Growing agency saves outsourcing costs with Etz
Investigo is enjoying phenomenal year on year growth, enjoying a prosperous turnover in 2010/11 of £42m. Included three times over successive years, in 2007, 2008, and 2009, as one of the top 100 companies in The Sunday Times’ Virgin Fast Track list, Investigo’s specialities are plentiful. Their disciplines include accountancy, finance, change management, strategy, audit, tax, treasury, management consultancy, procurement, supply chain & logistics and Property & Construction recruitment.
Investigo primarily works with leading blue-chip companies in London and the Home Counties.
The Challenge
In the early days of the business, Investigo outsourced timesheet processing to an external company, who processed these manually. Initial volumes were low and easily contained, but once Investigo started to grow exponentially, these procedures were not sustainable as time was regularly wasted attending to anomalies and correcting errors between Investigo and their external supplier that could have been spent on more productive tasks.
When Investigo appointed a new, interim Financial Director, she quickly deduced that things needed to change. Having used Etz in her previous role she knew first-hand that Investigo’s timesheet procedure could run far more efficiently if it was automated. Not only that, she identified that operational costs would be reduced by bringing the service within Investigo rather than paying outsourcing fees.
Investigo was spending three days a week on the processing of timesheets and their associated queries and complications.
Further benefits became apparent; due to shorter processing times, fewer staff resources would be needed in comparison to the outsourcing company and the level of service given to customers could be controlled and vastly improved. Service levels would increase due to the heightened efficiency and departmental spend would be reduced.
The Solution
Etz is recognised as the market-leading SaaS-based software for automated timesheet processing and pay/bill solutions for the recruitment industry. The personal experience of the service by the Financial Director, and her satisfaction, was a key reason Investigo decided to implement Etz’s system within their company.
Used by SMEs to major recruitment corporations, Etz boasts superior customer service and product superiority over their rivals, backed up by very positive references from clients, as well as experts and peers within the industry.
Etz streamlines many functions which positively influences other departments within Investigo. Etz is not only used to process timesheets but makes invoicing, credit control and financial analytics quicker and easier too. The system allows certain elements to be authorised directly via email – this flexible control bestows Investigo with even more time for productive work.
“Etz has revolutionised our timesheet processing and much more. Being able to control such important and influential functions in-house is invaluable to Investigo, especially as our previous arrangement threatened to damage our customers’ experience of our company. I whole-heartedly recommend the service.”
The Results
The transition of bringing the service in-house from the outsourcing company took less than a month, with no snags or hitches. Following this seamless move, most of the issues that were negative and uncontrolled previously disappeared instantly. Investigo enjoyed full control of the whole process and noticed the significant time-savings associated with Etz’s automation. This enabled Investigo to bring their timesheet processing in house and they no longer needed to use and pay out to the outsourcing company there were using.
The reduction of overall operational time on an average of 300 timesheets a week has reduced from three days a week to process and manage, now to just one day a week.
The benefits of such control are now obvious. Information is more easily to hand when needed; for example, managers are able to monitor gross margin by consultant and/or customer as timesheets are submitted each Friday afternoon or Monday morning, making other processes and internal decisions quicker as a result. This knock-on benefit is no more apparent than in the cash flow, as sales invoices are sent to customers within minutes of timesheets being authorised, and managing payments is infinitely easier, to take advantage of credit terms.
Haresh Vaya, new FD at Investigo says, “Etz’s system is very user-friendly; it took no time at all to get to grips with the system.”
With improved internal processes and reporting, reductions in outsourcing cost and the amount of man-hours timesheet processing was taking, increased efficiency and productivity, all married together with greater control and superior customer service, Etz has proved to be an integral part of Investigo’s continued success.
