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UKThe Church of England Diocese of Birmingham is part of a large and complex organisation comprising 42 dioceses across England and Europe.
“Xledger helps us get timely and accurate information to make key decisions within the business. What was taking us days is now just a press of a button. We now have powerful analysis and visibility of what’s happening within our organisation in real time.”
The Birmingham diocese covers 300 square miles and includes parishes in the West Midlands like Birmingham and parts of Solihull, Sandwell, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire.
“Being a cloud-based system, I can be working remotely from anywhere in the world. It is flexible and fits around people’s working practices, which has been quite a revolution for us. What was taking someone two days to sort out is now the press of a button.” – Melanie Crooks, Financial Director
The organisation promotes, facilitates and assists advancement of the Christian faith with a clergy and staff team of around 220, together with (in excess of) 150 parsonages. The team manages complex budgets, working with a diverse range of stakeholders, with day to day finance underpinned by voluntary donations from its parishes.
We sat down with Financial Director Melanie Crooks to discuss how Xledger transformed her organisation.
The Diocese of Birmingham came to Xledger in 2016 looking to overcome the challenges of their existing system. In an accounting system, they were looking for something that would fit all accounting requirements and reduce time-consuming annual processing, allowing more time for in-depth data analysis for decision makers. They also wanted to become more cloud-based.
Challenges faced were:
The diocese noticed that most systems on the market were not truly cloud-based. They were the old fashioned server-based systems with a cloud veneer. In Xledger, they found true cloud and a consistent (end to end) customer journey.
Xledger provided CoE Birmingham with a cost-effective platform, no monthly tie-in, and quarterly vendor-side updates. In the first six months the organisation has achieved:
“The most immediate challenge Xledger helped us with is paying suppliers. We just go online and we ‘tick tick tick’, review invoices on the system…We don’t have to write checks, envelope things with compliment slips or put them in the post. Xledger sends a remittance directly to our supplier. And they know what’s been paid and when it is going to come into the bank.” The CoE team can also see their data better than ever before. “We’ve greater visibility in terms of what is happening within the organisation. Our staff are now better informed in real time. It has been a facilitator for digital change.”
Speak to one of our dedicated team members for more information on how Xledger can support your business.
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