Tell us about Anchor Group Services

So, Anchor has been around for 30 plus years, and it was started by Andrew Harper, and he started up the business. And he was literally a man in a van with a dog, and he used to go round and patrol, sort of like big houses in Colby on the Wirral. So that's how Anchor security services was born. In 2008 we introduced cleaning. We took on the company Anchor group services. So, we have Anchor cleaning, Anchor security. We do parking enforcement as well. So, we've got quite a few strings to our bow.
And so, I'm commercial Director now. So, I, I hold the purse strings as such. Yeah, I, I produce the accounts as well. But obviously I oversee the whole of the financial function. I do all of the costs for any new jobs that we're tendering for. And obviously you have, because of the way Anchor is you're involved in every department here. You don't just, you don't just have one job or one role, you just do everything.

Why did you switch to Sage Intacct?

Andrew, who is our CEO, had been looking into he wanted cloud-based software, so everything that we use now has been moved into the cloud, other than our Sage payroll, because they don't do a cloud version. Otherwise, I can assure you, it would be winging in the cloud somewhere. So, Andrew wanted us to go to cloud, cloud-based software.

So obviously, he then discovered Intacct, now Intacct from the beginning, it could obviously do a lot more for us than Sage line 50 could, and that is where, where it sorts of came, prior to Intacct. We used Sage line 50, but everything was exported out of Sage, and all of our financial reporting was done in Excel, and Andrew decided that we would have a bonfire of the Excel spreadsheets. So, we're not allowed we do still use Excel, because you can't not use Excel, but what it's meant, what in tax meant for us, is that everything can be produced directly from the system we're using.

Why did you choose Sage Intacct for your Cleaning & Security company?

So, what it gives us is the ability to separate, separate the companies as we're posting so when we when we’re, so any transaction goes to a department, and it goes to a location. So, what that does is means that we can run a profit and loss per division of the company as such. So, whereas before, it was a really complicated process of taking it out of Sage and then putting it into a spreadsheet with all macros and everything which can go wrong. Can't it? The worst thing that can go wrong for us now is somebody's put, you know, sort of like, say, a security sale to clean it, you know, or vice versa. But you can spot them really easily.

So, to the same extent parking, we can separate parking, we can separate our key holding and mobile patrol divisions, so we can have a separate profit and loss for them as well. So, what it's done is given us transparency, transparency throughout the business. So, we're kind of, you're not in doubt as to where your revenue is coming from, to where you're making your money and where and where you may be losing money.

What do you think of the job costing report within Sage Intacct?

And so, our job costing report, what that does is all of the costs against a certain site are posted to that site. So, at the end of the month, we can run, in effect, a profit and loss for each site that we deliver a service on that used to with the old system. It used to would be sort of like up to a week of manual entries and extracting information from different sources. So, we've got it all in one place now, and within like about half a day, it's done. But that's the checks, because you can all instantly say if something is wrong. So that has been an absolute godsend to us, and that gives us a view of every contract. So, if a contract isn't making money, we have. The ability to drill in to find out what exceptional cost there's been that month before, before we had that report, it used to literally, it was, it was our RFD. At that time, he used to spend about a week of His life doing the job, costing and drawing it all together from different sources. We have a system called time gate, which is where we record our employees time.

So, he'd have information from there, he'd have information from expenses, information from holidays, and he'd have to pull it all together and analyse every invoice that came through. So, anything that went through to clean and he'd have to analyse it and put it to each individual site. It was such a long-winded process, but very valuable to us. So, this has just changed our life.

Tell us about your spreadsheet process and how that has changed since switching to Sage Intacct?

The Bonfire of spreadsheets was Andrew Hopper has always hated spreadsheets because he thinks that you can get a formula wrong and the information, the information isn't guaranteed to be 100% right. Andrew likes to be able to click on something and see it as it is, whereas with our old Sage, you'd click on it, but it wouldn't tell you anything, because all the information had been taken from Sage and put somewhere else. So, he didn't like it. He wanted like the transparency. But what has happened is, because everything, it's not being exported, what's happened is we can produce the accounts.
Our wages don't get paid till the 12th of the month, but we can get the accounts within a week after the wages have been paid, because the wages is the biggest expenditure for us, and obviously that needs to be there, to be in the accounts, but within a week, the accounts can be produced. So, when we're ready for me to produce the accounts, I can normally do them within a day, which is amazing, because we were always running probably about six to eight weeks behind because of all the things that were being done manually.
So, it's, it's made, it has made a really, really big difference. I think we've got everything we need in our suite of reports now. We've got, we've got some budgets in. We've got some budgets in as well. So, we've got, we've got reports that compare, you know, what our plan is compared to what we are. So, we really have. We've worked really hard on the reports we think we've got everything we can possibly need for now, in case something changes and what it's just, it is so easy.

