Accotilit Oy renewed their tool

Koho-Procountor combination leads to growth

About a year ago Riku Salomaa, the entrepreneur behind Accotilit Oy, started to research tools that could improve his accountant firm’s time-hungry processes. The prompt was Accotilit Oy’s need to streamline invoicing starting all the way from time management tracking. The previous model was laborious and took an unreasonable amount of resources. The aim of the system renewal was to support the controlled growth of the business, which meant that the management tools had to be proper and scalable. He contacted Koho meanwhile getting to know a few other tools, too. Koho ERPs clear user interface and the company’s service-mindedness stood out, and the collaboration started in autumn 2017.

Towards a more efficient future with better tools

Accotili’s Riku Salomaa estimates, that thanks to the Koho-Procountor combination the time used for invoicing processes has reduced to a half within 6 months compared to before.

– For accounting firms, each month is different. When learning the new system time was used even more than before. Nevertheless, now we are on the winning side, tells Salomaa.

Accotili’s previous clocking system was seen as laborious and it didn’t produce usable information to support their operations. Koho’s clear user interface and the impression of user-friendliness convinced Riku Salomaa.

– Accotilit is a small, seven-person accounting firm, with long lasting customer relationships and tight connection between the entrepreneur and the accountant in charge, muses Salomaa.

According to Salomaa, an invoice produced in Koho is informative and clear, and the customer sees easily what the invoice is based on.

At the same time when deploying Koho, Accotilit acquired the Procountor system, which works well with Koho. Invoices are first produced in Koho, after which they’re sent from Procountor electronically to customers and personal ledgers. – The well-functioning integration of Koho and Procountor was part of the reason for acquiring Koho, says Riku Salomaa.

Smooth deployment is praised by the whole staff of Accotilit

Even though all the tools of Accotilit were renewed simultaneously, according to Salomaa the whole staff has only had a positive reaction to the changes.

The smoothness of the deployment has had a major impact on embracing the new tools. Koho’s project manager Kalle Raitio describes the process as a fluent collaboration with the customer company.

– The collaboration with Accotilit has been well-functioning and interactive right from the start. We are happy about the reception we’ve received and the journey together with Accotilit. It also benefits us that the customer is active and has the initiative to ask for advice and nurture the deployment process. This is what has happened with Accotilit, says Raitio.

The deployment that was done remotely gathers a lot of praise from Accotilit:

– Kalle’s service-mindedness has been first class. His fast, but calm and friendly communication with us has made us feel the we are an important customer to Koho, and that they really know what they’re doing. The user training process was all around smart and cost-efficient, states Salomaa.

Kalle Raitio says, that the remote nature of the deployment sometimes does come as a surprise for the customer.

Nevertheless, remote training is for everybody’s benefit, as it keeps the costs low and the service fast.

– We can give full points for the deployment process and to Kalle Raitio who was in charge of it. The process has been particularly smooth, and the change has had a positive impact on our business as a whole.

Long lasting relationship

The deployment of Koho is not only a training period situated at the start of the collaboration, but the work continues throughout the customership. The deployment was continued with Accotilit by having 15-minute “mentor sessions” adjacent to the accounting firm’s morning meetings. During the remote meetings Kalle Raitio, who was in charge of the training, answered the personnel’s questions about using Koho.

– This model worked well for us and supported adopting the new software well. Our experiences with Koho’s customer service are very positive. We feel that we can put forward even stupid questions, and get thorough and friendly answers. The calmness and clarity of the project manager has brought a positive atmosphere in the midst of change, and we have avoided any resistance. It seems that the people of Koho have a good situational awareness, for they listen to the customer even when it’s busy and guide in a calm but assertive manner, says Riku Salomaa.

All the seven people of Accotilit uses Koho, and they will most likely increase the number of users as those payroll clerks who were left out during the first phase of the renewal will possibly be joining the system. The main user of Koho will be one of Accotilit’s accountants.

Accotilit benefits most from Koho’s time tracking

Koho ERP has been seen by Accotilit as a multifaceted and productive tool that has many good features. The clocking function gets special praise, and it in active use by Accotilit. Salomaa lists the benefits brought by Koho:

– Koho ERP as helped specifically with improving time management and tracking the use of time that invoicing is based on. In addition, workload has become possible to share evenly, the profitability of fixed-price contracts is easy to follow, and the invoicing process has become much more efficient compared to before.

Getting to know Koho’s various features

There are many ways to utilize Koho, and it is up to the customer’s wishes or needs how much of it is put into use. Accotilit’s Riku Salomaa sees this as one of Koho’s developing features:

– Especially when learning a new system, many fine functions may be left unused as the users are focused on understanding the basic functionalities. When a function is needed, for example, merely every few months, it is more challenging to learn it compared to those that are used every day. Continuous communication with Koho alleviates this kind of situations. Preserving the ease of use and clarity are nevertheless a challenge for ERP systems such as Koho.

It is possible to get to know the multifaceted and developing Koho ERP one piece at a time, and slowly introduce new functions. This way you get most our of it. The deployment of Koho has been designed to be as effortless as possible for the customer, and it is not recommended that the whole system is opened up at once. Tips for new and exciting features can be found not only from the remote trainings and Koho’s emails, but also from Facebook’s Kohottajat-group which is open for all the Koho-users working in accounting firms.

Even though there is much to learn and new features keep on coming, the adaptability of Koho is praised.

– Already when acquiring the system I appreciated the fact that there was no need to start using a heavily structured software. We can add more pieces to the puzzle when needed, says Salomaa.

Koho helps with sales

The numbers and documents available in Koho give insight to the profitability of the business, and how much resources are used by work phases and actions. This kind of information is a good foundation also for sales work.

– Thanks to Koho, calculating offers now has more data to base on, and consequently certainty. From Koho you can easily see, how much time have similar customer work taken and also how many exports and vouchers those have included. An offer can then be based on this information and it is easy to reason with the customer as it is founded on empirical material, tells Salomaa.

Constant dialog guarantees a good customer relationship

Koho is seen as an important tool at the customer companies, and it also Koho’s benefit to constantly train the users. Remote meetings have proven to be efficient and productive when updating users’ Koho-aptitude.

Koho’s aura has the guarantee of a small company. We feel that besides being flexible, Koho also has an excellent quality-price ratio. We appreciate the good attitude of Koho’s trainer and the technical support. We never have the feeling, that we couldn’t ask about something. When dealing with Koho, there’s no need to anticipate extra bills for example when calling their support service. We feel, that we can safely ask for advice whenever needed.

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