"COCC understood the problem,
knew how to solve it, and worked with
us to deliver everything they promised."
Maria Janes, Vice
President and Controller, The Washington Trust Company |
|
As
Washington Trust grew its market share and customer base, the need for a
sophisticated accounting system became abundantly clear.
“I knew
that Oracle Financials was the right product for our bank,” said Maria Janes,
Vice President and Controller for The Washington Trust Company. “But I also knew
that adapting Oracle to the needs of a community bank with a complex corporate
structure was going to be tough. Then we met COCC.”
COCC
impressed Washington Trust with its ASP version of Oracle Financials and savings
in implementation and software acquisition costs. “COCC’s experience with Oracle
Financials, the considerable savings in installation, and overall knowledge of
the system convinced us that outsourcing was the right way to go,” said Ms.
Janes.
But Ms.
Janes had a request that no other vendor could accommodate: a daily automated
elimination process. “I had resolved that I would not endure the challenge of an
accounting system conversion without the benefit of automated eliminations on a
daily basis!” said Janes.
COCC’s
Oracle team went to work on Washington Trust’s request and developed a proposal
that covered everything the bank wanted in daily eliminations. “Oracle’s ‘out of
the box’ product did not have a solution,” Ms. Janes recalled. “And here was a
company in Avon, Connecticut that understood the problem, knew how to solve it,
and worked with us to deliver everything they promised.”
Washington
Trust converted to COCC’s Oracle Financials in November, 2006, and validated the
new eliminations process by |
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18 months of history and comparing COCC’s consolidated reports to the bank’s historical reports. Ms. Janes said the
COCC solution worked perfectly.
COCC
estimates that an in-house installation of Oracle Financials at Washington Trust
would have taken more than six months to accomplish and cost in excess of $200,000
when consultants and database administrators’ time were considered. COCC’s
implementation of Oracle Financials saved Washington Trust substantial
costs and time. The new solution was up and running within three months.
COCC’s
implementation also reduces ongoing expenses since the company manages version
upgrades and confers with the bank on the changes before they appear on
Washington Trust’s desktops. “If we have questions, we can ask COCC’s bank
accounting specialists who know the system inside and out,” said Ms. Janes.
“Since the
conversion, we have been able to focus on what we should be focused on –
financial accounting, rather than the mechanical process of consolidating our
subsidiaries,” she said. “We save about six hours each month performing and
verifying the consolidation process. Because we now have consolidated results on
a daily basis, we can resolve issues on the spot. Oracle is a terrific
time-saver.”
Ms. Janes
added that the reporting and direct access to the General Ledger via Excel are
very powerful features, and perfect for her next projects which include
completing the month-end management reporting package within hours of receiving
the final COCC consolidation report. “We’re almost there,” she said. “And this
is just the beginning!” |
