Velosio

Background
Nelson Brothers is a top manufacturer and distributor of commercial explosives and related services for major mining and aggregate producers across the U.S. With more than 17 billion pounds of its flagship emulsion product, PowerNel™, delivered to the market, Nelson Brothers has established itself as a leader in reliable blasting systems and technical solutions. The company’s specialty chemical division also serves clients in over 30 countries, including emulsifier products used in fertilizers and explosives.

To support continued growth, Nelson Brothers recognized that its legacy on-premises ERP system—Microsoft Dynamics AX—no longer met its evolving operational needs. Partnering with Velosio, their long-standing technology advisor, the company chose to upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management. The goal was to achieve 24/7 cloud access, stronger reporting, and improved data security in line with their culture of continuous improvement.

Solution
The decision to move to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management was based on a strong foundation of trust with Velosio. By moving to the cloud, Nelson Brothers eliminated costly server maintenance and third-party systems while also adopting Power BI to replace its former ZAP BI tool. The new solution enables better operational reporting, including dashboards and queries for fluctuating raw material costs.

Demonstrating deep confidence in Velosio, Nelson Brothers paid the full implementation cost upfront—a rare step in the IT world. The project was completed on time and on budget, successfully rolling out across five U.S. locations.

“The transition from AX to Finance and Operations was really, really smooth,” says Blake Cummings, Manager of ERP Systems. “We were able to evaluate and eliminate custom processes and ISVs we no longer needed.”

Velosio trained two core IT staff at Nelson Brothers, who then led internal training for users. The system was quickly adopted, and the company continued to scale without significantly increasing headcount. “We call our main consultant from Velosio ‘the dream,’” adds Jason Baker, Director of Finance Administration.

System Benefits
The benefits of the upgrade were immediate. By removing on-premises infrastructure, the company reduced costs and complexity. “It was very attractive to have Dynamics 365 all cloud-based,” says Mac Sparks, IT Director. “We eliminated all hardware and on-premises maintenance for AX 2012.”

Ongoing collaboration with Velosio’s support team ensures smooth updates and performance. As a regulated explosives manufacturer, Nelson Brothers must maintain strict inventory control. The new solution supports this with better tracking and accessibility. “It’s so nice that F&O is available anywhere, anytime,” says Cummings. “We don’t have to worry about VPNs or servers anymore.”

Tania Clark, Senior Accounting Manager, adds, “F&O is user-friendly once you learn it. We’re essentially paperless now and automated inventory management is a huge plus.”

Key Benefits Realized:

• Cloud-based system with anytime access

• Eliminated need for costly hardware and infrastructure

• Streamlined asset and fleet management

• Improved inventory tracking and compliance

• More robust, real-time reporting

• Reduced loss of raw materials during production

• Lowered dependency on internal IT resources

• Easier approval workflows and automation

Future Plans
Nelson Brothers is now exploring Microsoft Fabric to enhance how teams manage and interpret data across the organization. “Fabric will make generating our data sets into Power Platform much easier and faster,” says Cummings.

The company also plans to expand its specialty chemical business significantly over the next five years, aiming to quadruple revenue. Velosio’s guidance and Microsoft’s evolving tools are seen as essential in this growth journey.

To further drive innovation, Nelson Brothers is preparing to implement Microsoft Copilot, with the goal of boosting productivity, improving connectivity, and enhancing decision-making through AI-powered tools.

Background
Mascot Pecan, located in Glennville, Georgia, began in 1955 as a small roadside stop and gas station serving travelers on Highway 301. Founder Mills started hand-shelling pecans and selling them to tourists, who soon began calling back for more. As demand grew, the business expanded, added automation, and became Mascot Pecan Company—specializing in fresh-shelled Georgia pecans. Today, it operates as the Mascot Pecan Shelling Company, Inc., a third-generation family-owned business serving specialty food customers.

Mascot previously ran its operations on Microsoft Dynamics SL, hosted on-premises. When it came time to modernize, the company chose Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (BC), aiming to stay within the Microsoft ecosystem and benefit from a modern, cloud-based solution. “Microsoft is a large company—it’s not going anywhere—and we knew we wanted a quality cloud product,” says Jake Tarver, Chief Operating Officer and third-generation owner/operator.

Unfortunately, their initial implementation fell short. The original partner’s proprietary tools for commissions and credit card processing were clunky and unreliable. “Those solutions never worked properly and made everything inefficient,” says Tarver.

Looking for a better path forward, Mascot turned to Velosio, referred by a trusted contact in Atlanta. Velosio visited the warehouse, reviewed workflows, and quickly developed a reimplementation plan using best-of-breed third-party apps for commissions, shipping, and point-of-sale.

Implementation and Training

With a looming renewal deadline from the previous partner, Velosio completed the reimplementation in just a few months. “The Velosio team is great to work with and highly knowledgeable,” says Tarver. “The project went smoothly, especially given our aggressive timeline.”

While Mascot was already familiar with the BC interface, Velosio introduced the team to new functionality and set up a testing environment. Weekly training calls covered key features, and Mascot used a train-the-trainer approach. Power users were designated across departments: finance, commissions and invoicing, production, and shipping.

