Cooper Parry Digital and our Tech & High Growth team recently hosted a one-hour webinar for fast-growth businesses looking to maximise exit value through smarter tech integration.
On speaking duties? Three seasoned leaders from across CP:
- Asif Ahmed, Managing Director of CP Digital, leading our digital transformation offering across Salesforce, NetSuite, Analytics & Cybersecurity.
- Tony Di Carlo, CEO of Cloud Orca and Partner at CP Digital, a Salesforce specialist with deep experience in CRM optimisation and customer engagement.
- Ross Latta, Co-Founder & CEO of MacroFin and Partner at CP Digital, a NetSuite expert focused on ERP implementation and financial systems integration.
Together, they explored how integrated tech stacks – particularly Salesforce and NetSuite – can drive operational efficiency, scalability, and ultimately, higher exit valuations.
Watch the full thing here or read a summary of the best bits below.
WHY INTEGRATED TECH IS A GAME-CHANGER
The panel emphasised that disconnected systems are one of the biggest barriers to growth and investor confidence. Integrated tech flips that script, moving your business towards:
1. Operational Efficiency & Growth Enablement
By integrating CRM and ERP systems, businesses eliminate duplicated data and manual processes. This leads to:
- Faster reporting and forecasting
- Improved productivity across teams
- A single source of truth for decision-making
2. Scalability That Signals Maturity
Investors look for scalable infrastructure. Platforms like Salesforce and NetSuite allow businesses to:
- Seamlessly integrate new acquisitions
- Handle increasingly complex billing and reporting
- Avoid costly post-acquisition tech overhauls
3. Sales Cycle Optimisation
Salesforce provides granular insights into conversion rates, win rates and pipeline health. This enables:
- Strategic collaboration across teams
- Faster deal cycles
- Higher win rates through data-driven decisions
4. Due Diligence Readiness
Clean, integrated data means:
- Fewer surprises during diligence
- Accurate, real-time reporting
- Reduced pressure on founders and leadership teams
5. Customer Retention & Revenue Predictability
Integrated systems offer visibility into customer engagement, satisfaction and product usage, unlocking:
- Cross-sell and upsell opportunities
- Scalable, predictable revenue streams
THE NUMBERS BEHIND THE IMPACT
The panel also shared compelling stats that highlight the value of integrated tech:
- 60% cost savings via cloud migration and infrastructure optimisation
- 25% of UK employees’ time lost daily to inefficient systems
- 23% reduction in staff churn through improved digital experience
- 26% higher profitability and EBIT increases via mature cloud infrastructure
THE SHORTCOMINGS OF THE ‘TYPICAL’ SME STACK
Ross described the typical SME tech stack as fragmented and inefficient. Finance teams often rely on tools like Xero or QuickBooks, with data manually consolidated in spreadsheets. Sales teams may use separate CRMs and mailing systems, leading to:
- Duplicate customer records
- Contradictory data sets
- Manual mapping and reconciliation
The trigger for change? More often than not, it’s scaling and international expansion. That’s when businesses need robust, integrated systems to manage complexity and support growth.
WHAT DOES ‘GOOD’ LOOK LIKE?
Tony outlined the ideal implementation approach succinctly:
One partner. One project. One solution.
Rather than separate ERP and CRM implementations, CP Digital configures Salesforce and NetSuite in parallel. This ensures:
- Seamless integration
- Unified project management
- Stakeholder engagement at every stage
- Timely go-lives across all workstreams
EXIT READINESS: WHAT DO INVESTORS WANT TO SEE?
Ross and Asif shared the key indicators that build investor confidence, including:
- Financial transparency: Real-time reporting on ARR, MRR, EBITDA and cashflow
- Audit-ready data: Automated reconciliations and built-in compliance
- Forecasting confidence: Accurate pipeline and revenue projections
- Customer insights: Retention, upsell, and engagement data that highlight sustainable growth levers
TIMELY QUESTIONS. EXPERT ANSWERS
The audience Q&A offered the perfect forum for the fast-growth leaders in attendance to get their questions answered. We’ve hand-picked the best of the bunch below:
Q: When should a business consider upgrading its tech stack?
Tony: There’s no simple answer to that. It’s not specifically about size or revenue – it’s about efficiency. Are cracks starting to show? Is your data concurrent? Are you working in siloes? Do you have one source of truth?
Ross: Businesses around the £5–10m turnover mark often benefit most, especially if expanding internationally. Complexity is the key trigger, however, because if you’re moving into other jurisdictions or expecting a greater complexity of sales processes or products, that could mean a lot of manual work, so there’s going to be a huge saving in having streamlined processes and operational efficiency.
Q: How does integrated tech impact valuation multiples?
Ross: When MacroFin was acquired by Cooper Parry, NetSuite gave us the ability to produce accurate forecasts and segmented customer analysis – both of which proved hugely valuable throughout the negotiation process.
Asif: We probably have the highest number of requests for an integrated solution with our Corporate Finance team, because when they’re doing diligence on the vendor side, or if they’re entering into a process with one of their companies, this vertical is something they really like to drill down on.
On the sell side, that would be from a perspective of it being value accretive – checking the numbers are transparent and analysis can be done without too much complexity. On the buy side, they’re working with us to find out where the pitfalls might be from a tech stack perspective that could lead to valuation chips.
Q: What lessons have been unearthed in the conversations you’ve had with customers before they moved to Salesforce and NetSuite?
Ross: As part of the lifecycle of picking a system, you’ve got to do the preparation readiness work up front. We offer a consulting service where we review the current tech stack you’re using, what your plans are and what your pain points are. Then we can plan out the roadmap of technology that you’ll need, bringing in our partners in the ecosystem that have modules that connect in with the ERPs and CRMs that can set you to scale. It’s important to focus on your biggest pain points and the areas you’ll get the biggest bang for your buck first.
Q: Which sectors are best suited to NetSuite and Salesforce?
Ross: NetSuite covers many industries very well, particularly SaaS, fintech, services, retail, ecommerce, travel and NFPs. Its limitations can be pushed in a complex manufacturing business, but that’s a rarity. For all other industries, it’s got really good solutions that can cover all.
Tony: Salesforce now offers industry-specific clouds – financial services, health & life sciences, manufacturing, consumer goods, the list goes on – plus, core CRM tools for sales and service.
HAS YOUR TECH STACK REACHED ITS TIPPING POINT?
Whether you’re preparing for an exit, scaling internationally, or simply looking to streamline operations, integrated tech is fast becoming a necessity.
With CP Digital’s unified approach to Salesforce and NetSuite implementation, businesses can unlock growth, efficiency and investor confidence.
Get in touch with the team and find out how that could look for you today.