The thing that I love about it is, when you know, when you look at a figure, you think, Oh, that looks a bit high, and you just click on it, and you can see everything that makes up that figure. So that is, like, you know, it's a godsend, really, you're not thinking, oh, I wonder where it's a little bit different. You can just, you can go, and you can see what, what wasn't there the month before.

What impact has Sage Intacct had on your business with analytics and reporting?

So the reporting and the increased analytics, what they've done is they've, uh, they've kind of allowed us to produce reports that are meaningful, but normally for them to be meaningful, they take a long time for you to get all that information together, whereas what we've got is the ability, it's, it's, it's kind of, you want your reports there, you just change the date on it and it's there. You can put filters on it if you only want to see one division. So, if you were just looking at security. So, I would say that that is the best thing from it is the fact that you can, you can report how you want to report on what you want to report. You don't have to take it anywhere and jig with it to show what it is you want to show.

How are you using budgets within Sage Intacct?

When we first started, we put some budgets in from for the job costing. So, they're the Site Reports. But it is, it is, it is nice to be able to see what we budgeted for compared to, compared to what we've actually done from that we've seen some flaws in the budgeting because it was done in an Excel spreadsheet. But it's a learning curve, isn't it? You see what I mean. But from where we were when we first started, we've moved on massively, and there's loads of potential, isn't there? There's a lot more that we can do, and Andrew's very keen for us. To do it all through the system.

Would you recommend Sage Intacct to those in the cleaning & security industry?

Yeah, most definitely, yeah. I think, I think it gives you, you can get a lot of detail from it. And I think, sort of like I said before, because security is historically a low margin, high turnover business. So, the more information you can get and see where, where you lose in that small profit that you should have had, the better. I think. You know, it's, it's an absolute no brainer. So, each individual contract is costed individually. So, by having your budgets in there, you can see which area of my cost you you're spending more money on. And it could be the fact that where we should have full staff doing the 168 hours that they work, but we might only be using three. So, where we'll be losing the money is in your national insurance and pension contributions. Because they're doing, they're earning more money so there's more contribution. So, it enables us to react to things that have been changed that we wouldn't necessarily know.

How has your experience been working with itas?

We've been supported right the way through it. We've had things that Sue initially because you set it all up from scratch. You know, initially things, you discover things aren't quite right. So, we'd it's, it's nothing more than an email, a phone call to put the problem that you're having right. So, I feel that it's been a real team effort to get us where we are today. There's no time that we felt that right, you're live now. It's over to you. Yeah, we wash, we wash our hands of you. Yeah, you should know that it's always, you know, it's always, if there's a problem, put it right. And like any system, there might be glitches, the normally user glitches, I hasten to add, there might be, there might be, be something that we've done, but on quite a few occasions where we've done something wrong, Nathan's been able to auto correct it for us, so we have not had to repost everything. And it's been, it's, it's been a journey, but it's been a really worthwhile journey.

How has your experience been implementing Sage Intacct with itas?

I would say that it's been a really positive experience working with itas prior, prior to this, we'd always, if we had an issue with Sage, we'd always rely on your Sage help desk, where you'd be on the phone, on hold for about three hours, and then and then you wouldn't necessarily, you wouldn't necessarily get the answer to your problem. It be, we're really not sure what that is, whereas the way it feels here, you've always got a voice on the end of the phone or a quick response to an email you don't. So, if you think sort of when I'm producing the accounts at the end of the month, it's something, something a couple of months ago, glitched with the fixed with the fixed assets. We didn't know why, but it had, but literally, it was an email. It was an email and someone coming straight back to me and then them putting it right for me, and me going, so it didn't delay my accounts at all. It was just, there's a problem here. I don't know what's gone wrong. Can you look at it? Looked at it, put it right back on with doing your accounts. So, it was so it's kind of, I suppose it's a human touch, isn't it? Because you tend to get to know the people you're talking to as well. You don't get a different person every time you call. And you know, you just have that faith that if there is an issue, it's sorted, or if it's just a question, is there a way I can do this? It seems a bit long winded. It is, it's, it's just an instant solution.

What advice would you give to those about to undergo a Sage Intacct implementation?

My advice be, would be, don't bring anyone in from the outside. Have your own project manager from within, even if it means, even if it means, you know, having someone else doing their job, I would recommend have somebody be involved in the implementation, who is a. Sort of the system and knows what you as a business want, don't, don't put it in anybody else's hands, is what I'd say. And kind of, and don't be afraid to ask, if there's something you want the system to do, is there a way that we can do that? Because can assure anyone who's thinking about it, we found the solutions to what we wanted, and we're there now. So, I would it looks very different. When you're looking at it, you'll think, oh, it's a bit hard to navigate, but it isn't. It's just, you just need to know where you need to go, and you do get used to it, and you do reap the rewards from it.

Was the shift from Sage 50 to Sage Intacct worth it?

