As your holiday park grows, your finances may seem harder to manage and you may consider investing in a financial management solution. Or, maybe you already have Sage implemented but feel as if something is missing from the solution.
Here at Elite Dynamics, we know that it can be difficult to decide which software would best suit your holiday park’s needs. That’s why we want to give you more of an idea of the sorts of scenarios our customers find themselves in that lead to them trying out EliteFinance, which is built on Microsoft Dynamics.
Today we bring you an interview with Ryan Johnson, Group Finance and Operations Manager of Coastfields Leisure Ltd!
Hi Ryan, thank you for speaking to us about your group. Could you give us a brief overview of your company please?
“Here at Coastfields we currently have a total of 6 holiday parks. We also run a lot of bars, arcades, retail stores, food outlets, rented property and it’s continuing to grow!”.
That sounds great! I believe you used to use Sage50 before discovering and implementing EliteFinance, is that correct?
“Yes, we did use Sage50 before making the move to Microsoft Dynamics (EliteFinance). We currently use the financial module but we do use other areas too, including the arcade point of sale.”
How long did you use Sage50 before you considered changing your solution?
“Coastfields used Sage50 for a very long time, however, I am not sure how many years specifically.”
Was there a particular reason you wanted to change from Sage50? And have you noticed any key differences between Sage50 and EliteFinance?
“We wanted to look for another solution as we felt the reporting ability was lacking on Sage50. When producing reports, it didn’t allow us to filter down as much as we hoped and overall, we felt it had a much better nominal structure with the introduction of dimensions.
With EliteFinance you can break down your data much better, so it’s more dynamic in that sense. EliteFinance allows you to report on any dimension. E.g. Park, or Department and enables you to find transactions far quicker. We like that exporting data is much easier too, as you can export straight to Excel using Control E. We also found that the integrated purchase ordering system provides time and cost savings.”
That sounds like a massive improvement overall! But how did you find making the transition from Sage50 to EliteFinance? Were Elite Dynamics helpful with this?
“Overall we found the transition okay! Obviously, it’s always a little difficult making a transition to another IT solution, but it really wasn’t too complex as it was just the finance data. Elite Dynamics were a great help with this process.”
That’s fantastic to hear! And have you noticed any specific benefits from making the change to EliteFinance?
“We have noticed a real benefit from having the purchase order system built in. This allows us to keep tighter control on our spending and means we can tender better for products.”
Great! And all-in-all, are you happy that you made the switch from Sage50 to EliteFinance?
“Definitely. We are extremely happy with the customer service too. If you have a change request for your system, Elite Dynamics are very quick with testing and are always thinking outside of the box when it comes to options for us. We think they provide fantastic customer service with ongoing support!”
Fantastic! And if you had to recommend either software to another holiday park, what would it be and why?
“It’s hard to say specifically one or the other, as it really depends on the size of the holiday park. If you are a relatively good size park, and are growing, then I would definitely recommend EliteFinance. If you’re planning to grow in the future, then this solution would grow with you, whereas, Sage wouldn’t be able to in the same way.”
That’s great to hear! We can’t wait to see what great results you see using EliteFinance going forward! Thanks for speaking with us today, Ryan.
If you’d like to find out more about how EliteFinance could help to benefit your own business, please do get in touch with us to request a demo so we can show you what it’s all about!
