Shaun de Lacy, Director, Global Finance Systems and Operation, INTO
Due to rapid growth and numerous partners using their own accounting systems and processes, INTO had no central coordination for its financials. The challenge was even greater given that the systems didn't connect to Salesforce, INTO's CRM for managing and processing thousands of student applications.
Staff at university drop-in centers were unable to help with student queries on-site as they couldn't find their data. Additionally, revenue recognition was managed with spreadsheets, making it difficult, confusing, error-prone, and not audit friendly.
Key benefits:
INTO initially evaluated Oracle NetSuite and SAP, but these tools only deepened the divide between the front and back office. Built on the Salesforce platform, FinancialForce offers fluidity across business data, allowing INTO to eliminate the need for spreadsheets and reduce the revenue recognition period from two days to one.
With a few clicks, staff members can easily look up pertinent student data to answer financial questions and resolve problems on the spot. Additionally, rolling out new partnerships is significantly easier with a central accounting system.
Instead of managing individual IT infrastructures at each university site, the INTO team has saved time and money because it now only manages a single streamlined and consolidated chart of accounts. Additionally, instead of wasting time gathering information, the finance team can now easily view and analyze data in real-time.
