Speeki
Speeki is an innovative ESG platform that provides a suite of solutions to aid companies in effectively managing their environmental, social and governance (ESG) responsibilities. Our primary goal is to assist our clients in building ESG from the ground up, while also tracking and managing ESG and leveraging their efforts to achieve ratings or certifications in key areas of ESG importance.
The problems and issues prior to implementing Xero
As a small business that was a spinoff from a larger business, we initially used the former platform from Microsoft Dynamics in managing our accounting. We originally chose this platform because of our familiarity with it but also because we felt we needed a consolidated, multi- currency system to address our multiple entities.
It became very clear very quickly when engaging two companies in India and Australia to try and help us implement Dynamics that any use of the platform would be overly complex, time consuming and extremely expensive. The setup alone for a small company was a significant amount of manual work, with constant difficulties in generating reports, challenges tracking payments, and remaining up to date with transactions. Simply connecting bank accounts was painful and needed expensive consultants with ‘custom code’. These issues led us to search for a more efficient and effective solution to streamline our accounting processes and challenge some of our beliefs about what we really needed from our system.
The wish list and selection of software you considered and how important was the decision of opting a cloud-based solution
Our top priority was to have access to our accounting information in real-time, from any location, directly linked to all our bank accounts, with consolidation options without any limitations on the number of users. Additionally, we recognised the need to reduce manual labour, and automate as much as possible. It quickly became apparent that an intuitive, cloud-based software solution that was easy to integrate with our existing banking systems would be the most suitable option for us to achieve these goals.
The solution and why Xero, Expensify and Spotlight Reporting were selected
After careful consideration, we chose Xero as our preferred solution because it offers a comprehensive suite of features that a small-medium sized businesses requires. Not only is it accessible remotely, but it is also straightforward to sync with bank accounts and consolidation apps thereby streamlining our reporting process. Our transition from spreadsheets to Xero was a game-changer, allowing us to optimise and streamline our accounting processes.
Highlights and accomplishments of working with Fresh Accounting and the results you have achieved using Xero
We recognised that we needed help to transition across to Xero and that the easiest model was to rebuild six months of accounting from Dynamics back to Xero and simply ‘get it done’. We engaged Fresh Accounting to help us with the setup, licensing, transition and ultimately a monthly retainer to help with support and oversee the more complex elements of our accounting. We have continued to receive stellar support from the Fresh Accounting team during our Xero implementation process, the transition and also through the subsequent years of engagement. Their expertise and guidance provided us with a deeper understanding of accounting and enabled us to streamline our business operations by using automation more effectively. Thanks to their support, running our business has become much more manageable, and we have gained a new level of accounting expertise and it has allowed us the time to focus on the business and our customers rather than accounting.
Scott Lane, Founder and CEO
