FastClose, a software company specialising in real-time management reporting and consolidation for SAP Business One ERP systems, is pleased to announce that Quixant — a world leader in gaming and sports betting technology — is the newest customer of its market-leading Accounting Intelligence software.
We had a reporting issue to solve where we needed to pull together the management pack for all our companies across multiple SAP Business One databases. I researched numerous solutions then came across FastClose. I had a brief conversation with Nick Gomersall, CEO of FastClose, who explained that even though they run over SQL, and were new to the Hana database, they would be willing to work with us to ensure their system worked. So, we gave them a chance. The software installed easily, and initially we had some issues with speed which were quickly solved. FastClose also unlocked the system currency, which we needed, and addressed our consolidation issues. It was impressive how they reacted. I find that by giving a small company a chance, you get far better service than from the established players in the market.
I was really excited when I spoke to Will. I explained that we work over SQL but relished the chance to run our software over a live Hana environment. Will was willing to give us a chance and understood where we were in relation to Hana. The technical team, especially, were really helpful, and they enabled us to build out some additional features that we did not know existed. For example, in SAP Business One, there is a system currency that — in effect — duplicates the base currencies to do real-time translation. Quixant has nine companies to consolidate, and once we unlocked this, it was massively easier to do their management consolidation. It is a great feature in SAP B1!
With Quixant at the forefront of global gaming technology, Will offered this view on FastClose's software:
“What was impressive is their technology, as it runs in real-time and is connected directly to the live Hana database. There is no staging of data, which is exactly what accountants need at month-end, plus you have the drill capability that enables you to go from a high-level summary figure in the P&L, right down to the transactions, and even out of GL into AP and AR.”
“Another top feature is their scheduler, which allows us to produce the management pack; it runs reports automatically, at a certain time, and you can email it out, but also feed it to Power BI. We liked the linkup between FastClose and Power BI, especially in today's climate. Companies should question why they are paying huge amounts of money for analytical tools when Power BI comes with Office 365.”
“We have a technology which we call virtual OLAP. In effect, it turns a targeted ERP database into an OLAP database in real-time. It's rather special as you get the best of both worlds — relational and OLAP — seamlessly working together in actual time. I think it's a bit special and we like to use the term 'Accounting Intelligence', as we focus on providing the finance department not only with the key management reports they need, but also the audit trail which you need to close out the month-end.”
Will explained how the rollout with FastClose will expand:
“We focused on financials first and have brought an enterprise licence for all the financial modules. We will see how FastClose goes in building out all the other modules in SAP, and we are happy to point them in the right direction." Finally, Will offered this important point: "When running an IT department, things are always very busy, and building reports for the accounts team is something we don't want to do. By having a product like FastClose, accountants can do everything themselves and let us get on with focusing on the key business drivers that the company needs to be successful.”
Quixant PLC is a rapidly-growing, global technology business of two brands. The Quixant brand designs, develops and engineers gaming computers and software solutions for wager-based gaming and sports betting industries. The Densitron brand is a specialist in engineering solutions to optimise Human Machine Interaction (HMI), supporting a range of sectors including Broadcast, Medical, and Industrial applications.