About Tactus Group
Tactus Group are consumer tech experts focused on getting people the tech they want, when, and how they want it.
The Group was built on bringing the latest and greatest technology products and accessories to market, with the aim to make the impossible a reality.
Under the Tactus Group umbrella are a number of brands including Chillblast, Nazare, Horizon, Geo and Box.
The Challenge
As an increasingly acquisitive business, the manual, labour-intensive nature of Excel was no longer an efficient way of consolidating.
What should have been a quick and straight-forward process was becoming increasingly difficult as the business was continuing to grow.
There was a clear success criterion; streamlining the consolidation and month-end process. This could be achieved with an automated solution that would provide Tactus with a single version of the truth and take them away from the ‘Excel Hell’ that an acquisitive group can create.
Thomas Griffiths from Group Finance comments;
“The most important thing was having one set of figures to work from. It was the right time to look for something to help with our consolidation as we continue to grow”.
Enter, HAYNE Solutions
HAYNE identified to Tactus that the solution most suited to them was IBM Cognos Controller. Within Tactus Group, there were members of the team familiar with Cognos Controller and its benefits.
Cognos Controller allows Tactus to update figures instantly. There is no worry that formulas will break or whether the figures are from the latest version. This was previously a huge issue with the manual nature of Excel. It is now a smooth and seamless process. Other entities within the group can also upload their results directly from their source accounting systems. There is the flexibility to import data regardless of the format which differs between each accounting system. This means there is now a formal process in place across the group leading to greater efficiency at month-end.
Granular data validation ensures that data is checked from bottom to top, thereby giving confidence in the consolidated result.
Finally, Controller makes accounting for an acquisition very simple. Creating a new company is easy and the Investments Register stores the acquisition entries (in tranches if required).
Thomas continues:
“Controller ensures our group month-end process keeps moving without delay. The process is now much more manageable”.
Key Measurables
The success of Cognos Controller for Tactus can clearly be measured as:
- Inputting all the results for month-end in 2 hours as opposed to a full day
- The month-end process and obtaining the consolidated results only taking 2 days as opposed to 5 previously which means actionable insights are obtained that much quicker
The measurables mean that considerable time is saved. Time can now be focussed elsewhere, and it reduced the dread of month-end.
Tactus’ Relationship with HAYNE Solutions
Tactus Group selected HAYNE as its implementation and support partner of choice due to their knowledge and considerable experience of the Controller solution. Throughout the project, the HAYNE governance team were in regular contact with Tactus. This ensured a smooth transition onto the Cognos Controller platform. HAYNE delivered on-site training which Tactus found to be of excellent value.
Thomas continues:
“I am happy with everyone I have dealt with from the team at HAYNE. I am particularly pleased with the training that we received from Nilesh on-site which helped us integrate Controller with our systems. This was extremely valuable to us. The training throughout was thorough and Nilesh was able to answer any questions we had”.
Summary
Tactus now has a modern consolidation solution that is easy to maintain and can scale as the Group grows. As the business was progressing and ever-increasing in size, Excel was no longer a viable option. Cognos Controller allows the Group to directly interface its source accounting systems and post month-end results with a considerable time-saving and with confidence in the numbers. Group Finance can now concentrate on adding value instead of living in ‘Excel Hell’.