E-transaction support software has helped the Royal Society for the
Prevention of Accidents cut costs
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa) has
introduced e-transaction support software to cut the cost of labour
and resource-intensive business functions, writes
Marc
Ambasna-Jones.
Rospa is a registered charity that campaigns on all aspects of
accident prevention. It employs 125 staff and has an annual
turnover of £7m. Like most charities, the need to maximise revenue
is paramount. This can only be achieved by either increasing
donations or by taking a more practical look at business
methodology.
The charity decided to invest in a document management system when
it realised that it could save both time and resources through
better paper handling. It chose Connect, a system from
Hampshire-based Albany Software.
"We required a secure method of communication that strengthened our
business relations with key suppliers and customers," says George
Peat, Rospa's financial controller. "Albany's Connect software has
given us a means of automating the delivery of remittance advices
and customer statements, reducing the manual workload throughout
the finance department."
Rospa has seen an increase in staff productivity since connect was
installed. According to Peat, it has achieved a time saving of at
least one day a month in the finance department. The charity had
been sending remittance advices to suppliers through the post but
is now able to send them electronically.
"Connect has enabled us to become a far more customer-responsive
organisation," says Peat. "We can send remittance advices to our
suppliers on the day that a financial transaction has taken place,
which helps us to maintain good supplier relations. We are also
able to send electronic company and customer statements. This saves
us time and money as the alternative is to use the postal service,
which is slower and also inflicts a strain on internal
resources."
While Rospa saves money on postage, it will of course take a little
time to claw back the £5,000 outlay on the Connect system. However,
according to Peat, cost is not the only issue. "We are looking to
provide our customers and suppliers with the option of receiving
information from us via fax or e-mail in order to provide a more
personalised level of service. Connect has the e-mail functionality
that enables us to do that. In fact, its impact on our business has
been immense," he says.