Interview with Coralie Poumel, the financial controller for insurance giant Admiral Group PLC who have several brands including Admiral Insurance, Bell, Diamond and Elephant.co.uk. She manages a team of eight people and is responsible for all the Sage systems which incorporates Version One document management software and several language packs for their international businesses. All solutions delivered by Datel.
How did you make the decision to work with Datel initially?
We had a system in place that I personally felt wasn’t working for us as a business so we got Datel in around 5 years ago. They did a full demonstration and that was what won the head of finance over and the Managing Director. The rest is history as they say.
What IT solutions do you have in place?
We have Sage Line 500 and we are now bolting Version One onto that including DB capture, DB authorise, DB Fax and DB mail - the complete solution. When the invoice comes into the post room downstairs it is scanned and then goes directly up to the screens in finance. The team then use the software to capture data from the invoice which is then populated into Sage which is fantastic as you don’t actually have to put invoices on to Sage; it’s all automated. The purchase ledger clerks then send it off to the relevant manager to be authorised. Because we are only a relatively small finance department any investment in our software has to be really thought through. The upgrade to Sage Line 500 was a big investment so we really have to think about what we need and how much we really need it. With Version One we don’t have all the modules switched on. We only use what we need to - if we don’t need it then we won’t have it. We are a company that prides itself on low running costs which is why we are successful so the last thing we need to be doing is spending money on a system that we don’t actually need.
Has Version One made a difference to the efficiency of your processes?
Basically we have replaced the paper system because we can easily lose invoices in such a large building. You can then end up with two or three copies of an invoice hanging around so very soon the aim is to have no paper. Hopefully by the end of this month people will just get an email in their inbox to say that they have invoices to authorise and then off they go. It is going to be a much more efficient system, we can’t wait. We are just switching on DB BACS so we can actually pay our customers using the system too.
How are your team responding to these changes?
All my department are responding well as I am very much driving it but the next stage is to get the managers to adapt. I know they prefer clicking on emails which is the biggest route for information in this company. I’m positive I can get a manager to click a box rather than get an invoice on their desk but they will need training. I have achieved the buy-in from the head of finance so I am pretty sure I will get it from everyone else.
As a business how important is your IT solution?
We use Sage for reporting our finance and paying suppliers. I guess. if we had to. we could literally run with cash books and manually write cheques but in terms of being efficient and getting paper off peoples desk, as well as keeping our suppliers happy and everybody knowing where they are, it is critical. It is a friendly system as well - we all like Sage and we are all happy with it. Training on it is straight forward too. The fact that we are going into Europe increases its importance, if we had tried to buy an ‘off the shelf package’ and then tried to go into Europe they would all be using a local package and I would be sat here each month trying to consolidate it. I know with Sage that I can go into each company, print off the reports I need for each company and just consolidate.
Are Datel able to support you as you are now working internationally?
Yes very much so. I have been training the international team personally but for the local fiscal and reporting requirements Datel actually sent Spanish audio specialists over who were very hands on. There were no translation issues or risks of me being the middle man, interfering and getting something slightly wrong. They just get on and do it which means I don’t have to get too involved. I just manage the process whilst the rest of it seems to go on behind the scenes which is great. I just can’t fault Datel, they provide everything and take away all our hassles.
Do you have any IT plans for future?
At the moment our next step is to keep putting Sage into other European countries and to consolidate. Maybe we’ll take the Version One packages abroad but not yet, some of them are far too small at the moment and don’t have the need just yet.
Do Datel provide all your support?
Yes, our in house IT department here are great but they have to look after the main insurance system so the last thing they need is to be looking at small queries in a finance system when they have two thousand staff members trying to use a mainframe. I know the Datel help desk number off the top of my head and I feel comfortable just picking up the phone over anything, we have no outstanding issues with them and in all honesty very rarely have any problems with them. There are minor issues when we’ve bought companies from abroad if I do the configuration slightly wrong - I know it doesn’t always go right first time. We have a great Project Manager and the relationship I have with him is very strong, we have an excellent rapport. I speak to our Account Manager roughly once a fortnight, depending on what stage we are at, and I speak to our Project Manager three or four times a week. It really is a fantastic relationship we have with them, I can call them up for anything, whatever my grumble or query is, and they sort it all out. I guess Datel could get annoyed with us and say we haven’t paid them to configure it but they never do and the smallest of problems is no trouble to them. I have good relationships with certain individuals within the company but I also deal with others in the team. I’m the sort of person that if I want something doing then I want it doing now, but whatever I need always seems to be no trouble. Datel are like partners really, it’s just like having our own personal help desk. I can pick up the phone and Datel find a handler or technician straight away to deal with any issue. Our project manager is absolutely brilliant and I can’t fault our relationship manager, he listens to me and is always happy to come over and demonstrate things, even if it’s more than once. Whatever I need seems to be no trouble.