United Online Streamlines Global Financials with the Oracle® E-Business Suite Release 12

United Online, a $1.2 billion company and a leading provider of consumer products and services over the Internet, has upgraded to the Oracle® E-Business Suite Release 12 to improve financial collaboration between its diverse lines of business and increase control and visibility into its sub-ledgers.

With the goal of increasing synergy among the business units and reducing discrepancies between disparate financial systems, United Online turned to the latest release of the Oracle E-Business Suite to improve the intercompany transaction and reporting process.

Already using Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i, United Online determined, with the help of Oracle Consulting, that an upgrade to Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 would address its most pressing business technology needs, including better corporate governance of its diverse business units.

The upgrade took only three months to complete and was deployed completely out-of-the-box, with no customizations.

Oracle Advanced Global Intercompany System, Subledger Accounting and other powerful new capabilities in the Oracle E-Business Suite Financials Release 12 replaced the disparate spreadsheets with financial reporting data that United Online used across the organization, consolidating financial information and helping to reduce the risk of faulty accounting data, while still allowing United Online the flexibility to handle its business transactions multiple ways.

United Online currently relies on the following Oracle E-Business Suite applications to streamline its business practices: General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Cost Management, Assets, Projects, and Human Resources, including Self Service HR, Internet Expenses and iProcurement.

United Online believes that it is important to stay on top of the most current releases of its enterprise software and generally upgrades every 12 to 18 months. United Online plans to upgrade to Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1 in FY 2010.

“United Online relies on Oracle every day to manage vital financial information and procedures, automating accounting processes to keep our financials in strict order,” said Craig Williams, Technology Director of Business Applications, United Online. “The newest version, Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12, incorporates the pressing technology needs our global organization requires to keep the business foundation strong and flexible. With the help of Oracle Consulting, the upgrade was fast, easy and comprehensive, enabling our organization to drastically change accounting across the entire corporation in less than three months, driving business value.”