Their client base consists of small to medium sized enterprises from various business sectors – mainly small and independent tradesmen (e.g. Plumbers, electricians, builders, etc.) but also include professions such as lawyers and dentists. The firm also undertakes subcontract work from other accountants.
My first experience with Datamolino was relatively simple and the results were impressive.
– Alan Peace, Swift-link Business Services Ltd
Currently the practice produces accounts mainly from the source documents, the vast majority of which are purchase invoices and credit notes. Many of Swift-link’s clients don’t have the background, or interest in, using new technologies to manage their accounting and trust Alan and his team manage any decisions in this sphere for them.
I think it is fair to say that many do not want to burden themselves with those tasks, preferring to concentrate on their businesses and outsource their requirements to somebody like me.
One of Alan’s clients, a motor vehicle repairer, provides an overview of his firm’s typical use cases for invoice processing. To minimise stock levels vehicle components are purchased by the repairer as they are required, this results in a high volume of invoices being received from suppliers, as many as 150 per month. Of these approximately 130 would be printed or PDF, the remainder are usually petrol and supermarket receipts.
The purchase invoices are sent to us and then keyed, manually, into Sage 50. This is a laborious task which, due to its repetitive nature, is open to error.
Swift-link is adapting to improve efficiency and they are introducing a shared cloud folder into which invoices are scanned in PDF format. Their next stage is to review the scans and select suitably legible items for extraction by Datamolino. Once processing has been completed the data is exported via Excel or CSV in readiness for import into his client’s Sage 50 accounts.
I am hoping that this type of invoice processing can be achieved on a daily basis and therefore spread the workload evenly across time. It also creates the opportunity to distribute the work remotely and remove the requirement for too much office space and overhead.
Alan Peace
Director
Swift-link Business Services
245 HYDE ROAD
CHESHIRE
SK6 1PF