Digital efficiencies and reporting, helping to ensure worker well-being
The Federated Employers Mutual Assurance Company (FEM), has been providing Workmen’s Compensation to the construction industry since 1936.
As the company grew, the Finance team realised that their bespoke system was light on finance functionality, and a new system could offer enhanced functionality and help them to achieve digital efficiency in Finance.
The business required a solution that offered improved reporting, budgeting and creditor management.
Previously, financial reporting was largely a manual process with data being manipulated in Excel.
The budgeting process was also manual up until the final point when it was loaded on the system to be compared to actuals, and no workflows were being used for creditor management to streamline processes.
Yusuf Bodiat, CFO at FEM, described the objectives of this project as being to, “Increase our efficiencies and turnaround times which will help the whole business.”
Why Sage X3
After looking at several solutions in the market, FEM chose the Sage X3 ERP solution because of its modern interface and flexibility.
Sage X3’s open architecture allows for easy integration with other solutions. This was a significant consideration for FEM as they wanted to integrate their Sage X3 finance system with their operational system which managed the insurance policies and claims.
Teamwork powered by technology
The success of this project was largely due to the teamwork between the customer, FEM, implementation partner, SynergERP, and the vendor, Sage. A core element in SynergERP’s culture is that they use technology as an enabler across their entire business. For this project, the use of productivity tools in the cloud assisted with the overall implementation process. Project information was always accessible online, enabling FEM and SynergERP employees to work remotely, and this increased productivity of the entire project team.
With SynergERP’s Implementation Methodology (SIM) the client does not need to spend a lot of time at the end of the project on training. Bodiat said, “We were working on the system from day one. Training started on the first day.” SynergERP adopts a unique ‘use case’ approach which focuses on business-critical process, they create the best design to take the business forward, rather than recreate a replica of the client’s legacy system.
The SynergERP team continuously supported us and the use of online tools increased transparency. The key element of this project was trust.
– Yusuf Bodiat, CFO at FEM
Improvements gained with Sage X3
By harnessing a modern ERP, Sage X3, FEM has achieved many improvements across their organisation. They have attained greater efficiencies across the business, freeing up employees’ time to focus on value- add activities, rather than manual processes. Integration capabilities within the new system ensured that information from the Insurance Policy & Claims system could easily be passed through to finance, to generate valuable reports and insights. With better reporting processes, outputs from the system are easier to understand, and the management team have a clearer picture of the overall business performance.
Solution Enhancements
For further depth to Sage X3’s functionality, SynergERP introduced and implemented their Advanced Bundle for more efficient management of bank, accounts payable and accounts receivable.
With the Advanced Bundle, FEM is now able to import their bank statement files directly into Sage X3, automatically matching amounts on the bank statement to lines in the GL. Users can also quickly and efficiently allocate unmatched items, all from a single screen with the necessary control checks to prevent duplication.
FEM’s stance on their ERP project is to continually introduce new efficiencies over time, an example is through the adoption of SynergAutomate. (SynergAutomate offers integration services and intelligent automations to improve productivity).
At FEM, robotic process automation (RPA) was used to automate the process of retrieving the bank file and loading it into Sage X3, as well as the automatic creation of investment journals – saving time and automating mundane tasks.
This RPA technology is used to perform repetitive tasks that are tedious and time-consuming for the finance team. By using this new technology they free up their time to do more important analysis.
Key Outcomes:
- Reduced manual processing and improved efficiencies across the business
- Freed up employee time, allowing for more strategic planning and innovative ideas
- More valuable financial reporting
