The context
Until 2019, we tracked our few loans in Excel. An external growth operation increased our number of loans: more than fifty at variable rates, in addition to loans abroad. Clearly, Excel could no longer meet our needs, as the risk of errors seemed too high.
The needs
We needed an efficient loan management tool. It had to be collaborative because, as treasurer, I regularly share information with the accounting and management control teams. Until then, I sent my Excel spreadsheet to my accounting colleagues every month. The idea was to move from Excel to a professional tool to become more productive.
The timeline
We consulted publishers in 2019. The subsidiary was acquired the same year; we launched the project in June 2020 and go-live was very fast, taking place the following month.
The choice
In total, we consulted three publishers: E-Finances for its E-Financements solution, Sage and XRisk. The latter was already used by one of our subsidiaries in Spain. I was the decision-maker for this project, and I chose E-Financements for four reasons:
- Budget. E-Financements is affordable; we took it in SaaS mode.
- Accessibility. The software is relatively easy to use for a loan management tool. That matters because I use it every week. I like having direct control of the tool: I’m free in how I use it and I’m more responsive.
- Language. Our head office is in France, so the software had to be 100% in French, including the documentation and support.
- Proximity. We favour French partnerships.
The benefits
I get two major advantages from E-Financements:
- Quality. I know all my 140 loans are up to date and the data is correct: it’s reassuring and I feel secure.
- Time saved. Thanks to the training, I know how to create new loans quickly in the software. Even though I needed some clarifications after the initial training, it takes me less than two minutes to create a loan.
In conclusion
Finally, I want to highlight one thing I really appreciate: transparency. It is essential to building a relationship of trust. During the consultation, my account manager was very clear about the software’s capabilities and limits. This transparency is at the heart of the whole relationship with E-Finances: commercially, on pricing, on training and so on.
“Transparency is essential to building a relationship of trust.”
