Swift Marine Group is a global maritime services provider that helps shipping companies manage the complexity of modern fleet operations. Acting as a centralized control tower, the company brings together critical data, processes and partners across the entire supply chain, giving its clients better visibility, faster decision-making and smoother day-to-day execution.
With offices in Greece, Cyprus, Singapore, Denmark, Turkey and the U.S.—and operational hubs in Japan, Korea, China, Amsterdam and the UAE—Swift Marine runs a tightly-connected global network. That network supports a wide range of customers with everything from technical support and procurement to logistics coordination and compliance. No matter where a vessel is or what it needs, Swift Marine helps keep things moving efficiently.
As Swift Marine Group expanded across regions and business lines, complexity followed on every front. The company operates through a network of legal entities spread across multiple jurisdictions, for example, each of which has its own processes, financial standards and reporting requirements. This fragmented structure made it difficult to standardize operations or gain clear visibility across the organization.
“Complexity was our biggest challenge—process, financial standards reporting, you name it,” says Panos Sklavos, COO. “It was a big, complex scope.”
To move forward, Swift needed more than just software; it needed a true global partner that understood the challenges of operating at scale across regions. NetSuite offered the unified platform Swift Marine was looking for, but the company also wanted an implementation team that could help navigate the global transition. “Our concern wasn’t just with the software,” the COO explains. “It was about finding a partner that could help us adopt a real global process that would actually work.”
Swift found exactly what it was looking for in ScaleNorth, a long-time NetSuite partner known for handling complex, multi-entity ERP deployments. With deep expertise in NetSuite and a track record of supporting international operations, ScaleNorth offered the structure, NetSuite support, and strategic guidance Swift needed to standardize its processes and establish a unified global model.
Swift also liked ScaleNorth’s realistic approach, hands-on attitude and willingness to collaborate through uncertainty. “What convinced us was their can-do mentality,” says Sklavos. “They didn’t overpromise. They said, ‘We may not know exactly how we’ll do it yet, but we’ll figure it out together.’” That level of honesty, combined with visible commitment and confidence, gave Swift the assurance it needed to move forward. In the end, that mindset tipped the needle in ScaleNorth’s favor.
Since going live on NetSuite, Swift has seen measurable improvements in financial visibility and operational efficiency. “For the first time, we managed to have a real-time consolidated P&L for all our entities,” says Sklavos. With nine legal entities spread across six jurisdictions, timely consolidation used to be a major challenge and confidence in the numbers wasn’t always guaranteed. Now, the Swift team has access to accurate, real-time financial data across the business, giving it better control and a clearer picture of performance.
Other milestones have followed. Over the past year, for example, Swift Marine worked with ScaleNorth to turn NetSuite into its system of record for client invoicing. That meant building in tax compliance for multiple regions, including VAT regulations in Europe and GST requirements in Singapore. “There was a lot of work that went on behind the scenes,” Sklavos adds, “but now it’s all happening on one platform.”
Swift has also built out new reporting capabilities to strengthen financial oversight across its diverse, geographically-dispersed business. These include enhanced AP and AR reporting, treasury reports and tools for managing cash flow and positioning. “It’s an ongoing, very positive process,” says Sklavos. “We’re seeing real gains in both visibility and efficiency.”
Beyond operational improvements, the Swift team is also gaining greater confidence in the accuracy of its financial data—something that wasn’t always guaranteed before. “For me, the biggest win is having a much higher level of confidence behind the numbers we’re reading,” Sklavos points out. “And we’re also starting to see economies of scale, so it’s paying off both financially and operationally.”
For a company with Swift’s complexity and global footprint, finding the right NetSuite implementation partner wasn’t just important; it was essential. With over 25 years of experience, Sklavos has worked with a wide range of service providers and says few compare to ScaleNorth. “I haven’t come across another partner that brings this level of skill, scope and geographic reach all under one roof,” he says. “At the very least, ScaleNorth deserves a serious look from any company facing a complex implementation.”
Sklavos also credits ScaleNorth’s team with building a true partnership versus just executing a project. “They’ve shared our concerns, problems and question marks and treated them as their own,” he says. “We really operate symbiotically now. Our finance teams work as one.”
That close collaboration, combined with ScaleNorth’s flexibility and depth of resources, has made a measurable difference. Even when faced with unique industry requirements or specialized needs, ScaleNorth rose to the challenge. “Whenever there was a gap in experience, they didn’t hesitate to seek out the right expertise and bring it in,” Sklavos adds. “That kind of commitment is rare, and hard to find.”
