Tell us about FFT

So, I've been working at FFT for coming up 18 years. I'm currently the head of finance and HR and look after our key resources, our people and our finances. FFT is a not-for-profit organisation. We're a software as a service business in the education sector, working with local authorities, schools, multi Academy trusts, provide data through our online platform, and recently, during the COVID pandemic, we established a tutoring side of the business, helping pupils catch up with their learning loss during COVID. Around early literacy,

What made you look at Sage Intacct?

We started looking at Sage Intacct as we heard that it implemented with Salesforce the CRM system that we currently use internally. We find it increasingly difficult to extract our sales information and data from Salesforce to create our sales invoices. So that was the sort of primary driver for looking around at a new finance system. And when we came across Sage Intacct, we saw that not only would it integrate seamlessly with Salesforce, but it also offered numerous other benefits that we could make use of within the in the business. It's designed as a Software as a Service financial tool, which can help us now with our software service metrics, also deeper reporting tools. So utilising that the new dimensions which you don't technically get with other finance systems. So, we're just starting to unlock some of those, you know, new benefits by moving across to Sage Intacct.

What Sage Intacct features excited FFT?

The features of Sage Intacct that really excited us, and in particular were the automation of revenue recognition. Historically, we were doing that manually, so exporting our sales revenue data into spreadsheets and working out the deferral for the revenue and then having to repost those back into our finance systems age 200 so once we heard that that actually that could be done at point of creation of the sales invoices. We were extremely excited, and it's working beautifully. Now that we've got the system live and see those postings, it just means that we can provide timely management information on revenue without having to wait for the end of month. Big manual job of creating those journals for revenue recognition.

Why did you choose itas for Sage Partner?

We decided to choose itas as a Sage partner. We used to follow itas a lot whilst we were previous users of Sage 200 watching newsletters and hints and tips and videos and guidance. So, we kind of knew about itas at that point, but we're already with a different partner. So, once we were looking for a new finance system and saw that itas were one of the approved Intacct partners, it seemed like a no brainer to approach them. I

How has your experience been implementing Sage Intacct with itas?

Yeah, when you consider moving a finance system, you generally know there's going to be an awful lot of work involved, especially when you've been using your original finance system for some time. So, we knew that there was going to be a lot of work involved, both on our part, but also on our partner, itas side in making sure that the transition was as successful and as smooth as possible. The process we found is a positive process. Itas were there, from them, from the sort of get go, helping us, you know, talking through what the process is going to involve, setting expectations, you know, making it clear that how much work we were going to have to put in to make sure that the project was a success at the at the end, and then talking us through all our different options, looking through our current processes, making us reevaluate what was important, which elements we wanted to move across to the New system, how we wanted to configure our new system, and also kind of making us sit back and really think about, what is the success of this project when we get to the other end, when we finish the implementation and we're in the system, What's success going to look like? And actually, you know, putting that question back to us, and really making us sit down and think about, what is it that we that we are looking to gain from this whole process was really useful internally, making us really think about the key objectives and which areas to maybe prioritise over others. It was also really helpful sitting down and thinking about it rather than one big, huge project, actually splitting it down into different phases. I. Um, sort of smaller bite sized chunks, which made it seem a little bit more achievable within the time. And then thankfully, itas have been super flexible with us during this process, because it all it happened to coincide our implementation with our first ever financial audit, which just took up huge amounts of our time that we didn't expect, so we did have to slightly push back some of our go live dates, and thankfully, itas were accommodating and actually helped us navigate through that process. And like to say that thankfully, we're out the other side of our first days of go live and yeah, loving the move to Intacct.

How has Sage Intacct changed your finance operations?

so, since moving to Intacct our finance operations have changed in that manual tasks that would often take lots of time to run and work through have actually become automated. So, one of those is the revenue recognition element. Using the built-in revenue recognition solution within Intacct has meant that upon creation of sales invoices, those journal postings happen instantly. We don't have to export data into Excel spreadsheets anymore and manually work out the revenue recognition and then post it all back into the system. So that's a huge process and huge time saver. It also means that we can generate our month end reports more timelier and ensure that we've got accurate revenue figures, not just for the current months and previous months, but also helping and looking forward to the future. So, it's helping us with our forecasting and seeing were, where we're going to be in the future. It also means that members of the finance team that were doing those very mundane, timely tasks can now get excited and get involved in other new things, which is brilliant for their personal development.

How important was the Sage Intacct & Salesforce Integration for FFT?

You one of the big drivers behind moving to Intacct was being able to integrate it with our CRM system, Salesforce. We've been using Salesforce for a couple of years, and previously we used Sage 200 and the two systems were never connected. It always meant that somebody had to manually export data from Salesforce to import it into our Sage 200 so the fact that Salesforce seamlessly integrates with Intacct has been a huge thing for the whole company, not just that the finance team. It now means that we can synchronise our new customers, so as soon as our sales teams are talking to new schools, new local authorities, customers for us, they automatically can integrate those and have them created and set up in our finance system. Likewise, sales orders are the point of completion. Now those orders are transferred across into our finance system, ready for invoicing, which means, from a cash collection point of view, that there isn't a delay any more in sending out those sales invoices. Not only that, but it also means that our sales teams can look at and have access to some of that financial information that previously wasn't available within our CRM system. So, they can see when invoices are sent. They can see copies of them. If they're on the phone to the customer, they can send them a copy that doesn't have to come to the finance team. We've also integrated some of our customer account fields so balances, so anybody in the company now talking to our customers can see if that customer owes us money. Can maybe drop it into conversation and also pass it across and that through sales teams can be the right way for our customer support teams that can have access to that. And that's just the starting point. You know, we're really excited to see what other bits of information we can give both companies, all companies, can tap into now that we've got that integration piece.

