Andrew Hamilton & Co - Edinburgh

 

Andrew Hamilton & Co, a sizeable firm based in the cobbled mews of Edinburgh was so convinced of the promises of integration made by Solution 6, they invested in a full suite of software comprising accounts, tax and practice management. The three partners and twenty three staff were hopeful that they could benefit from significant time savings and a reduced risk of error from repetitive data input.

 

Sarah Wilson, one of the partners recalled "The accounts and tax packages did not integrate fully. When we wanted to produce a tax computation, we would have to pull through the required information from the accounts program, key the data into Excel and then key it into the tax program. This method provided too much scope for error as well as being too time consuming."

 

Although the level of integration fell short of their expectations, the firm was reluctant to consider changing suppliers because of the upheaval such a move would entail.

 

The 'crunch' came, however, when Solution 6 informed the practice that they were planning to phase out the current software and the firm would be forced to move across to the Viztopia product.

 

Sarah continued "We looked at Viztopia and discovered that we would still not be getting an integrated solution. We were also faced with a cost of £29,000 to move across to the replacement product so we decided it would be more sensible to look at what other suppliers could offer. Several of our colleagues in neighbouring firms were using IRIS software and recommended it so we arranged a demonstration."

 

The partners discovered that all of the programs in the IRIS suite did 'talk to each other', offering true integration through a centralised database. Sarah commented "There were definite cost benefits in choosing to go the IRIS route. The price quoted was considerably less than Viztopia and the licence fees, year on year, are also less expensive."

 

The most noticeable difference is the level of integration afforded by the IRIS suite. Sarah commented "Our previous solution did not integrate to the extent that IRIS does. We benefit from lack of repetition and for the first time, we have experienced true integration between accounts and tax. With a centralized database and an internal routine where only one person is allowed to make changes to it, we can be confident that all details and addresses are correct.

 

"IRIS is superior in a lot of ways – for instance, we could not produce computations on the previous system. Now we save time as the IRIS tax module produces them quickly and accurately. The software also calculates interest payments which is another advantage.'

The firm is a keen advocate of electronic lodgement, filing a large proportion of their tax returns using this method. The practice particularly likes the speed and also the fact that they can send the last minute returns down the wire on the 31st January.

 

The full IRIS suite was installed in 2001 and having familiarised themselves with the main accounts and tax programs, the staff turned their attention to the other programs including Practice Management and AutoMail. 'Pick lists' were set up to invite clients to hospitality events and a flagging process implemented that defines recipients of the firm's newsletters.

 

IRIS AutoMail subsequently takes over the task and automatically produces mailing lists and letters. The practice is 'pleased that they made the change to IRIS' and Sarah added "the staff are happier." The consensus is that the system is saving time and with certain groups of clients such as sole traders and partnerships, the savings are substantial.

 

Sarah is happy to summarise the benefits of using IRIS software to run the practice. "We now have true integration between the accounts and tax programs, the reports are much quicker to produce and any system down-time is negligible. The IRIS telephone support lines provide an immediate response to any problems we may have. This is a tremendous improvement over our last supplier with whom we would have to face delays of up to an hour, just for them to ring back to discuss the issue. There are important cost benefits to be derived too. The initial cost was less than we had been quoted for an alternative system and the licence fees are cheaper. Overall, IRIS is a sound investment."