EdComs replaces a labour-intensive time recording
and job costing process with a web-based
application from Tempora that delivers scalable cost
reporting capabilities without placing a drain on inhouse
IT resources.
Overview
Pressure on consultancies is intensifying all the time. Amidst fierce
competition, clients want greater transparency and a better
understanding of the value for money they get from firms. But with
shrinking margins, consultancies need to be wary of over-servicing
and keep a sharp eye on their time and costs.
The challenge
EdComs is an educational consultancy, providing creative and
innovative research, strategies and solutions in a range of media for
organisations who want to communicate with and through education.
As a consultancy, EdComs’ primary asset is its employees and their
time, and monitoring that time is critical to the success of the
company.
According to Richard Cowen, Finance Director at EdComs, one of the
hardest things is ensuring the company is charging the correct
amounts and not over-servicing, especially where a client prefers to
be charged a fixed fee.
Traditionally, EdComs had been using a manual and labourintensive
system of monitoring time, which Cowen describes as a
“world of Excel spreadsheets and hard work”.
The company needed a means of recording and analysing data at a
much more detailed level.
Solution
EdComs looked at several job costing, time and accounts solutions
on the market before adopting Tempora.
“Akey concern for us was being sure we could integrate a new
system quickly and with as little disruption as possible”, says Cowen.
“Because it’s web-based, Tempora has no in-house IT needs, and
that meant we could get it up and running almost instantly.”
Furthermore, because Tempora doesn’t require EdComs to run its
own server, there’s no need for EdComs to manually upgrade
software every time there’s a new release.
“We can introduce new services or system upgrades to Tempora
immediately, says Chris Smith, Tempora’s Director. “And this is a
real benefit for those businesses keen on minimising their own
technical support resources.”
EdComs was also keen that staff would be able to get up to speed
with the product quickly once it was in operation. Tempora’s clear
layout and simple functionality appealed in this respect.
Cowen says, “Nobody likes filling out timesheets. But they’re an
inevitable bug-bear of any time-based organisation. The easier they
are to use, the more useful they are when it comes to reporting
costs.”
EdComs uses Tempora’s snap-shot reporting functionality to identify
potential areas of over-servicing and monitor client profitability.
Compared with EdComs’ existing system of spreadsheets, Tempora
allows users to configure reports according to the level of detail
they need for each client, whether by project, product or region, or
another set of criteria.
Tempora also allows EdComs to import data from other existing
systems –notably Sage, which means that elements such as job
revenue can be factored into profit and loss reports.
Finding a solution that would sit alongside Sage was an important
consideration for EdComs.
“Installing a fully-integrated system would have meant having to
replace Sage and this was something we did not want to do,” says
Cowen.
“Tempora gives us the reporting capability we need without
disrupting our other systems.”
Results
According to Cowen, staff at EdComs find Tempora simple and
straightforward to use, and the system has been “adopted well”.
Those filling in timesheets are able to do so with ease, while the
finance team have no difficulty linking it to Sage.
Cowen is drawn in particular to Tempora’s job costing and client
profitability features.
“The ability to get a snapshot overview of whether certain clients
are being over-serviced is particularly useful. We are able to
monitor client profitability with greater accuracy, and bill
accordingly – something we were never properly able to do before.”
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