Oh, most definitely, yeah, like, I say, wouldn't be without it. Now, you know someone said, right, Sage in tax broken down, and you're going to have to go to Line 50. I think I would probably be pulling my hair out thinking, how on earth am I going to How on earth am I going to do that? And once again, it is really, it's really nice just being able to get into Intacct anywhere that you are. I don't need to be, I don't need to be on the computer. I don't need to, you know, I don't need to be in the office. It doesn't matter where I am, if I'm if I'm out and about, if I'm on a site, I can still go into Intacct and see what's going on, or look, if somebody asks me, have you had an invoice for that, or has it been paid? I can go on and I can just look, it's just there, whereas in the good old, bad old days, you'd be, oh, I have to ring somebody at the office and get them to go in and say, do you see so I don't know, yeah, it has changed our lives.

How is the wider organisation using the data from Sage Intacct?

Andrew looks at dashboards. Alex looks at dashboards. We kind of so our site report in the Job Costing we know we have that by manager. So, we can, we can give a manager their job costing reports each month when the accounts are produced. So, there's nothing better than focusing their mind. So, we don't have them going into the system. We give them reports from the system to make you know, to make their life useful. So, they can say what's happening with their sites, and they can see the consequences of their actions. They tend to be more focused on the things, particularly agency use, because if you if you haven't got a staff member, it's very easy, the easy way, the lazier way, is to go and get an agency, but when you say what that agency does to your figures, it focuses your mind so they try that little bit harder. It also makes them sort of focus on what they're spending on the sites. And is it really necessary? So yeah, I would say that it's made a difference.

Have you run into any other challenges that Sage Intacct has helped you overcome?

I think so because of the transparency of Intacct so it's helped with so if you think a contracts manager, an ops manager, is responsible for ordering the materials on their site, say, so, so you're a cleaning contract, and you need just some materials to do the cleaning job. So, what you'd find in the past is you'd be approving an invoice, or looking at an invoice, and a cleaner will say, I want 36 bottles of Polish. So, the ops manager would just order it. But Nardi, they're responsible for their site budgets. They don't just, they just don't take it as sad. So, you have a site with one wooden table, one boardroom table, and he's ordering 36 bottles of polish and not questioning it. Whereas, because he can see the impact that that has on the profitability of his contract for that month, suddenly it's not, oh yeah, just order it, you know, I'm not going to, I'm not going to query that.
Whereas now they do query it, so they only order what they need. So, you know, I think, I think that that's the sort of same the other thing in security there tends to be, you'll train, we have what you call multi-site officers. So, they're officers who don't have a fixed site, but they go to work on other sites, so they fill in for holidays and this sort of thing. So, what tends to happen is they'll an MSO hasn't got any work, so they'll state, oh, we'll put him on this site for three days training and then put him on this site.
But they now realising that it's just costing us money putting that per. Person on that site training if they're not actually going to be covering that site, and that affects the profitability of their site. So, they're now thinking ahead from the fact that, right, I need to get that person in training so many days before they're going to be covering it, instead of just giving them training shifts to fill their diary just to keep them in work.

Have itas helped you to get more out of Sage Intacct?

Yeah, most definitely. You know, sometimes with it, with the system, you've got the system, and there it is, and it's static, and you know how to do it, and nothing ever changes. I think that's a little bit. I think that's a little bit what blind 50 was, you knew where to go for everything you wanted to do, and it was just there, and it never moved. Whereas with Intacct, it is moving and there are new things coming out, and it announces what's come out new and points you to where the new thing is and how to do it. So, yeah, I think that, you know, you do help us to get the most out of it. We do get we do get newsletters. We get newsletters which tell us what's new. You click on the link you can read about what's new, whether that's going to be any use for us. There's sort of like your webinars you can go on there is sort of you know, you can go on, you know, where they'll teach you about something, a certain element of it. So, you can, you don't have to go on them, and you can just register for them, and they send you the recording of them. So, if you haven't actually got the time there, and then you can get a recording of it to listen to when you have got the time. So, we certainly know everything that's coming out or what's new on Intacct as well.

Should cleaning and security companies choose Sage Intacct?

I would say, yes, I would. I would do it hands on heart. We had one of our clients asked Louise, emailed Louise and said, I believe that you use Sage Intacct. Would you mind? Have you got time for me to give you a call to talk about it, because we're thinking of changing to it. This is one of them.
So obviously, Louise had a, had a, you know, a conversation with one of our clients, obviously a different business than ours, but once again, she talked them through it, how it's different from it, and it's a bit daunting to begin with. But you know, every day you do it, you do it again, and I would strongly recommend it.

Would you recommend itas as a Sage Partner?

Yes, I would most definitely recommend itas as our Sage partner. Yeah, it has made the whole experience so much easier for us, and I wouldn't go back to dealing with Sage direct.