Microsoft Business Central Empowers International House London's Finance Team

International House London (IH London) offers English as a Foreign Language, CELTA Teacher Training and Modern Languages courses for overseas and UK citizens. IH London is also an exam centre for IELTS qualifications. Students of all ages and backgrounds attend the IH London school for classroom-based courses and examinations. In addition, IH London offer residential summer schools for under 18’s in several locations around the UK. 

IH London operates as a college, with classrooms, students, social areas and undertakes operational activities such as booking students, timetabling, teaching classes, offering student excursions, and facilitating exams for partner organisations.  

The Challenge 

The main challenge was that IH London’s existing finance system was quite cumbersome, built on old technology, and could not provide the efficient processes or deal with the level of complexity needed to support the finance department and wider business.  

There were significant challenges with system integrations and reconciliations making the financial operations complicated. IH London needed more functionality such as document capture, bank data importation, better analysis and reporting tools and integration to other systems. The challenges meant that employees were spending much of their valuable time with elongated processes causing inefficiencies around the business.  

The system was located on-premises, struggled to support hybrid working and was becoming too costly to maintain. 

IH London wanted to invest in their technology, modernise it and bring it to the cloud to improve functionality and security, align to the businesses digital strategy and provide a better user experience.  

The Solution  

IH London’s finance team spent time with TSG discussing its problems with its on-premises server and expressed the need to be able to work remotely, streamline processes, and improve operations to increase efficiency. Together, IH London and TSG decided the best solution would be Microsoft Business Central (BC), chosen for its cloud capabilities, automation, integration, reconciliations features, established reputation, and Microsoft backing.  

TSG's experts implemented a cloud-based finance application, the migration to BC was smooth, completed on time, and remained within budget. TSG reviewed and cleansed the data ahead of scheduled migration activities to avoid delays and loss of time on the project. 

The Results  

Since the implementation of Microsoft Business Central, IH London has seen multiple benefits, including:   

• Increased efficiency: BC has streamlined various finance-related operations, making them more efficient. As BC is cloud-based, this has now enabled the IH London team to work remotely while improving security and allowing for better system integration. 

• Operational improvements: BC has introduced significant operational improvements, such as document capture and bank data importation, which have saved time, improved the quality of data captured and reduced manual interventions. 

• Positive impact on motivation: IH London have reported that the new system has positively impacted employee motivation. BC has been a significant investment in the team, providing users with a modern, user-friendly system that enhances their work experience and skills.  

• Trusted support: The team received clear guidance and support from consultants throughout the implementation process. This included help with frequently asked questions and sorting out any problems, facilitating a smoother transition.  

• Smooth implementation and adaptation: The implementation process was smooth, with consultants providing on-site support to understand IH London's needs. This led to a seamless migration to BC, with the finance team quickly adapting to the new system and working more efficiently. 

What's Next for International House London?  

IH London is planning further enhancements with Business Central, developing further the document capture functionality along with the purchase order system and integrating a new expense management system. These are expected to streamline finance processes even further and provide greater visibility and control of expenditure.  

Changing our finance system was a major undertaking for IH London and needed to be delivered on budget and to quite tight deadlines, all of which were achieved. From the initial scoping to development, project management and delivery TSG have been easy to work with, supportive and proved flexible in their approach. Moving to Business Central and having TSG as our partners was a great decision. The system change was a bit daunting to the team but with TSG’s support and training the team made rapid progress in getting comfortable with the system. We are looking forward to the next stages of development with TSG supporting us. 

Richard Cousins, Head of Finance, IH London