System Benefits
Mascot’s updated Business Central system has brought significant improvements. One major win: commission tracking for brokers is now automated, saving time and reducing errors.

The new system also prevents shipping mistakes through barcode scanning. “If the shipping department scans the wrong item, it flags it immediately,” says Tarver. In the past, item numbers were manually entered—often incorrectly—with no built-in checks.

Credit card and ACH processing are now smooth and reliable, thanks to the integration of the iPayment app with native BC features. Mascot can now process payments directly within sales orders, invoices, and service documents—reducing manual work and improving cash flow visibility.

Point-of-sale functions have also improved. Previously, invoices were entered manually and often left incomplete. With the new system, the process is faster, cleaner, and more accurate.

Mascot appreciates the predictability of monthly subscription pricing and the elimination of expensive upgrades. “It’s nice to not have costly upgrades or huge implementation costs looming,” says Tarver. The company also cut licensing costs in half by removing unused modules and no longer relying on custom-built integrations from the original partner.

Future Plans
Looking ahead, Mascot plans to improve its eCommerce and shipping operations. Currently, warehouse staff manually enter UPS shipping labels. By integrating Business Central and Shopify with a solution like Dynamic Ship, they aim to automate label printing and streamline fulfillment workflows.

“We’re focused on saving more time in shipping,” says Tarver. Automating these steps will help the company scale efficiently, especially during peak seasons.

Conclusion
Mascot Pecan’s decision to reimplement Business Central with Velosio gave new life to a stalled digital transformation. Today, the company benefits from a modern, cloud-based ERP that supports its evolving business needs—from finance and commissions to shipping and customer payments. With streamlined operations and future improvements underway, Mascot Pecan is well-positioned for continued growth.

Background

Your kitchen is the heart of your home, but even the best kitchens don’t last forever. Cabinets are among the hardest working parts of the room — and when it’s time to replace them, you want quality and reliability.

That’s where Cabinet Discounters comes in. Founded in 1983 by the Mikk Family, the business started in a garage and has since grown to multiple showrooms across Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and Washington, D.C. Alongside its sister companies — Creative-in-Counters, a major countertop fabricator, and Brighton Cabinetry, a long-standing custom cabinet manufacturer — the company helps homeowners upgrade their kitchens and baths with quality materials and expert service.

A longtime Microsoft Dynamics GP user, Cabinet Discounters upgraded to Dynamics 365 Business Central (BC) with the help of Velosio when support for GP began to phase out. “Support was running out on GP, and we were enticed with a ‘bridge to the cloud’ offer,” says Mike Barron, CFO and Corporate Controller. With retirement on the horizon, Barron also wanted to ensure the company had a modern ERP in place before stepping away.

“I’m leaving a Cadillac [BC] behind where we were operating with a Pontiac [GP] before.” – Mike Barron

Implementation & Integrations

Cabinet Discounters, Brighton Cabinetry, and Creative-in-Counters successfully implemented Business Central with Velosio’s expert consultants — specifically chosen for their deep knowledge of GP and accounting.

Each entity runs its own general ledger and bank accounts, with payroll processed through ADP WorkforceNow. The books are consolidated in BC, and BC is now integrated with Cabinet Discounters’ custom sales order system built in Microsoft Access. Previously, importing sales orders required manual steps using GP Integration Manager. Now, data flows automatically through Azure Blob Storage, allowing purchasing to respond faster and serve customers more efficiently.

“The integration eliminated the manual process... That’s all done seamlessly now,” says Barron.

BC is also connected to a custom delivery tracking app and ADP payroll. Instead of exporting spreadsheets and creating journal entries manually, the ADP payroll file is transmitted to Azure Blob and posted automatically in BC.

Creative-in-Counters also integrates BC with ActionFlow, a countertop sales and fabrication system. Velosio built a bridge to eliminate double entry and streamline accounting. Meanwhile, Brighton Cabinetry plans to connect BC with its 2020 Insight shop floor platform via API.

Due to repeated check fraud issues, Cabinet Discounters also moved to ACH payments and Positive Pay with BC. “We’ve been able to talk most of our vendors into using electronic checks instead, which is much more secure,” says Barron.

Business Benefits

Moving to Business Central has created major efficiency gains:

• Faster bank reconciliations, saving time for both Barron and the owner

• Streamlined payroll, cutting out hours of manual entry

• Improved customer service thanks to automated order processing

• Increased security and fraud prevention with electronic payments

• Modern, user-friendly interface with cloud access

• Cross-company access without user licensing issues

• Power BI dashboards that replaced monthly spreadsheets for gross margin reporting

“Power BI is live 24/7 with gross margin data — managers can now drill down any way they want,” says Barron.

Looking Ahead

As the team explores more advanced features in Business Central and Power BI, they’re unlocking new insights and eliminating even more manual work. What used to take two hours of spreadsheet prep now takes zero — thanks to real-time, self-serve analytics.

Cabinet Discounters has successfully modernized its back office, integrated core systems, improved service speed, and created a secure, scalable foundation for the future.