“Amazing people”

Leading logistics firm eliminates paper and improves reporting with hosted solutions

SMH Fleet Solutions (SMH Fleet), a l e a d i n g p r o v i d e r o f v e h i c l e management and logistics services to the motor industry, has transformed efficiency by implementing a financial management system with integrated electronic workflow and document management functionality from A d va nc ed B us in es s S o lu ti o ns (Advanced).

The firm went live with the software, wh i c h h a s a l r e a d y i m p r o v e d management reporting, boosted cash f l o w a n d c u t p a p e r - b a s e d administration, in January 2015. It is being hosted in dedicated data centre facilities by Advanced 365, a sister division of Advanced Business Solutions. The managed service includes 24/7 performance monitoring to ensure the resiliency and security of the system.

Advanced’s systems have automated several manually intensive processes and improved the accessibility and reporting of financial information to improve productivity across the organization.

Chestertons announce new international associate in Toronto

Chestertons has expanded its international network with the signing of a new associate in Toronto, Canada with market leading company Harvey Kalles Real Estate Ltd. The company is one of the longest established agencies in Toronto having been founded over 50 years ago. The agency covers Toronto and the surrounding areas known as the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) and has an office that specializes in luxury cottages in the Muskoka area and Lake of Bays.

Robert Bartlett, CEO of Chestertons, said, “Canadians are keen purchasers of international property so it is good to have a presence in the Canadian market, and we similarly can offer a reciprocal customer base of intern- ational clients looking to buy in Canada. This new partnership is significant for us as it is our first associate in North America.”

Property prices in the Canadian domestic market has been brisk and record setting. Toronto house prices were up almost 9% in October compared to a year earlier.

Top tips for businesses wanting to adopt M2M technology

M2M offers the ability to remotely connect devices, machines and equipment to the cloud, transforming them into business intelligence solutions to collect valuable data on field-based assets.

Although adopting M2M solutions has proven to increase efficiencies and boost new revenue streams, there are potential pitfalls that organisations should carefully consider.

Greg Ford, Managing Director of Advanced Field Service, explained: “If implemented correctly M2M can deliver a rapid return on investment, by cutting travel costs, reducing d o wn t i m e a n d im pr o v i n g t h e management of stock and inventory.” “As well as improving efficiencies, businesses can also benefit from a wealth of business intelligence tools and analytical dashboards to gain crucial insight into how their clients’ equipment is running to offer a superior service to their customers.” Advanced Field Service is one of the UK’s leading providers of integrated service management solutions.

Magma highly commended at EIS Association Annual Awards 2014

The annual Chairmans Reception for the EIS Association in the House of Lords took place in February with host Bar oness O’Cathain and EIS Association Chairman Lord Flight introducing the annual awards.

In the category, Best Innovation, Newcomer or Rising Star, Magma was “highly commended” for its work with early stage companies; the judges noting in particular the number of companies that Magma is successfully advising on the SEIS and EIS.

“We are delighted that Magma has been highly commended by the EIS Association for the work we are doing with start-ups and early stage businesses. Said David Nash, Partner at Magma.

In the last 12 months we have advised over 50 companies on raising equity investment under the SEIS and EIS to provide the funding for their future growth and we are pleased that our work is being recognized externally.”

VoiceSage reports interim turnover growth of 16%

VoiceSage, the company that makes conversations happen, has reported interim turnover growth of 16% and a 32% rise in pre-tax earnings.

The healthy, profitable growth in business in the six months to December 2014 reflects continued demand from major retail, utilities & financial services brands for more convenient and direct forms of customer communication – now including SMS conversations and visual touch messaging The business recorded a 16% growth in turnover and – even more impressively – a 32% growth in pre-tax earnings (EBITDA) for the first six months of 2014-2015.

In the half-year to December 31st 2014, VoiceSage saw income from mobile messaging rise by 40% compared to the equivalent period in 2013-4.

Growth here has been boosted by a series of new product launches – including Visual Touch Messaging and SMS Conversations – which are resonating strongly with both new and existing clients.

Advanced Computer Software goes private in £750 million deal

Leading UK software provider, Advanced Computer Software Group (Advanced) has announced that it has been acquired by Vista Equity Partners (Vista), a private equity firm with over $14 billion in committed capital, for an enterprise value of £750 million. Shareholders will receive 140 pence per share equating to an equity value of approximately £725 million. The takeover puts Advanced in a powerful financial position to invest in and develop the business through the next phase of growth.

"This acquisition means we now have the major financial backing we need to support us through our next phase of growth and establish our position as a serious global player,” said Vin Murria, CEO of Advanced Computer Software Group. "Customers will benefit from increased investment in our product and services as we continue to offer innovative and leading edge technology solutions implemented both on-premise and, increasingly, via a subscription model.”

Local authorities could cut costs by up to 35%

A d va nc ed B us in es s S o lu ti o ns (Advanced), a market leading business applications and service provider, has signed a strategic partnership with Mouchel Business Services (Mouchel), one of the UK’s foremost business process services companies to the public sector.

The partnership will enable local authorities to benefit from using Advanced’s financial management system, e5, combined with Mouchel’s support services. In turn these organizations could reduce admini- stration costs by up to 35% per annum and will be able to drive wider compliance and deliver more positive outcomes for their citizens.

Councils will be able to transfer the risk of the management of their transactional finance processes within their accounts payable and accounts receivable functions. The end-to-end suite of services include the administration and payment of supplier invoices, general ledger management and monthly financial reporting through to credit control processes.

V1 document management

technology to increase processing speed

Olympus KeyMed (Olympus), which manufactures specialist medical, industrial and imaging equipment, will improve efficiency and increase processing speed when it implements document management technology from V1 Ltd (V1).

The company will go live with automated invoice capture solution, V1 Capture, and real time reporting module, V1 Dashboard, in August 2015.

Olympus KeyMed, which is based in the UK, employs over 1,000 staff. The company has benefitted from V1’s electronic funds transfer solution V1 BACS for the last 11 years. The strong relationship between the two companies was key to V1 being chosen from five software providers to p r o v i d e t h e i n v o i c e c a p t u r e technology.

Olympus’ 10-strong Accounts Payable team processes 55,000 invoices a year and currently manually inputs details into its ERP system, IFS, before storing the paper invoices in numerous filing cabinets.

Brand Psychology: Consumer perceptions,