NPTC Group of Colleges, formed in 2013, consists of four main colleges; Afan College, Brecon Beacons College, Neath College and Newtown College which, together with five other campuses, provide post-16 education over a region covering over 30% of the landmass of Wales.
It is a Beacon Award-winning College and was rewarded for its outstanding and exemplary teaching and learning practices, and for its innovative and dynamic approach to demonstrating to students the practicalities of business. They have grown significantly since they first adopted OpenAccounts in 2014, and through further acquisitions felt the demand to unify their processes to ensure transparency and efficiency. As they manage their growing portfolio, after a rewarding experience with OpenAccounts, they have decided to journey to the Cloud with Advanced and have invested in Advanced Financials.
Marianne David, Finance Manager at NPTC Group of Colleges, recollects first witnessing Advanced Financials at Advanced World 2019: “I remember viewing a demo and thinking it looked really good, and as our demands increased, we recognised it was time for an upgrade.” As their Finance team weighed up their next steps, Marianne flagged how the capabilities of Advanced Financials could efficiently sustain and support their organisation for a further decade. ”I realised that through investing in Advanced Financials we could reduce administrative data entry tasks, and obtain comprehensive reporting which would really benefit our organisation and accommodate us for at least another 5 to 10 years.”
Advanced Financials is designed to unleash the power of data within your accounting solution, as the rich financial reports mean your analysis is almost limitless, and you’re able to drill down as much as you need to get a firm understanding of your business activity. Marianne adds “as a group, being able to unify our subsidiaries and work cohesively is very exciting, it means our team can take on bigger projects and will not need to expand in head count, as we’re able to work smarter and quicker.”
Moving to the Cloud was a major benefit for NPTC, as they’ve currently adopted remote working practises due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Marianne comments: “Moving forward, in relation to working from both home and the office, we anticipate a hybrid approach and the solution being Cloud based is a key driver for its adoption as it just makes life so much easier, especially with all of our dispersed campuses and the subsidiary companies, as they’re located across the country.”
A major advantage of migrating to the Cloud is that you can access your system anytime, anywhere. Utilising the Cloud also means all your data is stored safely and securely, so you don’t have to worry about physical documents and data getting lost or misplaced. For further assurance, Advanced Financials is based on Amazon Web Services, which is one of the most trusted Cloud platforms globally. It also ensures full disaster recovery is provided with 24/7 system availability and 99.5 per cent product uptime. Marianne adds: “We’re quite enamoured by its streamlined and glossy appearance as well as its ability to provide insight rapidly’. With over 1,000 customisable reports available, Advanced Financials allows you to design your own reports and dashboards to customise the information you need to see.”
Advanced Financials aims to empower your team as it enables them to simply and accurately manage all elements of accounting from general ledger, accounts payable, credit management, bank reconciliation and much more.
Marianne notes: “The small features embedded in the system, such as it automatically populating information from electronic invoices if you format it once, is amazing and such a time-saver! I would describe Advanced and its team as the epitome of professionalism and given the phenomenal relationship we have cultivated with them, it was an easy decision to upgrade our current Advanced system to Advanced Financials, when we considered our strategies for growth.” Marianne concludes, “When we first installed OpenAccounts, my colleagues would joke about how I was constantly smiling, and with Advanced Financials, the smile is back. We’re quite excited to be the pioneers in our market, as we will be the first in adopting Advanced Financials within our sector and we’re delighted to continue our relationship with Advanced.”
Mark Dewell, Managing Director – Private, Public and Third Sector at Advanced, commented: “We’re absolutely delighted that NPTC Group of Colleges have chosen to extend their partnership with us as they undergo their transformation into the Cloud. Many organisations are reviewing their software in light of Covid-19 and accelerating their path to Cloud software systems, as organisations require further efficiency than ever before. We’re looking forward to continuing our work with NPTC Group of Colleges to ensure they continue to grow and succeed.”
