IT specialist installs Albany ePAY to streamline customer

Sicon Limited, an IT consultancy specialising in hardware and software solutions for businesses and local government, has announced it has purchased Albany ePAY from the pioneering developer of electronic payment software solutions, Albany Software. Sicon needed a solution that allowed them to introduce Direct Debit (DD) capability to their cash collection processes and selected Albany Software after they were recommended by an existing customer.

Sicon Ltd is a specialist in developing Sage Line 200 solutions and provides consultancy services along with hardware, networking, telecoms and more recently, the development of software products that can be integrated with Sage applications. Based in East Anglia, Sicon has around 400 customers, and sells Sage applications to its clients directly as well as via Sage business partners around the UK and Ireland.

Albany ePAY is a highly-scalable, intelligent electronic payments solution that has the capability to integrate with any existing accounting infrastructure. Because it caters for both payments and collections, it is exactly what the finance team at Sicon were searching for. Sicon’s previous payments system did not allow for the management of Direct Debits (DDs), meaning that the IT consultancy had to rely on customers to raise a standing order for payment, leaving control of those collections firmly in the hand of the payer.

With its functionality and ease of use, Albany ePAY has provided Sicon with the power to take control of their DDs themselves, as Finance Manager, Vicky Stonell, recalls: “Before Albany ePAY was installed it was difficult to get customers to align their standing orders with their invoices, especially with the changes to VAT. We had to rely on customers to ring up their bank to make the change, making the entire process rather drawn out and complex. Deploying Albany ePAY has allowed us to take control of the process of collecting in monies owing, which makes life a lot easier for both us and our customers.”

Albany ePAY currently processes 50 DD collections for Sicon with a total value of approximately £20,000 per month. Sicon has high hopes of dramatically increasing this volume tenfold as it expands its customer base over the course of the next twelve months, and is confident that the Albany solution will easily deal with the ramp up.