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In these times of uncertainty, we are dedicated to providing our clients with the support and tools they need to stay on track, adapt and thrive when we return to a new normal. We have been speaking to both existing and potential clients operating across a wide range of sectors to better understand their needs and the problems they are facing, so we are well placed to provide guidance on how financial and operational systems they currently use or are planning on using can assist them with overcoming some of these challenges.
As we continue to grow as a company, we remain fully committed to bringing proven and scalable solutions, as well as our accounting expertise, to even more clients, allowing them to achieve maximum efficiency and automation within their finance functions. Here is a quick update on what we’ve been up to recently and upcoming developments at 4PointZero.
At the start of the year…
This year saw us invest more time and resources on our marketing and business strategy, as well as building on our existing client relationships. Having successfully completed a few large projects for some household names within the hospitality market in the previous year, we now had a niche offering within that market, with proven results for hospitality clients with a larger number of stores/sites. For such clients, we were able to automate as much as 90% of their finance function, as well as build a suite of integrated cloud-based applications that feed into a centralised reporting and data analytics tool. We were confident that we could keep building on this success to offer similar solutions and systems out across more businesses within the hospitality sector to also help them get the most out of their finance function throughout this coming year.
Present…
We are first and foremost a fully cloud-based business, and use solutions and systems ourselves which we also recommend and implement for our clients, therefore, changing to a full-time remote working model has meant it is still very much business as usual for us; even if we have had to adapt some of the client-facing aspects of our operations, such as running training sessions, to be able to perform these remotely. The last few months have of course presented some challenges, however, many of the businesses we work with are seeing the benefits from digitalisation and going fully cloud-based in terms of their productivity, even under the current enforced remote working set up. There has definitely been a growth in the demand for cloud services to allow better collaboration, digital accounting solutions, document scanning systems and intelligent data analytic tools, as businesses without this set up are now feeling the pain of being unable to have their finance function operating efficiently. This, at a time when one could say having good financial information to hand to enable businesses to make the right decisions in these fast-changing circumstances, is more important than ever.
The first quarter of the year has seen us build on the previous year and on-board further high-profile hospitality brands with multiple sites spread across the UK. In September of last year, our client portfolio included approximately 200 franchise sites which we have now increased to nearly 400, with a promising pipeline for an additional 120 sites within the next few months (including brands such as KFC, Costa and Starbucks). We also continue to grow our client user base across our full range of accountancy applications, with a 20% increase in clients using our solutions, operating in multiple business sectors, from the beginning of the year.
We also continue to expand our client base outside of the UK, working with businesses based in The Republic of Ireland and Malta. We have recently on-boarded 3 Irish-based accountancy firms which maintain the accounts for multiple supermarket sites across the country – with approximately 20 stores already up and running on our system.
Our aim continues to be to help as many clients as possible make the move to a completely digital and cloud-based finance function that not only improves productivity and allows for remote working but also supports data-driven decision making with real-time intelligent reporting and data analytics tools.
Looking towards the future…
As we head into the summer months, we will be working hard to maintain the current growth trends within our client portfolio and sustain the pace of development within the solutions offered by our company. We will be focusing on delivering high-quality consultancy work as well as maintaining good relationships with both our existing clients and software providers. We also hope to bring several new hospitality sites onto our platform, as well as expanding our reach outside of the United Kingdom.
It is still uncertain when businesses will get back to ‘business as usual’, but we hope to support as many as we can who will be spending the coming months focusing on re-engineering their business operations and building sound and sustainable recovery plans. Times of uncertainty means that vulnerabilities in the business need to be monitored more effectively in order to reduce long-term impacts. Businesses that operate in real-time and have full transparency in their data can react quicker to external factors that are impossible to predict and it allows for more effective planning for times like these. In the longer term, we aim to support business owners who have reviewed how robust their business systems were when facing this crisis and are looking to recalibrate how they operate to make improvements.
You can always get in touch with us at www.4pointzero.co.uk and speak with one of our agents who are more than happy to answer any queries you might have. You can also find us @4PointZero on LinkedIn and Twitter for company updates, industry news and relevant content.
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