The Company

The Challenges

In 2018, they began their company-wide software migration project; following successful migration of their CRM and Microsoft suite, review and migration of their existing finance system (Sage 50) was the final project stage.  

Sage 50 had been implemented in the business several years previously as an on-premise solution, at a time when the company was UK-based, much smaller, and less complex in its structure. As a result, the processes and workflows were no longer keeping up with demand. 

The existing system set up created several issues: 

• Security concerns 

• Multiple users accessing the server at one time affected speed and performance (particularly for those accessing internationally via VPN) 

• End-of-month reports took up to 25 days to compile 

Without total re-implementation of the solution, Sage 50 would have resulted in stagnation of the business’ growth and would have undermined the company’s cloud migration project and, in turn, the confidence of the Senior Leadership team in the financial information available. 

The Requirements

With so much riding on this project, the wish list for the end solution and project result included: 

• A cloud-based, modern solution 

• Better user experience 

• No compromise on technical aspects of the software 

• Sound standard finance functionalities (General Ledger, tax, etc) 

• Multi-currency capabilities 

• Ability to set up and report on inter-company charges 

• Simplified processes 

Overall, the organisation required a cloud-based solution which could be accessed by their international team at any time and allow them to put more intelligent processes in place with the outcome of faster, better financial management and better decision making to allow them to invest money, time, and resources into areas of the business that needed it. 

Despite the complexity of the organisation and its structure, the company is fairly small and therefore didn’t have a large team to dedicate to the project. As a result, they had to find a solution that they could rely on to do the “heavy lifting”. 

The Search

The group Finance Director at the time kicked off an exhaustive research process and request for proposal (RFP) into all possible solutions available.

Oracle and other top-of-the-range solutions were quickly discounted as they were far too big, while lower-end solutions like Quickbooks and Xero were discounted for being far too small and not having the functionality they required.

Having discounted all other software providers, they narrowed their search down to the Sage family of products. As the leadership team were familiar with the Sage interface, migrating to a different Sage solution would reduce the amount of training required to get up to speed.

The Solution

The group initially selected Sage X3 as their new financial management system and were working towards roll-out when they became aware of Sage’s latest solution, Sage Intacct, in September 2020.  

At the time, Sage Intacct had been released in the USA but was still very new as a software option in the UK. 

They conducted further research into the solution and quickly realised this would be a much better fit for their business. 

While Sage X3 would have been the safe choice due to being well established in the UK market and covering the functionality the organisation required, there would have been a number of points of functionality that they would not have used.  

Sage Intacct, on the other hand, offered everything they required and would be a more flexible option, allowing them to implement more add-ons as required to keep up with and accommodate the growth and development of the company structure.  

They made the decision to take the risk and move away from Sage X3 and implement Sage Intacct.  

In order to counteract this risk, finding the perfect implementation partner was now the key goal. 

The Project

The implementation project began in November 2020, with a goal go-live date of 1^st April 2021.  

Due to a few factors, the project over ran slightly, and Sage Intacct instead went live in May; however, as they were keen to ensure implementation was thorough, there were no major concerns about a slight delay. 

The transition from Sage 50 to Sage Intacct was described as “a learning curve, particularly for those who have been in the business longer and were therefore used to using Sage 50”.  

While some processes are quite different and took some time to get used to, the familiarity with the Sage interface made the adoption of Sage Intacct easier for the team.  

Around five months post go-live, a few complications arose during the process of compiling interim reports, which the company produces every six months.  

The team explained, “There were a few gremlins when preparing for that. These were in both the build and the way it was used, so that created a bit of work but there’s not much that has been said about the system since, which is exactly what we want.” 

Working With ACUITY24

The leadership team felt the project management from Acuity24 included consistent communication – one of the most important factors for success and customer satisfaction on such a large project. 

Any issues were dealt with quickly if they arose, and additional resources provided when needed, with a Director stating “Has Intacct fulfilled the expectations set by Acuity? Yes.”.

Having Sage Intacct in place enabled workers to login and work fully-remotely – which became essential during the pandemic, and something their old solution would have struggled to accommodate.

Sales information is now available on the first of a month, enabling more informed decision-making.

 

summarising their Results, Macdonald & Company stated:

“Before Intacct, all conversations between finance and business unit heads consisted of people not understanding numbers and what things were. Now the conversations are about forecasting and building on numbers and results.”