How Kumu is building a solid foundation for app growth in the Philippines and the global stage
Even if you’ve not heard about Kumu, the chances are someone you know is a huge fan. It has become one of the most used livestreaming apps in the Philippines, rising to fame for providing streaming and video sharing services, and earning opportunities for content creators, primarily for Gen Z and Millennial Filipinos.
Founded in 2018 by Roland Ros and Rexy Dorado, the company has seen impressive growth over the past five years. Today, it boasts a substantial user base of over ten million registered users spanning across 55 countries, including the US, Canada, UAE, Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
Kumu’s ascent to becoming the top entertainment app in the Philippines is a remarkable achievement in such a short timeframe. However, as with most rapidly expanding enterprises, Kumu is not immune to the challenges associated with fast growth. The company is continuously seeking ways to enhance its operations and optimize efficiency to address this, particularly by scaling its internal infrastructure to accommodate the company’s growing fan base and international expansion.
Kumu’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Mark Velasquez, believes that today’s CFOs are key to overcoming these challenges and must be involved in strategic objectives to support sustainable growth. That’s why he’s heavily involved in analyzing the company’s strengths and weaknesses, enabling him to make data-driven decisions that ultimately contribute to the start-up’s expansion. Two years ago, this process led Mark to realize that his team was being held back by manual processes.
The company’s finance team was burdened with the tedious task of sorting through business data trapped in spreadsheets, leading to prolonged month-end closes that detracted from more critical strategic responsibilities. As a result, the team was susceptible to burnout, grappling with heightened stress levels associated with time-consuming daily operations and ensuring the accuracy of financial records.
“I think the real challenge for finance is to shorten report preparation periods so that more time can be spent generating insights that will be useful for management,” Mark said. With the goal of simplifying the processes for Kumu employees, in late 2021 Mark decided to make the switch to the cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, NetSuite.
Mark believes that implementing NetSuite with the help of its Alliance Partner, AVC Software has greatly benefited the business, providing a more efficient and accurate way to track and access data, resulting in faster and more efficient report preparation.
In fact, after the switch, Kumu was able to reduce the month-end close report generation period by five to ten days, and supporting a 60% improvement in efficiency for overall report creations. The new system saves the finance team precious time to spend on strategic work, such as interpreting reporting data and providing better insights that support leaders with decision making.
Mark also noted that NetSuite’s robust market reputation was a valuable contribution, in addition to its efficient report preparation capabilities to secure investment. With NetSuite being a widely recognized and established brand, investors and their advisors can trust the system’s security and accuracy, providing companies with an added layer of credibility.
Despite the investment when implementing an ERP system, Mark believes that adopting a better ERP system sooner rather than later would benefit start-ups.
“In a startup world, things change a lot within a short amount of time, more so compared to a bigger, more mature company. So I think just getting [an ERP system] sooner rather than later will benefit the company,” Mark added.
Kumu has big plans for the future, striving to connect more Filipino content creators to a global Filipino community, and expand its target market beyond its current livestreaming product. The startup has already developed other apps, including Penlab, a platform for Filipino comic book creators to share their works, with additional apps in development to cater to underserved segments.
NetSuite has partnered with thousands of other businesses in the ASEAN and can greatly benefit companies looking to upgrade their financial processes to support business growth.
NetSuite provides a suite of business applications for managing various aspects of a business. The software is designed to help businesses of all sizes streamline their operations, automate their financial management, and improve their overall efficiency.
NetSuite offers a range of features including accounting and financial management, inventory management, order management, e-commerce, customer relationship management (CRM), human resources (HR), and more. The software is highly customizable and can be tailored to meet the specific needs of individual businesses.
NetSuite is cloud-based, which means that it can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection. This makes it ideal for businesses with multiple locations, remote workers, or employees who need to access the system while on the go.
Follow @kumuph on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to keep up to date with all the latest events, and surprises from your favorite Pinoy livestreaming platform.
Ready to start your own Kumu journey? Download the app now on the App Store or Google Play. Your community awaits you, so get ready to show what you got and start your livestream soon!
About Oracle NetSuite:
For more than 20 years, Oracle NetSuite has helped organisations grow, scale and adapt to change. NetSuite provides an integrated system that includes financials / Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), inventory management, HR, professional services automation and omnichannel commerce, used by more than 34,000 customers in 217 countries and dependent territories.
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To find out more about NetSuite and its services, visit www.NetSuite.com/GrowHQPH for more information.
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