Overview of IT financing processes
In its work as a consultancy firm, CSC had determined that the complexity of daily processes and financial, contract and data procedures posed a challenge to companies in terms of maintaining an overview and securely handling processes. The consequences include overly high costs for financing IT assets and a limited ability to innovate. CSC decided to pursue a solution to these problems, which in turn led the consulting company to evaluate the market for a suitable development platform. The USU software was chosen on the basis of the platform’s existing basic components for IT asset management, contract management and incident management as well as strong integrability and customizing options.
USU and we share a commitment to the central idea of advancing the digital future with innovative solutions. Thanks to its flexibility as well as capacity for customization and integration, USU IT Service Management offered us the ideal basis for E.VIEW CORE. Streamlined digital management of leasing contracts is one of many benefits to our customers.
Dirk Stobbe, Founder and CEO Common Sense Consulting GmbH
At a glance
Company
Common Sense Consulting GmbH (CSC)
Industry
Management consultancy
Solution
Website
www.csc-it.com
About CSC
CSC is a European market leader in the area of consulting for IT financing. The company’s complete independence ensures its customers always receive the ideal financing solutions on the market. Medium- sized companies and corporations all the way to DAX-listed companies have placed their trust in their comprehensive consulting concept.
Challenges
Companies have to handle a wide range of IT contracts with increasing complexity and nontransparency. Unmanaged contract extensions and unnecessarily high costs are the results. For these reasons, Common Sense Consulting (CSC) turned to USU to develop a software tool called E.VIEW CORE. The tool offers transparent portfolio overviews as well as automated processes and pinpoints savings potential in complex daily financial, contract and data procedures.
Why USU
To involve the various stakeholders – IT, purchasing, finance and controlling – and simultaneously manage financing portfolios, an underlying platform with strong integrability was needed. USU IT Service Management was the only software that met the high quality standards. The technical platform was used to develop in-house data models, processes and workflows.
Project milestones
- Analysis of requirements for IT asset financing and development of a solution model
- Customization of USU IT Service Management to develop in-house IT finance management modules
- Implementation of automated processes – for example, to adhere to upcoming cancellation periods through alert systems and minimization of overpayment risk
- Integration of a contract database to achieve full transparency over all contract parameters
- Completion of the in-house-developed software E.VIEW CORE on the basis of USU IT Service Management
Benefits
- Automated identification and utilization of about 15%-20% savings potential on the managed investment volume
- Avoidance of overpayments through automated end-of-life processes for financed assets
- Decrease in organization’s workload by providing information for strategic decisions with the help of systematic aggregation, visualization and reporting
- Usage-based cost allocation for leased IT assets
The IT financial management of the future
Following extensive coaching from USU, the CSC project team was able to develop within just a few weeks a new application on the basis of the USU IT Service Management data model. Such functional requirements as the capability to handle multiple currencies were successively implemented. Based on USU IT Service Management, the CSC software E. VIEW CORE can depict all financing processes in one tool. Without extensive effort, the steps to lowering asset-financing costs become recognizable: The software can dynamically visualize KPIs as well as display the cash value of each company’s IT assets in real time and compare them with current benchmarks. The potential for savings is shown and leasing contracts are optimally managed.
Modules for detailed solutions
The CSC software E.VIEW CORE offers a range of modules based on USU IT Service Management in order to provide comprehensive support and automation for all financing processes. On the basis of their individual requirements, customers select the features they need for administering assets and managing contracts. The software automatically reports the cancellation of contracts within the proper period of time. The tool has interfaces to existing ERP systems. If necessary, the modules can be adjusted to meet specific customer needs so individual goals can be reached.
Customer-specific process adjustments
The IT finance management portfolio forms the basis of E.VIEW CORE. This means contract, service and asset information is linked and commercial processes are mapped. Additional modules include invoice controlling and cancellation management as well as rollback management, which ensures that assets are returned when necessary and within the proper period of time. This is accomplished through using automated return processes and related communication as well as through using aggregated finance information on a technical and service-oriented basis.