Easyfairs International Finance GO-live in 9 countries within 6 months
Easyfairs is an international company organising trade shows and managing exhibition venues across multiple continents. Founded in 2004, the group has grown rapidly through organic expansion, mergers, and acquisitions, evolving into a complex, multi-entity organisation operating in more than 15 countries.
This international footprint brings scale and opportunity, but also operational complexity. Financial processes must comply with local legislation in every country, while group management requires consistency, transparency, and control. For years, Easyfairs relied on Microsoft Navision and had built strong internal knowledge around ERP systems. As the organisation continued to grow and modernise, the move to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central became a logical next step.
The challenge: speed, scale, and compliance
The decision to implement Business Central came with a major constraint: time.
Easyfairs’ fiscal year starts on 1 July, and management decided, unexpectedly, to move forward with the new ERP within the same financial year. This left the organisation with approximately six months to implement a minimum viable product (MVP) and go live across five regions simultaneously.
Beyond the tight timeline, Easyfairs faced additional challenges:
- Operating in multiple countries, each with its own financial and regulatory requirements
- Ensuring local compliance while maintaining a unified ERP framework
- Training end users across regions with different working cultures
- Supporting ongoing growth, acquisitions, and future system integrations
As Philip, Business Applications Manager at Easyfairs, explains: “Implementing one single ERP system is not easy when you’re active in more than 15 countries. You need to be compliant with local legislation everywhere, and at the same time, you’re working against a very short time frame.”
The approach: local expertise with central coordination
To meet these challenges, Easyfairs partnered with NORRIQ, a long-term ERP partner with deep experience in Microsoft solutions and international rollouts.
A key success factor was NORRIQ’s hybrid delivery model:
- One single point of contact for Easyfairs at group level
- Strong local consulting partners in countries such as Italy, Spain, and the UK
- On-site presence to support users during implementation
Rather than relying purely on remote training, the project team chose a hands-on, on-site approach. Together with NORRIQ, Easyfairs visited every major location to guide end users through the new system.
“I still don’t believe in online training only,” says Philip. “You need to be on site. You need to be there with the people to make it work.”
NORRIQ’s experience enabled a structured rollout, including:
- Clearly defined MVP scope
- User acceptance testing (UAT) sessions
- A realistic rollout schedule aligned with the July go-live deadline
The solution: Business Central as a scalable foundation
The initial phase focused on delivering a stable MVP of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central within six months. Despite the compressed timeline, the solution went live as planned across 9 different databases.
Following the successful launch:
- Version 1 is now live across multiple regions
- Additional customisations are being developed and rolled out in phases
- The system is being prepared for future acquisitions and legacy integrations
- Compliance requirements, such as e-invoicing and European regulations, are already part of the roadmap
Because this was not the first ERP implementation NORRIQ had delivered for Easyfairs, the teams were able to build on shared knowledge and trust.
Stephan Forseilles, CTOCTO
Easyfairs International
The results: confidence, continuity, and readiness for growth
For Easyfairs, the project delivered more than a new ERP platform. It provided continuity, predictability, and confidence during a period of ongoing change.
Key benefits include:
- Successful ERP go-live within an extremely tight six-month timeframe
- A solution that balances local compliance with group-wide consistency
- High user adoption thanks to on-site support and familiar implementation teams
- A scalable ERP foundation ready for future growth and acquisitions
A long-term partnership
Easyfairs continues to grow internationally, and its ERP landscape must evolve alongside it. With Business Central now in place and a clear roadmap ahead, the organisation is well-positioned for the future.
By combining local expertise, international coordination, and a strong partnership built over many years, Easyfairs successfully modernised its ERP environment without slowing down its business.
Stephan summarises the partnership simply:
“ERP deployments are always difficult projects, but with NORRIQ, we’ve had deployments mostly on time and on budget. If it’s not broken, we don’t want to fix it.”