Strawberry’s day-to-day reality is complex by design
Strawberry is the Nordics’ second-largest hotel group, operating more than 250 hotels across the Nordics and the Baltics. Behind the guest experience sits a large operational engine with strict requirements for governance, reporting, and reliability.
The group includes around 350 subsidiaries and well-known brands like Comfort Hotel, Clarion Hotel, Quality Hotel and Nordic Hotels & Resorts. Finance needs to keep the entire structure moving, with multiple currencies, multiple reporting requirements, and continuous change.
The scale is significant:
In this context, “a little manual work” is never little. It becomes a recurring burden, and it slows down closing, follow-up, and decision-making.
The challenge was not a new ERP. It was a new way of working
Strawberry needed to replace an older on-prem ERP solution that was no longer being actively developed by the vendor. But the real requirement was to modernize how finance work gets done across the group.
They needed a platform that could:
- Support a complex multi-entity structure across many companies and countries
- Scale with transaction volume and organizational change
- Improve flow in core finance processes like payments, invoicing, and reconciliations
- Migrate to a modern, public cloud solution
- Create a foundation for continued automation, including AI-supported workflows over time
Why Oracle NetSuite became the right foundation
Strawberry chose Oracle NetSuite because it is a true cloud platform built to support complex multi-entity operations. The flexibility and scalability mattered. So did the ability to extend and integrate the platform with the wider tech ecosystem Strawberry depends on.
Another key factor was future readiness. Strawberry wanted to build on a platform where automation and AI can become part of daily finance operations, not a side initiative.
Optimizing the solution
With NetSuite established as the foundation, Antire focused on specific areas where deep platform expertise could drive measurable impact: system performance, high throughput integrations, payments and bank reconciliation, and intercompany automation.
The approach: automate the heavy volume, keep humans on the exceptions
The goal was not to automate everything. It was to automate what doesn’t need human attention in the first place, and create a setup where people spend time where judgment matters.
This included:
- System architecture review – assessing performance and scalability across integrations and data flows to ensure speed and efficiency across a large, multi-entity environment
- Master data structure and governance – advising on managing customer and vendor master data domains in NetSuite, and designing integration flows from source systems
- End-to-end automation of intercompany invoicing – designing and implementing automated intercompany flows to reduce manual handling at scale
- NetSuite optimization – reviewing and improving accounting-related processes, pain points, and configuration across the platform
- Support on integration design – advising on the design of NetSuite integrations with a focus on effective and efficient solutions, including PMS and other core systems
- AI readiness foundation – strengthening the building blocks that future AI depends on: process consistency, trusted master data, and clear signals for where automation creates value
Antire’s work focused on the areas where platform architecture and data quality directly determine whether automation and AI can succeed at scale.
Results: fewer errors, faster close, and more time spent on valuable work
With inhouse champions, Strawberry managed to go live with 5 hotels every week over a 1-year period, in total going live with 230 hotels alongside daily tasks and responsibilities. Strawberry now runs their core finance flows with less friction and stronger control across the group.
The effects Strawberry highlights include:
- One shared solution across all hotels and countries
- Improved accessibility and security, as well as reduced IT cost (public cloud benefits)
- Easy, live access to all data, through open APIs
- Faster period close and stronger financial visibility across entities
- Fewer errors and less time spent on corrections
- Faster throughput in invoice and payment flows
- Finance capacity freed up, estimated at around two FTEs through automation
- Improved liquidity and cash flow through faster payment execution and follow-up
- Reduced admin interruptions for hotels and local teams
The impact is not only about time saved. It is about control. And control is what makes it possible to move faster, scale further, and keep improving.
Why Antire as a partner
Strawberry wanted a partner who could support a complex NetSuite environment over time, and help them turn platform potential into operational impact.
In practice, the collaboration worked because it combined deep NetSuite expertise with a very pragmatic focus: prioritize the flows that remove the most friction, reduce errors, and free up time.
Antire’s role was to help translate Strawberry’s operational needs into scalable workflows, data structure, and process design. That also supported Strawberry’s AI ambitions by strengthening the building blocks that AI depends on: process consistency, trusted data, and clear signals for where automation creates value.
What’s next: moving toward AI-supported finance workflows
With a stronger platform, more structured data, and cleaner workflows, Strawberry is now exploring how AI can support new ways of working in finance.
The ambition is to rethink workflows end-to-end, and gradually move toward more autonomous processes where deviations are flagged earlier, reconciliations move faster, and decision-making becomes easier.