How has Sage Intacct been received by the wider organisation?

Yeah, everybody seems excited. I think they can feel the excitement coming from the finance team. And they're eager to get their hands on, you know, bits of finance data that they've just not been able to have before. You know the fact that we're integrated into Salesforce. It's just bringing the company closer together, all working together, just such a small thing, just having the two systems talking to each other, it's just meant that we'd be more involved in having a say on how things are, maybe configured and developed in Salesforce and vice versa. It's, it's, it's strange, it's, it's such and it's a big, obviously moving finance system. But some of the things that have happened are actually quite small in reality, but the bigger impact it's had on the business, yeah, I do feel that the finance team are definitely having more conversations with other departments about different things and other people. Yeah, excited to get their new dashboards that we're telling them all. About, and certainly, you know, some of the things that we've seen in the demo. And yeah, being just able to see where this takes us is really exciting, really, and I'm looking forward to the next steps. I feel like this is just the beginning. And yeah, really excited to see where this can go.

What are your ambitions for Sage Intacct moving forward?

So, what's next for FFT on our Sage Intacct journey is really looking forward to getting stuck onto the new reporting tools that Intacct offer and also utilising the new dimensions that we haven't really had in a finance system before. We're keen to, kind of be able to tap into, and sort of delve into the data that we have, the financial data that we hold, not just for the finance team, but also for key decision makers across the business, you know, tapping into our SAS metrics, being able to see, you know, how the company is performing, make use of that data timely, easily, through the dashboard reporting that Intacct has been able to offer it to other key stakeholders, so heads of departments being able to have direct access to that information, and hopefully be able to really tap into it and make use of it for key decision making around, you know, driving sort of strategy for our sales. You know, how our business is performing just being able to see from that information instantly,

If someone asked you for a Sage partner recommendation, what would you say?

I'd recommend itas as a Sage partner, not only because of their knowledge that they have on the product itself Intacct, but also their friendly and professional approach to the whole project. They've been incredibly flexible throughout the process, but also challenging us as a customer to really think about what it is that we're after, and ensuring that Intacct was actually the correct solution for us to meet our to meet our needs, which was really refreshing, rather than feeling we just being sold a product that they offer. We've got on really well with the whole team. They've been hugely approachable, helpful throughout the whole process, really putting it as an ease effect. You know, anything we kind of felt we were struggling with or difficult, really helped us to understand some of the complexities with the new system that's different to other finance systems, things that we've just never come across before, like the new dimensions and understanding how that actually works.

How has your perspective of Sage Intacct changed since you’ve gone through implementation

Now that we've finished our first phase of our Intacct implementation, sitting here now and looking back at some of the things that we were concerned and worried about, or whether or not the system would actually be able to deliver. The system is probably delivering maybe more than we've initially anticipated. You know, you kind of sit here and think there was nothing to be so worried and concerned about. I think it's just some of those things we hadn't experienced in other finance systems before, and they just felt maybe a little bit too good to be true, that they were available and would work as we had been led to believe. But revenue recognition is a prime example of that. Now. It's all configured and set up. It just worked. I think we were so used to having to hand hold it and do it manually, that we just didn't believe that this huge task would become automated, and it has. And I'm just excited to, you know, delve a bit deeper and find other solutions and other tasks that we can, you know, make the most of out of us out of the new the new system. Yours

How would you describe your experience working with the itas team?

Yeah, just really good. They just, I don't know, just like working with other colleagues and stuff. Just found it easy. I suppose it’s; it's been They just make you feel very comfortable. You know, no question is too silly to ask. And I've actually really enjoyed the process and working with them. And I think that comes down to them and the way that they approach it, you know, I guess based on previous experiences, it's maybe not been as, yeah, that's, that's fun, or it's, you know, it's just there, their overall manner to it really, it's, you know, you can they're clearly knowledgeable in the product. So really get you thinking about how we're trying to, you know, implement a particular process, or, you know, thinking about how we want to do something, but things in them that we're not sure about, or, you know, some of the training and things that they've done, you know, I've kind of felt very comfortable just to ask whatever question needed. Because I kind of feel like, you know, we're not going to get judged if we don't know the answer. Or they, you know, they understand that we're new to Intacct, maybe don't fully understand how it all, all works. And yes, it's been great. It's going to be sad in some ways, not having my usual catch UPS all the time with them. And, oh, what about this? And., Could we do this and get, you know, I appreciate we've got the support team now that we're, we're, we're starting to, yeah, utilise and things, but yeah, it's been brilliant process, and I'm ready for phase two,

What would you say to someone who isn’t sure about making the leap to Sage Intacct?

if you're considering, you know, making the leap and moving across to Sage Intacct, I definitely recommend, you know, looking into it seriously. I only wish that we'd actually come across Intacct a few years earlier than we had. You know, we're already really impressed with some of the changes and improvements and benefits that we're getting from the system. There are things that we've been struggling with for the last few years, trying to find a solution, and, yeah, just wish we'd come across Intacct earlier than we have had it done. We've been really impressed with the system, so I definitely recommend exploring it seriously and looking into it and reaching out to itas to help you.