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Case Study: Outsourcing for Growth in Wine Retailing
This month, as part of an occasional series showing how real business users are benefiting from the Online50 service, we look at the wine retailing sector and Fine Wine Emporium who have have been using Online50 since March 2006.
Fine Wine Emporium’s concept is simply to find lesser-known wines of high quality and good value from small vineyards worldwide, offering consumers the “authentic” taste of wine produced in small annual quantities which reflects the full impact of the variation in climate from season to season. This proposition means that the principals must maximise the time they spend with suppliers, finding new product to maintain their differential from their rivals.
Why has accounts outsourcing been chosen?
According to Robert Fitzsimmons, a director of Fine Wine, the four principals have a long track record of successfully running multi-million-pound businesses. He says: "We're more than capable of understanding a balance sheet and running a sales ledger. However, because we understand accounts, we also know how long it takes to get an accounts system running smoothly plus the time it takes to maintain it in that state. Our core differentiator is finding and presenting a range of wines, and quite simply we can’t do that by getting sucked into running an accounts system."
Robert points out that: "Outsourcing part of the accounts work isn’t a luxury we've awarded ourselves. We know that by applying our expertise to supplier and customer management, instead of wasting time on routine accounts work, we're actually lowering our cost of operations by stripping out overheads to maintain our edge of the combination of quality and value."
What type of accountant is providing the service?
In choosing an accountant Fine Wine vetted a number of firms, finally selecting Hammonds, a Chartered Accountancy practice based in Beckenham, South London. The company was attracted to Hammonds principally as they “spoke the same language” as Fine Wine, empathising with the demands placed on the Fine Wine principals of running a small business, and demonstrating willingness to accommodate their requirements, which included co-operating extensively via the internet.
How does online accounting make a
difference?
Robert comments that: "Using Sage on the Online50 platform was a natural choice for Fine Wine – the traditional way of running the accounts software at an SME, installed on a single desktop PC, would have prevented us running the company the way we wanted, with the principals on the road most of the time, meeting with suppliers and customers."
"By putting Sage online, we can still raise invoices, check the status of customer accounts and add product items, yet do it whenever, and from wherever we are working, be it Europe or South America!"
What's the recommendation to other retailers?
In Robert's words: "We see Hammonds as a progressive practice, who are delivering exactly the service our business needs. Other accountants who haven’t moved with the times, simply can’t provide the quality of service that Fine Wine expect."
For more details on the companies profiled, please follow the links to Fine Wine and to Hammonds.
Alchemy Lessons From Cambridge
Cambridge is renowned as a source of bright ideas, and this month we've brought some from one of our partners in the city, Freelance Office Services ("Freelance").
As in any sector the challenge for accountants are to take the services they can deliver and present them in a relevant way to clients and potential clients.
Allyson McCord, director of Freelance comments: "We are firm believers in the power of online accounting to transform the relationship between accountancy services providers and clients. We're using online accounting to present ourselves as offering a service of value, as opposed to requiring clients to make 'grudge' purchase of accountancy services."
Freelance have identified one type of client who have the ability to maintain a set of accounts, but don't have the training. The solution they've hit on is to get the client onto Online50 from the start of the relationship, and support them with a blend of accounts consultancy, accountancy support and accounts software training. Over the months the client is equipped with the skills they need to be able to run their accounts. The client sees this period as an investment in preparing their business for growth.
Crucially this service paid for with a charging structure which works for both client and Freelance. As the client's accounts are online, Freelance can offer support on an hourly basis - instead of having to charge for a full day's attendance at the client site.
This may sound like a fee sacrifice, but Freelance benefits over the longer term as the client keeps taking Freelance's support service as an "insurance policy" even after they've achieved their objectives for getting an accounts system in place.
By having the flexibility to work from home, with support online from Freelance, one of Allyson's clients, who is French, can now work from home, saving on childcare. She also now has the option of spending extended periods of time with her family back in France, whilst running her UK business.
If you'd like to speak with Allyson to find out more, she can be contacted on: 01223 521108
Microsoft Vista Worries? - We Can Ease The Pain
Technology should be there to serve you, not the other way around.
With the Microsoft Vista bandwagon rolling, and at some point organisations will have to decide on issues such as which of the five different flavours (Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise and Ultimate, if you're interested) will have to be installed on your staff's PCs.
However replacing the operating system software on your organisation's computers is not a task to be taken lightly - and if you depend on your clients for access to their accounts data, you're dependent on them getting the migration right too.
One way to ease the headache is to make sure that your accounts software at least is already running on a separate, professionally hosted system before Vista hits your PC.
This way, as long as your staff's PCs can run Internet Explorer, Online50 can host their accounts software which accountants and clients then access via the internet. It goes without saying that once an application and its associated data is hosted, you've broken free of being dependent on one particular PC at one location for access to your work.
If you have not considered what a potential headache an operating system replacement is going to be, the internet article in the link below lists "10 things to consider before taking the Vista plunge".
