Flutterbee Education Group scales faster and simplifies post-merger complexity with Celigo

About

Flutterbee Education Group is a U.S.-based K-12 publishing powerhouse formed from the merger of four nonfiction publishers: Bearport Publishing, Bellwether Media, Jump!, and Kaleidoscope Books. While the consolidation created new growth opportunities, it also introduced significant operational complexity.

Challenge

Frustrated by inefficiencies and inspired by a renewed commitment to their mission, Flutterbee launched a company-wide initiative to unify systems, streamline operations, and scale for the future. With over 13,000 SKUs and 5 million inventory units, the company delivers nonfiction, curriculum-aligned titles to thousands of schools and educational distributors—books designed to foster curiosity and learning.

The merger had left Flutterbee managing five separate ERP systems, each with inconsistent data structures. There was no single view of orders, inventory, or financials. School districts were forced to submit separate purchase orders for each imprint, and internally, finance teams spent hours manually consolidating reports and reconciling intercompany transactions, tripling the time required for month-end close.

Electronic data interchange (EDI) relied on manual file uploads, and inventory was scattered across multiple 3PLs and consignment warehouses. With no integration to essential partners like Wells Fargo, operations were fragmented and slow.

Why Celigo and NuageSync

The need to unify operations and integrate systems following the merger was urgent and complex. Flutterbee knew it couldn’t rely on patchwork solutions or siloed vendors. They needed a flexible, scalable integration platform and a partner who could help consolidate fragmented infrastructure quickly.

To solve these challenges, Flutterbee selected NetSuite as its ERP platform and chose Celigo to serve as the integration layer. They partnered with NuageSync for implementation due to their track record of fast execution on complex projects. As Gabe Kaufman, COO of Flutterbee, explained, “We were under pressure to go live in less than four months. NuageSync not only met the deadline—they built robust integrations from scratch in just six weeks. Their ability to problem-solve in real time was critical.”

Together, they delivered a solution that unified systems and enabled a scalable foundation for growth.

Implementation and Immediate Results

Despite the compressed timeline—starting in September and going live January 1—Flutterbee delivered a seamless rollout:

• Unified five ERP systems and introduced a single PO model, simplifying operations and ordering across all imprints
• Automated 10,000+ EDI transactions with scheduled flows for POs, POAs, ASNs, and invoices
• Reduced month-end close time by 66%, giving finance teams back weeks each cycle
• Integrated with Wells Fargo, accelerating payments and improving reconciliation
• Improved inventory planning with centralized, reliable data across 13,000+ SKUs
• Enhanced operational resilience with Celigo’s AI-powered error handling and real-time alerts

Team Impact

Before Celigo, Flutterbee had no integration platform and relied on a patchwork of manual processes, FTP drops, and logins across disconnected systems. Even routine coordination between departments was inefficient.

Today, teams operate with much greater autonomy. Finance now closes the books in one-third the time, thanks to unified systems and automated reconciliations. Sales and operations have more reliable visibility into order and fulfillment data, and Flutterbee can manage and adapt integrations internally. With Celigo’s intuitive platform and NuageSync’s support on standby, Flutterbee is equipped to scale without bottlenecks.

As Gabe Kaufman put it, they’ve moved from flying blind to owning their infrastructure: “We’re finally in control of our own infrastructure. We don’t have to wait three weeks for a change—we can move now.”

Future Outlook

Flutterbee is continuing its modernization journey. Upcoming initiatives include:

• Extending EDI automation to include returns and availability updates—reducing manual intervention and improving customer visibility.
• Centralizing 3PL integrations through single-mailbox logic to reduce redundancy and streamline fulfillment workflows
• Solving for high-volume order performance to ensure scalability across large partner transactions

Enabling advanced forecasting capabilities to support smarter inventory decisions and reduce excess stock