AlphaFirst set the standard for Fujifilm UK financial reporting

“As a finance function we are now able to provide more thorough information and insight to the business in a timely and more accurate manner. The risk of errors in the data is massively reduced and we can rely on the information 100%.”

Colin Hooker, Financial Planning and Analysis Manager, Fujifilm UK

Background

How does a small software development business get taken on by the UK arm of one of the largest corporations on the planet – AND retain their business for 15 years and counting?

Fujifilm is the world-famous photographic technology innovator and manufacturer, employing thousands around the globe and serving consumers and businesses for over 80 years.

AlphaFirst is a software and database specialist, employing a small team of IT professionals in Hertfordshire, UK.

How the two came together is a story about the perseverance required to find a needle in a haystack.

Jeremy Tilson, Managing Director of AlphaFirst recalls how it all happened:

“I’d written a piece on our website about Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, which is exactly what Fujifilm UK were looking for at the time. One of their former project managers scrolled through to the 11th page of his Google search before he found what I had written about – and got in touch.

“They called me in for an interview, and AlphaFirst have been working with them ever since!”

From the beginning of their engagement Jeremy and his team helped Fujifilm UK produce upwards of 500 SQL reports.

Little did they know that this was only the beginning of how AlphaFirst’s database development knowledge would contribute to Fujifilm UK.

Here, Fujifilm’s Financial Planning and Analysis Manager Colin Hooker outlines two further problems that AlphaFirst assisted with:

Budgeting requirements

“Roundabout 2013 we were looking to replace our clunky Excel spreadsheet-based budgeting reports.

“With so many products, departments and P&L rows it used to take days of work to compile and refactor everything each month.

“We needed a central solution that allowed all budget holders to collaborate, and which I could oversee and then consolidate into the right format to submit our budgets to Tokyo.”

Enhancing SAP’s reporting solution

“In 2016 the implementation of an SAP ERP solution in Fujifilm’s European business triggered a significant restructure in the organisation,” Colin explains.

“We lost our UK-based IT development team as the IT function, including the reporting solutions, became more centralised. However about a year in we realised that we’d gone too far. The ERP solution could not deliver financial reports in the detail and granularity we required, and we were in danger of slipping back into a manual Excel-based reporting process.

“Considering what we’d become accustomed to with the budgeting application this was unacceptable. So we looked to Jeremy and his team to create a financial reporting solution for the UK.”

Reporting solutions for budgeting and management accounting

Fujifilm investigated several external providers to help them solve their budgeting problem. However, in a conversation with Jeremy, Colin realised that AlphaFirst already had the know-how they needed.

“Jeremy and his team understood the business, our data and how we needed to use it. He also had experience of writing forecasting solutions from a previous role,” Colin says.

AlphaFirst proposed a web-based solution with a database at its core, using grids to emulate the Excel environment that the users were accustomed to.

Products and P&L rows could be added to change the structure, and queries generated to get the output in whatever format was needed.

Fujifilm UK had found their man.

“The Budget App for financial planning has been part of the furniture since 2013. People like it and know how to use it. The detail it drills into has been particularly useful during the pandemic and has set the standard for our financial reporting requirements.”

On the Management Accounting front, Colin explains:

“Since SAP went live in around 2017 AlphaFirst have automated the production of the financial reports, drawing the data feeds from the ERP and enabling us to drill through to line and customer level in our Daily, Weekly and Monthly Sales reports.

“Jeremy also developed reports in a balanced scorecard format, making them more meaningful to our users.”

Both the Budget App and Management Accounts reporting are hosted on premise at Fujifilm UK, and are accessible via a web browser.

“We built in a degree of flexibility into how users could access the data. They can view it in a browser, via pdf or in a spreadsheet, allowing for further analysis.

“I wanted to make things as accessible and user-responsive as possible, and AlphaFirst were supportive of this.”

Impact and benefits

“As a finance function we are now able to provide more thorough information and insight to the business in a timely and more accurate manner. The risk of errors in the data is massively reduced and we can rely on the information 100%.

“When we made the transition to the Budget App from Excel we noticed an immediate time-saving.

“Suddenly I was able to produce a report at the push of a button that would have taken two or three days to generate previously. Same with the Management Accounts reports.

“Budget App also gave us much better version control and auditing capability. Being able to create snapshots means that we can analyse the impact of specific decisions over time and have a historic record of what changed and why.

“This brings more clarity to conversations with decision-makers and helps us guide them with management information based on actual data.”

A further efficiency benefit arose from AlphaFirst’s automation of the distribution of the reports through subscription groups.

“Rather than us copying and pasting reports repeatedly into emails, each recipient has a subscription profile that defines which reports get sent to them automatically.”

Development approach

“I can rely on AlphaFirst to make sense of my specifications and ask the right questions to ensure we’re getting what we need.

“There’s less red-tape than with a larger supplier and fewer demands to justify what we need to develop.

“For a very large organisation standardising processes takes a long time! We can’t afford to wait for centralisation, and we want to work as efficiently and productively as possible. AlphaFirst enables us not to stand still.

“I think Jeremy describes their approach as Agile before Agile was even a thing! We can specify a report, and have it developed, tested and put live in a short period of time.

“Everything AlphaFirst deliver is of good quality. And whenever there’s a problem I know that Jeremy pulls out all the stops to resolve it.”

Recognition

“AlphaFirst’s reports are visible at a very high level of the organisation. All credit to Jeremy and his team that I’ve got total confidence in what we are putting out to the business. The Directors and Senior Managers are now used to seeing their information in this way.

“Our last Japanese MD was so impressed with Budget App that when he moved to the French business he wanted to introduce it there too as a Best Practice budgeting tool. This goes to show how it really does set the standard.”

New possibilities

“The work that AlphaFirst have delivered for us is now our yardstick for financial reporting in the organisation.

“Until the ERP solution can give us the same level of detailed reporting then BudgetApp and the Management Accounts piece will continue to be our baseline reporting provision.

“We can now provide more consistent information to the business and get on with analysing it rather than just collating it.”

Recommendation

“You don’t come across a Jeremy very often! He and his team have the technical skills, intelligence and common sense to deliver what you want without any hassle.

“Whatever business you’re in if you have a vision for what you want to achieve I would recommend getting in touch with Jeremy at AlphaFirst. He has a great work ethic and takes pride in what he and his team deliver.

“If you tell him what you want he’ll show you what you need! He can demonstrate alternative approaches based on your actual data. You’ll very quickly find that you can trust what he says!”

Colin Hooker, Fujifilm UK

What AlphaFirst say

“Colin has been fully engaged in the development process, and is a great partner to work with. He had a very clear picture in his mind of what he wanted, but was also prepared to be flexible. He is effectively the designer to my coder!

“It’s great to work with such an engaged, supportive and pragmatic sponsor.”