BETA Technologies Case Study

Introduction

BETA Technologies is a fully integrated electric aviation developer of aircraft and charging systems that are safe, reliable, and sustainable. A relentlessly focused team is developing and certifying electric aircraft in both conventional take-off and landing (eCTOL) and vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) variants along with advanced charging stations nationwide.

BETA’s platform and products are strikingly simple. Prioritization of safety and a pragmatic approach to certification drive elegant redundancy, appropriate diversity of implementation and simplicity of control. ALIA’s fixed-pitch propellers and centrally located batteries make it an inherently stable aircraft that is safe to fly and easy to maneuver.

Situation

BETA Technologies had a desire to integrate multiple systems within its finance department into a single source of truth. When financial data resides in disparate systems, organizations have difficulty achieving a single source of truth. Therefore, obtaining a single source of truth for finance is quintessential.

BETA Technologies integrations needed:

Multiple Plex MFG ERP Systems to Workday Adaptive Planning
Paylocity Payroll to Workday Adaptive Planning
Multiple Plex MFG ERP Systems to BlackLine
Plex to J.P. Morgan (Coming Soon!)

BETA Technologies wanted an iPaaS solution that the finance department could easily manage, and that was finance focused. DataBlend was recommended by Alight/Carlson. DataBlend provides integrations to over 100 applications and is trusted by finance and accounting departments at over 600 companies.

Challenge

Before implementing DataBlend, BETA Technologies’ processes were manual and time consuming. “We were downloading trial balances into Excel, manipulating the data, using VLOOKUPs and/or concatenating multiple tables to conform to the template and data fields required in our Adaptive Planning Tool. We process tens of thousands of transactions, so manual processes became time consuming low value tasks that took away resources better focused on higher-level activities,” says Joe Lane, Finance Team Leader at BETA Technologies.

Solution

BETA Technologies has drastically improved efficiencies and streamlined accounting processes by integrating Plex, JP Morgan, Workday Adaptive Planning, BlackLine, and Paylocity. Instead of manually processing data, they now use DataBlend Scheduler to load multiple trial balances, AP payment, and current roster information automatically over night or in some cases every half an hour.

DataBlend runs seamlessly whenever BETA Technologies needs it. “BlackLine is a great example of the efficiency we’ve gained with DataBlend. We can reload data every thirty minutes, which would have been nearly impossible to do manually. It’s the same with Workday Adaptive Planning. What used to take days can be done automatically over night or on the half hour as we work to close our books monthly.”

BETA Technologies uses DataBlend to automate:

Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Transactions (Plex to Workday Adaptive Planning)
Account Balances and Transactions (Plex to BlackLine)
Personnel Roster (Paylocity to Workday Adaptive Planning)
Checks, Wires and ACH (Plex to J.P. Morgan) – Coming Soon!

Results with DataBlend:

Automated the export, transform, and load process.
Gained access to real-time, accurate financial data.
Decreased opportunity for errors.
Increased time savings.
Decreased monthly workload.
Manipulate reports as needed for different audiences.

Conclusion

“The finance team at BETA Technologies is a small team for the size of our company, so DataBlend allows us to eliminate manual processes and focus our efforts on planning and analysis.” In addition, BETA Technologies is looking to expand its use of DataBlend to other financial applications used within the finance department, such as Lever and Workday Adaptive Planning.

BETA Technologies Gains a Single Source of Truth by Integrating Multiple Systems

Industry Vertical:

Applications:

Sample Workflows: