CASE STUDY
Jeff Ryan , Managing Director , AWCape
business goals , we need to automate as many parts of our business as we can , as well as ensure that our senior leaders have up-to-the-minute business insights at their fingertips .
Most of the other business solutions we are running are cloud-based , and we also wanted to modernise our financial system to get the reliability , flexibility and cost efficiencies of software-as-a-service ,” he said . “ It used to take a week to generate management reports , but with Sage Intacct , these can be generated within minutes . The platform also enables data to be sliced and diced across dimensions to get different views without producing individual reports .”
With more C-level and business line executives now getting involved in making IT and technology purchasing decisions and not just the CIO or IT director , it ’ s is important that the CIO or IT head gest the correct support and buy-in from their peers .
Smith said driving business intelligence improvements is a key strategic objective for the comnpany . “ As the financial director , I see information technology as an investment in the growth of our business . Our CEO and the rest of the senior leadership team understand the role of technology in automating processes , driving efficiencies and helping to improve the customer experience . Provided there is a good business case , we seldom struggle to secure buy-in for an IT project that will enhance our operations ,” he said . “ In the hospitality industry , we are under constant pressure to improve efficiencies and Sage Intacct is helping us achieve these goals by automating processes we used to execute manually and putting real-time insights about our business at our fingertips .
“ We were impressed by the speed of deployment for Sage Intacct , which AWCape got up-and-running in just over a month . The ease of integration with our other business systems , the ease of use , and how it empowers end-users are also compelling benefits . We ’ ve been able to create custom dashboards and management reports without needing in-depth training .”
With innovation happening fast and evolving in the hospitality industry , the African continent has witnessed a heightened wave of cyberattacks in recent months targeting the hospitality industry especially with the COVID-19 pandemic . To this end , it is critical that Life & Brand protects it digital assets and most importantly , client information that it does not fall into the hands of cyber criminals .
Smith explained that : “ We have shifted towards the cloud , working with world-class vendors that have robust security systems and processes in place . In addition , we have also aligned our internal policies and processes with the requirements of laws such as the Protection of Personal Information Act ( POPIA ). Educating end-users about security is a priority , since most breaches occur due to human laziness or error .”
According to Smith , Life & Brand needs an agile backbone that simplifies the rollout of new stores , brands and companies to facilitate its growth strategy . In addition , company needs business insights that enable it to see threats and opportunities in real-time .
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