Advanced Business Solutions has put customers at the heart of the latest version of its financial management system, e5, which launched earlier this month. e5 Release 5.4 has been specifically designed to support the increasingly mobile and collaborative generation and was inspired entirely by customer feedback.
e5 allows organisations to track projects, create and monitor budgets and forecasts and manage procurement and credit control processes. The latest version includes significant enhancements, and offers a completely transformed user experience. The new HTML5 user interface means that employees can manage and report their financial activity from mobile devices such as smartphones and iPads. The system is also available in the public or private cloud, making it a more cost effective and flexible option depending on customer requirements.
Users can now access e5 through one single portal and are offered a more intuitive experience – they can switch seamlessly between applications – boosting both efficiencies and productivity. The fast track implementation approach also means customers can be up and running quicker.
Research by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) suggests implementing social technologies among senior staff can boost productivity by as much as 25%. Advanced has included updated social media technology, meaning staff can be more interactive, increasing collaboration and maximising output.
As organisations become more focused on outcomes, there has been an increased demand for sophisticated reporting technology. The new analytics software with this release will improve business intelligence and enable organisations to focus on these outcomes, while dashboard technology will provide a simple bird’s eye view of how the organisation is performing against key measures, making life easier.
Dean Dickinson, Managing Director Advanced Business Solutions, said: “This latest release is a significant step forward for Advanced. We put our customers at the heart of all of the changes in the latest version of e5 and placed the spotlight on mobile working because this is where we saw an overwhelming demand.
“By 2015 mobile app development projects will outnumber native PC projects by a ratio of four to one. It is vital for people to be able to manage their organisation’s finances from wherever they are working via tablet or smartphone to remain competitive. This new release will make it easy for them to do this.
“This is why businesses are changing the way they work and are looking more intelligently at their finance system options. Customers are realising they no longer need to implement a full ERP system or that they want to replace an ageing ERP system with a something more flexible, scalable and cloud-based which delivers value for money.”
The Borough Council of Kings Lynn & West Norfolk is one of the first to adopt e5 Release 5.4. The Council’s Chief Financial Officer says: “The Finance team at the Council have used e5 for more than 15 years. The team have developed and expanded their use of the e5 system during this time and are looking forward to the new functionality the latest version brings. The new system has advantages from an audit perspective, and it is anticipated that the new functionality will enable us to continue to develop controls and reporting which will underpin our sound financial controls.”
e5 can be deployed quickly using the fast track implementation approach and is easily tailored to a company’s needs. The system has become the de facto standard for enterprise-scale accounting software in the UK’s retail, local government, higher education, financial services and airlines sectors.
In 2011 e5 was accredited by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) as having a market-leading position.
