When Kainos was publicly listed in 2015, the company adopted a new financial system for its reporting needs. Within 12 months, the business realised the system wasn’t fit-for-purpose. Processes were largely manual and time-consuming, and delegating budget control to project teams wasn’t an option. For Kainos, the situation was an opportunity to find a new partner.
Our previous system was rigid and difficult to change to meet our needs.
Group Head of Finance
An adaptable platform to meet changing requirements.
Kainos had already transformed its workforce administration with Workday Human Capital Management (HCM). By adding Workday Financial Management, the company could increase business insight and control, while boosting the value of its initial investment. “Integrating finance and HR ensures support from business leaders, due to the strategic insights they gain as a result.”
Choosing Workday also meant Kainos could work with a company that shared its commitment to innovation and improving the customer experience. Matt McManus, group head of Finance, explains, “Workday is super intuitive, ensuring it is easy to pick up and importantly, there is no need for a systems background.”
Greater accounting efficiency.
With a single location for financial management, Kainos has transformed general ledger operations. It has reduced the number of manually entered invoices from 50 percent to 15 percent and cut the time for half-year external audits from two weeks to one week. Other savings include:
- Cycle time to perform monthly close from 8 days to 7 days
- Run time for supplier payments reduced from days to 20–30 minutes
- Savings of £95,000 as a result of process automation
In addition, Kainos has increased financial visibility by integrating Workday with its bank. A member of the finance team no longer works on bank reconciliations at the end of each month to check records are correct. Today, it’s become a daily task that takes just 10 minutes, giving Kainos a truer picture of its finances.
Power steering for the business.
Using Workday Adaptive Planning, Kainos has improved forecasts and lowered expenditure by delegating budgets. “We use the functionality in Workday to give accountability to team leads”, comments Matt. “It is empowering for our business leaders to have control over organisational expenses, and visibility into budget and planning cycles via Workday. The ability to track and fine tune our overall spend against budgets helps Kainos stay profitable, as it grows.”
Kainos has also used Workday Adaptive Planning to improve planning effectiveness. “The team pulls cost data from all parts of the business and uses that information to fine-tune our quarterly forecasts”, explains Matt. Not only are predictions more accurate, they are also delivered faster. “There are no three to six-week windows here”, he says, “we can turn reports around in a day, which is fantastic for both our teams and the productivity of the entire business.”
In addition, Workday Adaptive Planning has helped Kainos successfully adapt the business to face COVID-19. Total staff costs account for approximately two-thirds of the company’s total cost base and as a result Kainos needed to rethink its workforce strategy when the pandemic struck. By using insight from Workday Adaptive Planning, the company learned where to prioritise recruitment across its global operation.
Our previous solution was siloed to the finance team, whereas Workday is a core platform for our entire business.
Group Head of Finance
Finding a solution for every eventuality.
With Workday Extend, Kainos has been able to build applications and adapt Workday to its needs. For example, Kainos has streamlined the process to apply for a company credit card. It is no longer a “mysterious” operation where applications are submitted via email and answered up to three weeks later. The entire exercise is visible through Workday profiles. Applicants receive updates on their requests, and when a card is issued, the details are stored in Workday for easy access.
Kainos is currently deploying Workday Professional Services Automation (Workday PSA) to enhance project management. With Workday PSA, the company will be able to identify the best people to staff projects and control the relating financials with precision. Kainos will also be able to integrate client-facing billing projects with Workday Financial Management to deliver better forecasting and use of resources.
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