Challenge
Trowers & Hamlins chose Elite 3E as its finance system and worked with Pinnacle on the on-prem implementation throughout, from solution design and development to training. The firm uses the Elite service desk to resolve day-to-day system framework issues; but it also wanted to be more proactive and progressive around 3E development so that it could exploit the technology more and secure a greater return on investment.
Rather than risk sitting still with 3E, Trowers & Hamlins was keen to extend its in-house capabilities by tapping into a deep well of subject matter expertise. The enhanced knowledge of systems, data and processes could help:
- Enhance the quality and efficacy of ‘business-as-usual’ support
- Optimise existing ways of working and redesign workflows
- Improve data integrity within 3E and across other expert and business systems
- Leverage the full capabilities of 3E to continuously improve performance
- Ensure the firm extracts as much value as possible from its software spend
Richard Peecock, Finance Systems Manager at Trowers & Hamlins, also needed to find the best way to manage its 3E environments and version upgrades, from both an operational and financial perspective.
Solution
Trowers & Hamlins partnered with Pinnacle in the form of an Elite 3E and Data Insights Managed Service. It is delivered by consultants who have deep specialist expertise in every area surrounding the applications.
The firm’s choice to work with Pinnacle was an easy one given the consultancy’s understanding of Trowers & Hamlins as a business, its broader IT landscape and the finance system in question. “Pinnacle has been embedded in our 3E environment from the outset,” explains Richard.
The Managed Service covers three key areas: application consulting, data integrity assurance, and one 3E upgrade executed within a three-year window. Each of these areas has been clearly scoped to help the firm deliver against specific business needs.
First, the application consulting is focussed not only on business-as-usual support but on answering strategic questions and finding opportunities for ongoing software advancement. It helps the firm move forward with the product: for example, when there’s a business or system process that isn’t working as intended, the Trowers & Hamlins’ team can work through the situation with an expert who can advise on the changes to make.
Secondly, to achieve improved data integrity, Pinnacle implemented its Data Quality Monitor product as part of the Managed Service. The application is connected to both 3E and Data Insights to proactively monitor problems with data and warehouse building processes.
Lastly, the 3E upgrade executed within a three-year window – at a time determined by Trowers & Hamlins – helps the firm better manage the cost of product ownership. It is where Richard anticipates seeing the biggest payback from the service. He says: “When you add up the hours that go into doing an upgrade, debugging it, doing the testing, getting the little gremlins sorted out, it amounts to a huge amount of time with a price tag to match. With the Managed Service option, we can spread the cost over time and mitigate that financial hit.”
Outcome
Trowers & Hamlins now has a strategic support engine that gives them more confidence in the quality of the work done around 3E and Data Insights every day. The expertise that is on tap is fostering a culture of continuous improvement and helping the team to better execute enhancement projects.
“The 3E Managed Service is like having an extra person on my team who is an expert in everything,” remarks Richard. “Whether it’s templates or collections or reconciliations or something else, I can just go directly to the Pinnacle expert who knows that area.”
Talking specifically about the upgrade on the horizon, Richard stresses that he will be counting on the extensive experience of the team to make it a success. “In-house teams have limited experience doing upgrades; Pinnacle teams do it every day. They know all the right questions and can test everything a lot quicker and more effectively than we could. They can cover all the key things like: ‘Does the upgrade technically work? Does Data Insights still work? Do the templates connect? Are all the integrations working?’ Knowing that the technical burden gets taken off my team’s shoulders lets us focus more freely on the front-end user issues.
“It’s not just the prospect of a faster, smoother upgrade compared with doing it ourselves that I’m looking forward to. It’s the reassurance of having experts all around us who can jump on any issue and own it. In my experience one of the hardest things whenever you do an upgrade is determining where the fault actually lies. As an independent third party the Pinnacle Managed Service team doesn’t care whether the fault is within the firm’s infrastructure or within 3E, they just find it and fix it.”
To learn more about how we can support your finance systems team, contact us on info@pinnacle-oa.com.