strong academic background in Computer Science, Linguistics, Accountancy, and qualifications in production and inventory management. 

The diversity of my experience and skills lead to my first boss at Philips describing me as 'five legged sheep', which is a Dutch saying for rare versatility (so I was told). 

I've lived in Asia through coups and crises, Europe when the Euro came in. I've had the fun of working with businesses running from alleys in Calcutta to German factories depositing nanometre layers of materials for quantum-effect optical filtering. I was lucky enough to spend a lot in time in Poland as it re-integrated with Western Europe, and now I'm back in Australia.

I love the way technology can help people do things better. I love smaller businesses because people know why they are doing things, and they have a lot of fun doing it. I love cloud technologies because it means all this comes together: I get to help SMEs access technologies which exceed what top 100 companies had ten years ago. It's catastrophic for legacy IT vendors, but great news for fast adopters.

When I returned to Australia I was amazed and disappointed to see so much isolation between finance and IT. In a world where "data science" is the hot new job overseas, I came back to a compliance-focused corporate world and an SME sector struggling with inflexible systems providing almost no useful business insight.

After seeing how unusual my skill set and perspective is, I started GrowthPath to work with SMEs looking to build on points of difference. Taken even small businesses through a generational leap in business IT is very fulfilling. Luckily there are business owners and senior managers who are looking for change, and the demand has been overwhelming".

  

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I started my career as an ERP developer and consultant.  About three years later, I was recruited by Philips Asia Pacific to join the Finance function. After five years in South East Asia (also completing his Masters), I moved to the Global HQ of Philips Lighting in the Netherlands where I was Controller of the European Retail lamps business and then Finance Director of a group of four factories and a Chinese sourcing operation, at the same time completing my CPA exams. I played a key role in major streamlining of budgeting, closing and forecasting activities, bringing a much strong commercial focus and radically faster cycle times. I made business cases for millions of Euros of investment, and worked on M&A projects to restructure industrial operations. Along with the introduction of a European transactional shared service centre and the rollout of new IT, these projects transformed the role of the finance teams attached to business management. 
 
 
I grew up in Mansfield, Victoria, attending Mansfield High School. I was a scholar at Queen's College, University of Melbourne.
 
I've been programming since the age of 11, from Logo on Apple IIs to ZX81s to an explosion of activity. I learnt paper-based double-entry bookkeeping at about the same time as Treasurer for a junior sporting club. 

Qualifications

  • CPA (Australia)
  • CPIM
  • Masters of Accountancy (CSU, Distinction).
  • Bachelor of Science (Melb, Computer Science, H1 avg)
  • Bachelor of Arts (Melb, Linguistics)

Community Involvement

Tim has served as Treasurer for Bellevue Kindergarten Association Inc, Eastern Gymnastics Inc and is currently School Council Treasurer at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School. He does volunteer teaching in starting small businesses for community organisations. He worked for about four years in the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme (NEIS), a long-standing and highly successful Australian-government program to help people move into self-employment.

What GrowthPath Clients Say