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GFT application takeover boosts efficiency and frees up resources

GFT application takeover boosts efficiency and frees up resources

U.S. private equity firm saves 5,000 hours and transforms its operations

Development and support of accounting and finance applications for a large private equity firm enables best-use of in-house IT staff and improves capabilities.

Efficiency boost

Saves 5,000 to 6,000 hours of work each year

IT optimization

Two new applications to improve processes

Tech expansion

Growth of the company's capabilities

"We dug deep to understand what was needed and helped enhance their systems, while improving their processes to become more efficient."

Filipe Delbel

Delivery Manager

GFT USA

Portrait of Filipe Delbel wearing a dark blazer and a checked shirt, smiling broadly with a friendly expression. — Connect with Filipe Delbel at GFT.

Challenge

Boosting automation, adding functionality

A large U.S.-based private equity firm initially retained GFT to help update its back office financial reporting systems. The existing quarterly account reconciliation process involved spreadsheets maintained on shared servers, and manual steps to bring them onto the firm’s general ledger. The report generation process used document templates into which accountants pulled data from many sources and made calculations by hand. This highly manual process sometimes involved documents to be open side-by-side to allow data to be copied and rearranged.

The investment firm asked GFT to develop two new applications to improve these processes. The goal was to increase automation, eliminating steps that wasted employee time. The firm had found it difficult to scale up its own IT staff to develop these applications.

After the delivery of the two applications, GFT shifted key team members to support the new software. Based on the early success of this relationship, the investment firm asked GFT to help with additional technology updates, taking over existing applications used for warrant distributions by its funds and for bank reconciliation. The company recognized that these applications needed additional functionality and greater reliability.

Engagement

New custom-built software and improved support

The reconciliation application that GFT developed using Microsoft Azure infrastructure, connects accounts directly to the general ledger with a front-end that provides full transparency. The interface now allows users to see how documents are linked, where data points are sourced and what’s been reviewed and verified. The reporting application, used for quarterly financial reports for each of the firm’s funds, now prefills the template. The report author can drag and drop data and information to arrange them as needed, and calculations are done automatically.

The firm’s internal IT team had acquired a cloud-based development and operations tool but had not fully implemented it. As GFT established support for the two new applications it had delivered and for additional systems that were being taken over, the GFT team was able to adapt this previously purchased software package to create a responsive and efficient IT workflow.

Later, as the support relationship evolved, the firm had GFT take over two more applications, including a system used once a year to help calculate employee bonuses and another that had been delivered by a previous consultant but had not fully met the firm’s requirements.

Benefit

Increased efficiency and capability

Implementation of the two financial applications automated repetitive tasks and freed employees for more essential activities. The firm estimates that the new accounting and reporting software saves 5,000 to 6,000 hours of work each year. Additionally, the firm's reports were published quicker and with fewer errors.

As the relationship deepened, GFT took over responsibility for additional applications and software support workflow, while the firm's internal IT team was able to devote time to what they do best. They can focus on defining requirements, for example, by taking full advantage of their functional knowledge of the business. Meanwhile, GFT has helped the firm to get the most out of the software it already owned, fixing and building on existing systems rather than forcing unnecessary new solutions on the client.

The people and capabilities that GFT has brought in for application development and support have been cost effective and have made it possible for the firm to scale up its technology. This is important not only because the firm is growing, but also, like all investment companies, it faces increasing data requirements across its business.

The GFT workforce dedicated to this client has grown faster than the internal IT team. The firm has been able to leverage GFT’s global reach to ensure that it gets the right person and the best expertise for every project.