"We weren't just another sale for BrightAnalytics. The team demonstrates their engagement, ensuring we utilize the tool effectively."

Super satisfied with system and support

What do you do as a financial officer when your company suddenly enters a phase of accelerated growth and there is a need for more efficiency, ease, and speed in a financial reporting? This happened to the Swedish company Helio, which offers co-working spaces at various locations in Sweden. Today, not only CFO Eva-Karin Byström use BrightAnalytics daily, but all site mangers of the 12 Helio co-working spaces also work with the tool. And it is paying off. 

When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, the growth of the Swedish company Helio suddenly accelerated. Numerous opportunities arose to open new locations, leading the company to expand from six co-working spaces in 2020 to twelve by 2022, with eleven in Stockholm and one in Malmö. “This created the need to conduct more and deeper financial analyses for our group and the underlying companies,” says Eva-Karin Byström, who at that time was not yet the CFO of the company. “Until then, we used our accounting software for financial reporting, and then worked with manually updated Excel sheets. Making decisions based on the numbers was an enormous amount of work, and that had to change.” 

Smooth transition

Helio compared different solutions and ended up choosing BrightAnalytics. “Our main goal was to find a tool that could be used by everyone at different levels, from the CFO to the site managers at all our locations,” Eva-Karin continues. “Our external accounting firm suggested exploring BrightAnalytics. They had become familiar with it through another client and were thus acquainted with the platform and its environment. For us, it was important that the transition from our old way of working to the new solution would go smoothly. When our accounting firm assured us that this would definitely be achievable with BrightAnalytics, it made our decision easy.”

The decision to collaborate with BrightAnalytics was made before Eva-Karin herself joined as CFO. However, this does not dampen her enthusiasm: the software is open on her computer every day. “It was a new system for me, and I was somewhat concerned upon starting that it would take some time to get used to,” she says. The experience with BrightAnalytics turned out to be quite different. After my predecessor left, there had been a temporary interim CFO who could not make the implementation of BrightAnalytics a top priority. One of my first tasks was to do the mapping for the balance sheet and the P&L, and to set up a structure. I managed to do this surprisingly quickly, and the implementation went very smoothly. “I understood almost immediately how to use BrightAnalytics to provide our CEO and COO with accurate financial analyses on a monthly basis.”

From budget to daily monitoring

At present, she primarily uses BrightAnalytics for financial reporting and month-end closing: “I use it daily to manage progress, make comparisons with the budget and previous periods, and to track both revenue and expenses. But we also use the tool to prepare the budget. The advantage is that this system allows us to quickly and easily get an overview of all the companies. That is no small feat when you have a total of fourteen companies in a group. I can’t constantly monitor each enterprise. Thanks to this software, I can choose either to dive deep into the figures of one company or to view the overarching situation at the group level.”

Intercompany transactions are also part of the process.”This was the most challenging part when I started: how to set this up in the BrightAnalytics platform? But after I contacted them, they were very helpful and assisted me in understanding and managing the aspect of the software for our P&L.” This is characteristic of them: “They respond very quickly if there is an issue,” says Eva-Karin. “They make me feel important as a client, and that is very nice. They also truly listen to what I need and are very solution-oriented. This allows them to grow alongside us. As we evolve as a company, we are now starting to add more apps: such as the Controlling app, Cash forecasting, and Customers & Suppliers.”

Substantiated decisions

The site managers at various locations also actively use BrightAnalytics. “They are responsible for the day-to-day operations of their location, financial monitoring, and staff management. We meet with them every month for this purpose. During these meetings, they present the results in BrightAnalytics and compare them with the budget. They can also track revenue trends, invoicing, and ensure all expenses are accounted for. It’s an important tool for them because they are accountable for their budget and results. They always tell me that BrightAnalytics is easy to use, and that’s crucial, otherwise they wouldn’t use it,” adds Eva-Karin.

Recommended

Lastly, she mentions that it is very easy to add extra co-working spaces to the Helio group in terms of reporting. “Since we started working together, we have added about three companies. Simply sending an email to BrightAnalytics support team is enough to inform them that we are adding a new company and when we would like it to be included in the reporting. After the implementation by BrightAnalytics, all I have to do is set up the mapping for the P&L and the balance sheet, and then copy the mapping. It goes incredibly smoothly.”

Eva-Karin frequently recommends the software to fellow CFOs who are looking for a reporting tool. “BrightAnalytics truly supports me in my daily work. There are many different systems for finance and analysis on the market, but I always recommend this software to colleagues in the business. I consistently tell them that we are very satisfied, both with the system and the support behind it. I am not just another ‘sale’ for them. The team shows that they are engaged and they want us to really use the tool well.”