Customer Case: Glomar Group

How Glomar saves time and gains better, more reliable insights thanks to a simpler and more flexible financial process.

Customer profile

Glomar Group is a shipping company with a fleet of 19 offshore vessels, operating in the maritime sector. Dennis Beintma, CFO of Glomar Group, was facing a challenge in financial reporting that required manual work and time-consuming processes.

Challenge

For Glomar Group, producing periodic management reports was a complex and time-intensive task. These reports were built using Speedbooks and Excel and took on average 4–5 days to complete. Given the time pressure and the error-prone nature of manual processing, Glomar needed an automated solution that could work more easily, faster, and more accurately.

The solution with Smartbooks

Smartbooks was implemented as the integrated solution for Glomar Group's financial reporting. The software enabled a seamless connection and consolidation of financial data, allowing Dennis and his team to produce reports faster and more efficiently. The reporting and consolidation process that used to take days could now be completed within a few hours — a time saving of almost five days per month.

Time savings

The time previously needed for management reporting dropped from 4–5 days to just two hours. Dennis can now spend that extra time on strategic planning, market analysis, and streamlining internal processes — strengthening the future-readiness of Glomar. More about reporting

Improved insights

Thanks to Smartbooks, Glomar has access to real-time reports at cost-center level, giving a clear view of the performance of individual vessels. This enables the leadership team to make timely decisions, such as addressing profitability issues on specific ships. More about planning

Flexibility and mobility

Smartbooks gives Dennis access to Glomar's financial data from anywhere. He can easily log in from remote locations — even from an airport — to get real-time insight and step in where needed. This flexibility significantly increases the team's responsiveness and ability to act quickly.

Reliability and ease of use

By choosing Smartbooks over their previous setup (Speedbooks combined with Excel), Glomar can work more efficiently without the risk of faulty data entry that always comes with Excel models.

Experience with Smartbooks

Dennis describes the collaboration with Smartbooks as very positive, highlighting the open communication and strong alignment with the Smartbooks team. Together they ensured the software was implemented well and tailored to Glomar's specific needs, resulting in an efficient, custom-fit solution.

Recommendation

Dennis encourages other companies that are still on the fence to give Smartbooks a try. The flexibility, time savings, and accurate reporting capabilities make it a valuable tool for any company looking to automate and optimize its financial processes.

Conclusion

Smartbooks has helped Glomar Group transform its financial processes from time-consuming, manual work into an efficient, automated system. With real-time insights and more time for strategic questions, Smartbooks provides a solid foundation for further growth and the long-term resilience of Glomar Group.