Revere Gas
Revere Gas, founded in 1942, is a family-owned and operated propane distributor that serves eastern, central, and coastal Virginia. With more than 60 vehicles in its service and delivery fleets and 700,000 gallons of propane storage, Revere serves more than 18,000 customers out of 8 locations. Revere promises timely, reliable, and affordable service to its customers, and gives back to the communities it serves.
Inspired by the Cloud
In 2014, Revere decided its software systems needed an upgrade. Although ahead of the curve when it came to mobile delivery—Revere hadn’t used paper tickets for years at that point—the company’s president, Carlton Revere, was concerned about the scalability of the company’s existing solutions.
“We needed a platform that could grow with our company,” he said.
Revere’s legacy delivery system was cumbersome and hard to use, especially by the employees driving the trucks. It was hard to modify deliveries once they had been logged to the system, requiring multiple steps. Revere’s accounting system was also out of date, still primarily using a DOS interface. Due to its limited capabilities, it was nearly impossible to create reports or perform analysis on their financial information.
Revere wanted a delivery solution that used SQL database functionality server-side; the unique capabilities provided by the formatting allowed room for future growth and expansion. They also had their hearts set on a cloud-based service; they had moved their internal servers to the cloud several months before, and the benefits were stunning.
“From an administrative and operational standpoint, moving to cloud computing took a huge burden off of our staff,” said Carlton.
Revere no longer had to spend time and money on complex support calls or replacing hardware and updating antivirus software—the last of which crucially important considering several recent ransomware attacks at the company.
Shared Principles
Revere’s specific requirements for its new software narrowed down its options, but what ultimately turned the company towards Cargas was its culture.
“Out of all the available options, Cargas’ culture was the one we wanted to work with,” Carlton explained.
The company’s core values aligned very closely with those professed by Revere Gas, and was embodied in its employees. As Carlton puts it, “Cargas and its team have the same principles, and that matters a lot.”
Revere began its implementation at once, adopting Cargas Energy for its mobile delivery and operations system. The company also decided to replace its legacy accounting software with Sage Intacct, one of Cargas’ partner solutions. Although making changes to major operational systems is always challenging, Revere was impressed by Cargas’ implementation team. Even once the implementation succeeded, the company remained in contact with Cargas’ support team, and considers it one of its closest vendors.
“They’re teamwork-based and shared our goals,” said Carlton. “The support has been very good, and we have a relationship that I think can continue to grow between our companies.”
“Out of all the available options, Cargas’ culture was the one we wanted to work with,”
—Carlton Revere, President of Revere Gas
Ready for the Future
With Cargas Energy and Sage Intacct, Revere Gas has a complete solution that can do things that Carlton thought impossible.
“Cash flow statements were foreign to us before; now we can pull one daily, if we wanted to,” he said about Intacct’s reporting capabilities. And the graphical user interface “blew our old general ledger solution out of the water.”
The powerful combination of cloud-based servers with cloud- and web-based software gives Revere untold insight into its business: “The access we have any time we want across all platforms is incredible.”
Cargas Energy’s functionality and efficacy when it came to its mobile systems not only made deliveries more efficient and user-friendly, but also let Revere’s service fleet fully automate due to its ease-of-use.
“Even though we hadn’t used paper tickets for 10 years, we didn’t know how much easier it could be,” said Carlton. “We are more than happy and satisfied with the usability, the functionality, and the ability to make a better user experience for our staff, and more importantly, our customers. We feel like we’re on a platform that will grow with us.”
Quarles Petroleum, headquartered in Fredericksburg, Virginia, acquired Revere Gas in December 2018 but continues to use Cargas Energy and Sage Intacct to manage the locations formerly owned by Revere Gas.