13th May 2020 | 4 min read

The clear choice

Sage 200 upgrade aids speedy growth

Citron Hygiene is a specialist hygiene services company, providing managed hygiene solutions and consumable items to businesses across the UK. We spoke to Finance Manager, Claire Grant about their upgrade to Sage 200.

• Fast growth

Citron Hygiene was growing fast through multiple acquisitions, which was increasing the service side of the business. They’d been using Sage for many years, but their existing version was not set up to manage the new systems and requirements they now had following their growth. They also needed some guidance around their options for Making Tax Digital.

Citron Hygiene’s existing Business Partner was not proactive in offering this guidance, and so the upgrade to Sage 200 prompted them to seek a new partner to take them through the process. They were moving their entire IT network, so it was perfect timing for an overhaul.

“We got some quotes and Datel came out to see us. We were really impressed!”

• Partnership working

During the initial meeting, a number of requirements were established. Citron Hygiene needed document management, stock management (including deliveries), purchase to pay process, as well as the management of customer service calls.

All of this would benefit the business immediately and also aid their growth. “The thing that was lacking from our previous supplier was that there wasn’t that regular checking in on how the business was developing, and was Sage still working for us. That’s what we get from Datel.”

“We got the feeling we’d be more looked after as the business grew”.

Claire explained how helpful it is to have regular face-to-face meetings with Emma Lee, their Account Manager. “It’s easy for us to ring up and say we think we need this, but we’re not IT people and we don’t necessarily know what we need. That’s why we need you to come in, see what’s going on and tell us what we need! That’s what we were missing from where we were before”.

From the time Datel met Citron Hygiene, they went on to acquire several other businesses with different computer systems that needed to be integrated. Datel have subsequently set them up with Sicon Contract Manager, Draycir Credit Hound, Datel SQL support as well as a Direct Debit solution.

Staff at Citron Hygiene have also taken advantage of Datel’s added value services, including free training videos. “We’ve also paid for additional recorded training specific to us so we can refresh people when they’ve been on maternity leave and so on.”

• Changing times

When the UK went into lockdown due to the Covid-19 crisis, Citron Hygiene’s upgrade had to be accelerated. “We had to move to the new version of Sage 200 and our new IT infrastructure with quite short notice. As everyone needed to work from home, it became even more important to do it quickly.”

The upgrade and additional elements of the solution were implemented successfully ensuring the Citron Hygiene team could operate effectively from home.

“In the past when we’ve done upgrades, it’s been really labour intensive for me”, Claire reflects.

“This time, having a dedicated project manager meant my input was not needed as much. The Datel team worked well with our IT consultants meaning I could avoid being the go-between. It all resulted in a very quick and easy transition to the latest version.”