GO HQ provides back-office services for logistics and transportation companies delivering for Amazon, FedEx, and other major carriers across the US. Andrew Polito, VP Controller, oversees a three-person finance team that supports leadership across eight service lines and a rapidly growing customer base.
Too Many Questions, Not Enough Visibility
GO HQ’s finance process was accurate but slow. Leaders across the business depended on Andrew for basic visibility into revenue, margins, and hiring decisions. Reporting lived in Excel, and each month required manual consolidation from two GL systems, aligning accounts, and rebuilding from scratch.
“People were coming to me every week asking where they stood, and I couldn’t tell them until the 10th or 15th of the next month.”
Their subscription model added even more strain. Customers can add or cancel services at any time, so revenue can shift weekly and impact staffing. But managers didn’t see the impact until well into the next month, making it hard to protect margins or adjust in time.
“Our middle managers aren’t accountants. They didn’t have the visibility they needed, so instead of analyzing what was happening, I was walking them through the basics.”
The result was a workflow bottleneck. Leaders waited on finance for updates. Finance waited on month-end. And the business made decisions later than it needed to, because key insights simply weren’t accessible in time.
A Smarter, Faster Workflow
GO HQ brought in Datarails to give every leader real-time data visibility while keeping the Excel workflows the team already trusted. Each Friday, the company invoices customers for the services delivered that week. By Monday morning, leaders receive a clear snapshot of weekly revenue, expenses, and progress against budget. Dashboards pull in the latest data, turning a weeks-long process into a two-day workflow.
Within two days, the whole team knows exactly where they’re tracking for the month, the quarter, and the year.
Andrew PolitoVP Controller
Datarails also simplified monthly reporting. Instead of reconciling two GLs manually, the platform maps both into unified reports. Leaders can switch between month, quarter, and year views instantly, turning a slow and manual process into a simple filter change.
Drill-down quickly became one of the team’s favorite features. Starting with a high-level financial category, they can open a management account and then deep dive into the specific entries driving each variance in seconds.
Seeing every part of the numbers for yourself saves so many back-and-forth conversations. People understand the story right away.
From Days to Minutes
Datarails proved its value as GO HQ scaled, especially during the acquisition of Bright Flag, a recruiting firm, in April 2024. The deal doubled the company’s size and expanded its offering into full-service workforce support. With Datarails already in place, the finance team stood up reporting on the new service line within a few months. Andrew could quickly see what was working and flag areas that needed attention during integration, visibility that wouldn’t have been possible without Datarails.
Datarails saves us at least a week every month. The three to five days I used to spend building board reports are gone, and leaders no longer wait for updates. They see the numbers themselves, and we all move faster because of it.
Andrew Polito VP Controller
Error resolution improved, too. If something looks off, Andrew and his team can trace it to the exact source in minutes instead of spending half a day figuring out where to start.
If something’s off, we fix it in minutes. Before, just finding the issue could take hours.
With less time maintaining spreadsheets, finance now focuses on analysis and planning. Clearer visibility into spend and revenue helped the team identify losses in their recruiting service, adjust pricing, and improve margins while still lowering costs for customers.
Now my month-end is about analysis and projections, not pulling reports together. It’s a much higher level of value.
Moving in the Right Direction
GO HQ now operates with clearer visibility and stronger accountability at every level. Leaders understand their numbers, make decisions sooner, and collaborate more effectively with finance. For Andrew, the shift opens up more space for strategic work as the company grows.
I would describe Datarails as empowering. It helps people make better decisions and keeps the whole business moving in the right direction.
Andrew PolitoVP Controller
