IR is the leading global provider of user experience and performance management solutions for payments transactions and collaboration systems. The organisation creates value through its real-time, scalable and extensible hybrid cloud platform and deep domain knowledge to optimise operations of mission critical systems, improving user experience through intelligent and actionable insights. It enables many of the world’s largest organisations to simplify complexity and provide visibility over systems that allow them to transact and collaborate.
“With a new normal of working in 2020, a cloud solution enabled our teams to overcome the challenges of working remotely with an on-premise solution. The finance team was able to log into systems remotely and complete daily tasks and important business processes no matter where they were working from.”
Naheen Mahbub Group Financial Controller, IR
Challenge
When IR’s existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) was reaching end of life, the organisation worked with DXC Technology to modernise its applications and optimise its IT, with an upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365.
IR had been using Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 for nearly 10 years. Recently, the organisation was going through a transformation of its security and privacy framework and found its ERP system was near end-of-life. With a finance team spread out across the globe, its on-premise system was slowing down processes, causing lag and drain on collaboration and teamwork.
Naheen Mahbub, Group Financial Controller of IR says, “As we embarked on an internal transformation, we found that IR needed to retire a lot of legacy systems and processes and introduce modern applications that would enable our finance team to function better. We also had to simplify our business processes, work seamlessly across the globe and have a single source of truth in the business. And, we wanted to move to the cloud to help us collaborate and work together in the future.”
Recognising the need to modernise its business applications, IR worked with DXC Technology to move to a cloud-based solution.
“As we embarked on an internal transformation, we found that IR needed to retire a lot of legacy systems and processes and introduce modern applications that would enable our finance team to function better. We also had to simplify our business processes, work seamlessly across the globe and have a single source of truth in the business. And, we wanted to move to the cloud to help us collaborate and work together in the future.”
Naheen Mahbub Group financial controller, IR
Solution
IR had reviewed its privacy and security framework and used this opportunity to evaluate its 30-year old business processes and decided to simplify its IT. Already familiar with the Microsoft platform, IR decided to move to Microsoft Dynamics 365. IR selected Microsoft because it was a modern system that enabled its finance team to work seamlessly out-of-the-box and deliver a whole new cloud-based ERP system.
“We wanted to simplify our system and our processes. In our previous environment, we had a separate general ledger system, our own bespoke timesheet system, a separate purchase order and purchase requisition system and we were on a very different project management system as well. We wanted to move from having all these diverse, unintegrated systems to a single system that was organically integrated by being one product and Microsoft Dynamics 365 ticked all the boxes for us,” explains Mahbub.
“Change management was a big component of this project. We engaged our Board and had an executive sponsor so we could clearly articulate the changes being made, why they were important and how they would move the business forward in the future. Our goal was to simplify and then add lightness and having a cloud-based solution has proved to be invaluable for us,” he adds.
“Having a cloud solution has turned out to be invaluable. We’ve moved from having multiple, distinct systems into having Microsoft Dynamics 365 to do all of our work for us.”
Naheen Mahbub Group financial controller, IR
Outcomes and benefits
When IR went live with Microsoft Dynamics 365 it saw instant outcomes. “It had become evident that working with an on-premise solution was causing lag and drain on the way we work together, across time zones. We also needed to protect our financial information and ensure we were meeting modern day requirements.
“With a new normal of working in 2020, a cloud solution enabled our teams to overcome the challenges of working remotely with an on-premise solution. The finance team was able to log into systems remotely and complete daily tasks and important business processes no matter where they were working from,” explains Mahbub.
With an integrated, data-driven system in Microsoft Dynamics 365, IR has been able to improve speed, and increase agility within the business. Microsoft Dynamics 365 has significantly accelerated IR’s finance team’s response time and created a more transparent and effortless experience for its employees. “We’ve started using purchase requisitions and POs within Microsoft Dynamics 365 and that has allowed us to have a really seamless end-to-end purchase to pay journey. Our staff are not moving between systems, there’s a lot of correlation there that you can flow transactions forward and back through the process.”
Mahbub adds, “Having a cloud solution has turned out to be invaluable. We’ve moved from having multiple, distinct systems into having Microsoft Dynamics 365 to do all of our work for us. One of the biggest challenges that we had in the past was that we were manually integrating systems and so we had people in finance reconciling multiple systems through spreadsheets. Having a single system and having the traceability through the system to simply click through has really helped us in terms of time savings.”
“The DXC team partnered with us through the project, always finding ways to simplify and deliver the outcomes we desired. They challenged our processes and provided examples of projects where the same outcome was delivered by staying out-of-the-box. Their deep experience with the Dynamics 365 solution and working with a large number of customers gave us the benefit of their insights and kept us on track to modernise and simplify.”
Naheen Mahbub Group financial controller, IR
Why DXC
IR’s decision to work with the DXC Practice for Microsoft stemmed from the requirement for a partner who has a deep understanding of the Microsoft Dynamics application as well as the global scale to deliver the outcomes needed. This partnership continues to deliver ongoing value and business benefits.
“In terms of choosing a partner, DXC has the expertise and leadership in Microsoft Dynamics 365. They have a global footprint and could deliver on that scale. The team’s track record of provisioning end-to-end solutions was both evident and proven. DXC brought strong capabilities for technical implementation and functional consulting and were able to provide insights and ideas on how we can simplify our processes and approach things. During the project, the DXC team was highly professional and accessible in delivering our outcomes,” says Mahbub.
IR’s purpose throughout the project was to simplify and modernise their business applications and the DXC team helped deliver on that goal. “The DXC team partnered with us through the project, always finding ways to simplify and deliver the outcomes we desired. They challenged our processes and provided examples of projects where the same outcome was delivered by staying out-of-the-box. Their deep experience with the Dynamics 365 solution and working with a large number of customers gave us the benefit of their insights and kept us on track to modernise and simplify,” says Mahbub.