In Their Own Words...

Name: Butler Family Enterprises

Location: Niles, Michigan

Type of Investor: Family Office

# of Entities: 75

Products Used:
Navigator - POE

Robin Brown is a new Navigator customer. As vice president of Butler Family Enterprises in Southwestern Michigan and a Butler, she has a vested interest in understanding the family's diverse financial position. Robin needed financial management software that could roll-up entities as simple as an infant's trust fund to complex businesses, like the family's 1,000-acre farm.

Robin first became aware of Navigator through the Family Office Exchange. She wanted a solution that was first, flexible, and second, in her price range. Her choice needed to let her manage entities by multiple family groups, generations, levels of complexity, and type. Robin assessed approximately six financial management software packages and chose Financial Navigator based on a "good mix between flexibility and value."

The number of entities "definitely" factored into her decision as well. "We bought capacity for 75 entities and will probably fill that by the end of the year," she said. "We have many different families with individual accounting needs."

Navigator is "really easy to learn," according to Robin. "We purchased Navigator at a time when a tutor course wasn't currently available so we've been self-teaching, and it's been really very easy to learn. The manuals are excellent and very well written." Robin finds Navigator's support line "wonderful." "The support is always very personable and friendly, and I like the consistency of getting the same person each time," she said.

Robin is early in the process of entering entities, but she said that "once she jumped in, she started learning how flexible the program really was." She likes how she can manipulate the data to get what she really needs. "I was nervous at first because it is quite an investment,' she said, "but the farther I get into it, the more I realize that we really made the right decision."