Leading Financial Services Group Reduces Budget Cycle from Months to Weeks

The Challenge

A leading financial services group was facing difficulties with their existing IT cost allocation system. Although they operated across 18 countries and served 3.2 million customers, the Excel-based system they had in place was slow, unstable and required a lot of manual effort to produce accurate reports.

Day-to-day this led to wasted time, as retrieving data required cumbersome and extensive number-crunching, with information pulled from multiple sources and spreadsheets. Updating the system could take up to an hour, and the client had no accurate Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) information. This made it difficult for IT to answer important questions about cost allocation.

The organisation understood that they needed a fast, user-friendly system that could automate the process of managing and allocating costs with integrated analytics and reporting capabilities.

The Solution

After a tender process, the company selected MagicOrange to provide a cloud-based solution that would automate and streamline their IT budget cycle, while providing detailed insights into their costs.

MagicOrange Prism was able to support the financial services group, providing faster updates, easy-to-use reports, and integrated analytics capabilities. With the new system in place, the company could easily see detailed data on IT costs for each business unit, as well as a TCO view.

The Benefits

• Time and resource saving: Previously, the client’s IT budget cycle took three months of manual labour, but with MagicOrange, a first version of the budget was made available in just two weeks, allowing for faster decision-making and agility.
• Automating manual processes: By switching to automation MagicOrange has made implementing any updates quick and easy, enabling CFOs and CIOs to effortlessly introduce changes. This newfound efficiency liberates their teams, granting them the freedom to concentrate on high-priority tasks that drive business growth.
• Removing Excel limitations: The company can now build a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) view, something that was not possible with their previous Excel-based system due to its limitations around cross charging and circular references. These limitations stopped the client from easily charging costs between different business units. With these obstacles eliminated, MagicOrange offers a transparent view into spending and charges, empowering CFOs and CIOs to optimise costs, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions.
• Strategic resource allocation: Armed with this invaluable information, organisations' IT teams gain a deeper understanding of the complete costs involved in delivering products and services to various departments. From manpower to infrastructure elements, every aspect is meticulously accounted for, allowing CFOs and CIOs to make strategic resource allocations and optimise overall operations.
• Informed decision across the entire organisation: other business units are granted access to detailed data regarding their IT costs. They now have the convenience of logging in at any time to understand the breakdown of their IT bills and the underlying factors that drive these allocations. This transparency empowers them to make well-informed decisions, ensuring their resources align with their specific needs and objectives.

We’re happy to say that this client was delighted with the results of MagicOrange Prism. With the help of the new system, the financial services group has increased efficiency, saved time, resources, and gained valuable insights into their IT costs.

“At MagicOrange, we understand that businesses today are focused on optimising costs more than ever. Our system gives businesses the tools they need to do this effectively, allowing them to manage and measure costs accurately.” - Theshni Naidoo, Senior Customer Success Manager at MagicOrange.