Customer Story – Fontis Energy

We sat down with Scotland native Ben Stopper, Director of Performance, Supply Chain & IT professional, to discuss the Xledger and Fontis Energy team.

Fontis Energy is an offshore drilling contractor that owns and operates five jack-up rigs that deliver sustainable performance, integrity, and dependability within the sector.

Stopper has spent the last 15 years of his career in the oil and gas industry. During this time, he has worked for several different drilling contractors around the world and has extensive experience with various ERP applications, system implementations, and migrations.

Experiencing Financial Management Frustration

Stopper expressed frustration with other well-known and popular ERP software, stating that, with an alternative financial software, “we struggled to align their system(s) with our process. This results in us aligning our processes with their systems. We want our systems to cater to us, and not the other way around”. The Fontis Energy exec also expressed frustration with the implementation timelines with one of the biggest ERP software providers, “even a year and a half after go-live, we were still not at business as usual. With Xledger, we’ve achieved far more in a fraction of the time”.

Coincidently, Fontis Energy’s parent company, Paratus Energy, had decided to partner with Xledger months prior, making the decision easier for Fontis. Stopper emphasized that the implementation timeline and cost were initially the most attractive features of Xledger, but over time, he learned how he struck gold in a system with what feels like endless capabilities.

Prioritizing Swift Implementation and Authentic Partnership

In 2023, FE required a solution that could be implemented in an aggressive timeline. Xledger took a hands-on approach, and as Stopper states, “They [Xledger] mobilized their team, flying down to our operations office multiple times to expedite the implementation and the migration of the data. They were not playing the role of a consultant, but they were acting as if they really worked for us. Our challenges became their challenges”.

When implementing the application with Fontis Energy, Xledger sought to do the impossible. Fontis Energy needed their system to be up and running quickly. It took 8 weeks to get their structure set up and the basic ability to process their accounts payable so they could go-live. It took 8 weeks more to implement the additional functionality that Fontis requested. Xledger hit both target dates. This was all only possible due to the Xledger team’s dedication to success.

Stopper continues to shine a spotlight on the familiarity between Fontis Energy and Xledger, stating, “The personal relationship we have with Xledger is completely different. With larger companies, you lose that agility and sense of connection”.

Xledger is dedicated to providing our customers with world-class support during every part of their journey with us. Stopper says it best when he says, “We feel that we are heard when we ask, ‘Can you do this?’ and they [Xledger support team] might say ‘no, but we like that idea.’ They often seek internal teams to come back to you with solutions. The turnaround time of this is quite good. As opposed to dealing with a larger provider, it can be a very painful process where the answer can sometimes just be ‘no’ because it doesn’t align with the majority of their clients, so your request may never be implemented”. Xledger seeks to hear the needs and provide solutions for our customers to succeed. Our support videos, documentation, and help files are available 24/7 for the convenience of our customers.

Solutions that Work

In the next five years, Fontis Energy will continue to deliver on promises to their internal and external stakeholders, which is made possible through one of Stopper’s favorite Xledger solutions, our reporting dashboards. He states, “In terms of reporting and visibility, Xledger is so far ahead of what I’ve used in other systems. Not just inputting data, which is the day-to-day tasks, but the visibility and presentation of the data at the management level to help us make better business decisions. That’s where Xledger is strongest”.

He also highlighted the configurability of Xledger and explained how easily he and his team can change how their data can be viewed and that the ability to adjust this is easy; “With essentially one click of a button, I can have two different views, same data, same results, but depending on who I’m speaking to I can be a bit more detailed or a bit less granular.”

Staying Ahead of the Competition with Xledger

When asking what make Xledger stand out amongst the competition outside of the personal relationship, he calls attention to the speed at which Xledger meets their needs comparatively to other ERPs, “What took us six-weeks before is now available in 30 seconds through the mapping of accounts”.

Stopper is direct about what advice he would give to those considering Xledger, “If you’re still using these other systems, you have absolutely no idea how far behind you are. You might feel current, but the reality is you’re not—you’re way behind”.

Thank you, Ben Stopper and Fontis Energy, for your kind words and comradery. We love working alongside your team and providing you with the tools needed to continue to innovate and revolutionize the oil and gas industry.