You can really tell that reconciliation is what Aurum does. They are experts on the matter. It’s been a pleasure working with a partner on their bread and butter.
Islands Insurance is the biggest independent brokerage in the Channel Islands, with three insurance models spanning Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney. This presence has resulted in them accruing a 30% market share of motor insurance and their top line growing 15% YoY.
Market dominance such as this is rarely witnessed or thought of as a problem; however, the finance team at Islands Insurance was aware that with transactions rising, they couldn’t leave it unmanaged.
The solution
15% YoY growth is an impressive number; however, it creates a host of additional ones in the form of transactions rising by roughly the same amount. In addition, having acquired the Hepburn brand in 2022 to also offer high-value and corporate insurance policies, Islands Insurance suddenly had even more transactions to handle.
Their market growth was therefore threatening to unravel their manual and time-consuming back-office financial operations at a cost to their cash flow management. One solution which was initially budgeted for was to hire an additional FTE. However, being an organisation set on digital transformation to improve efficiency and the wellbeing of their employees, neither Shaun Eggleston, CFO, nor Fiona McHugh, Group Head of Finance, were set on this option. After all, whilst it was viable, it was only a short-term solution that would require someone to manually reconcile transactions every single day.
Someone ticking and crossing over two pages of transactions wasn’t going to add any value to the company. Plus, if someone were to do that day in and day out, we’d no doubt quickly lose them as they’re not going to be happy doing it. We knew there had to be a better option.
Shaun Eggleston, CFO, Islands Insurance
As a result, alternatives that aligned with their ambitions were sought, and that’s when Shaun discovered Aurum. Having previously worked for a large brewery chain, he was aware of the high volumes of transactions Aurum must reconcile for customers such as Stonegate Group, Young’s, and other hospitality giants. He was therefore assured that our automated reconciliation solutions could handle the number of transactions that Islands Insurance dealt with.
Everything stacked up on the business case – the finances, the time-saving element, the benefits Aurum would bring to our employees. It aligned perfectly with our cultural vision to bring about efficiencies and greater job satisfaction through automation.
Shaun Eggleston, CFO, Islands Insurance
The results
Islands Insurance was confident in Aurum’s capabilities to reconcile high volumes of transactions but was still aware that, like every other company, it had its own unique processes. The implementation of Aurum was therefore going to be the first test to indicate whether the project would be a success. As such, Nathan Jones, Lead Consultant and Delivery Manager from our team, headed out to Jersey to set up Aurum in person.
The onsite visit meant we got off to a great start. It also showcased the expertise and commitment of Aurum’s consultants to make everything so simple. They’d scope out our requirements with us and by the next morning, everything would be spot on. I’ve been with Islands for nearly 25 years, so I’ve seen a lot of changes, and I can safely say that Aurum has definitely been one of the best.
Fiona McHugh, Group Head of Finance, Islands Insurance
Not only did this set Islands Insurance off on the right foot, but it also indicated to them that reconciliation is our specialist subject. Inevitably, it wasn’t just our people who exhibited deep expertise in reconciliation; when Aurum’s automation took hold, so did our software.
You can really tell that reconciliation is what Aurum does. They are experts on the matter for lots of different partners, all of which will have varying requirements. It makes a big difference when a business doesn’t try to be a jack of all trades; it’s been a pleasure working with a partner on their bread and butter.
Shaun Eggleston, CFO, Islands Insurance
Moving from manual reconciliation with pen and paper to automation instantly impacted everyone involved in finance at Islands Insurance and beyond. For starters, those who engage in the direct activity of reconciliation suddenly found themselves doing it daily rather than once a month when transactions had become unmanageable. This means, in practical terms, that rather than two FTEs spending an entire week every month to complete Islands Insurance’s bank reconciliation, now only one spends a minimal amount of time on this activity every day. What time is now spent on this activity every month? Just one day. That equates to a 90% decrease in time spent on bank reconciliation.
However, Islands Insurance hasn’t simply marvelled at timesaving on this scale. Instead, they have applied it as intended – seeing employees engage in more rewarding and valuable work. For example, with additional time at their disposal, the Islands Insurance finance team is now reviving its role as a business partner to sub-brokers. A primary way that this has been realised is by visiting their sub-brokers to collaborate on improving the formatting of automated files used in their reconciliations. Consequently, Islands Insurance are harnessing saved time to generate even more; an output of their collaboration is that the files they reconcile now have fewer errors.
The best outcome of using Aurum has been the increase in job satisfaction. You can see the difference in dynamics between how the team previously had to traipse endlessly through transactions versus being clearly shown where an error is which needs investigating and getting out and about to meet people and build relationships.
Fiona McHugh, Group Head of Finance, Islands Insurance
Then there is Fiona, Group Head of Finance at Islands Insurance. Prior to Aurum, due to unsustainable volumes, even she had to get involved with reconciliation in some instances. As Shaun puts it, “someone of that seniority engaging in reconciliation created a false economy”. However, now she can focus all her energy on projects that matter most to the business.
In fact, having witnessed the benefits of the Aurum project – including time on bank reconciliation and direct debit reconciliation being reduced by 90% and 98% respectively – Fiona and Shaun are excited to expand their application of Aurum further. First on their list is deploying Aurum’s solution for insurer statement reconciliation – an activity which currently consumes seven days of work every month. Then next up, they wish to do the same for their statement reconciliation with their sub-brokers. Why the rush? Because having experienced the power of Aurum’s automation, they forecast reducing time spent on these activities by 80%.
Completing our insurer statement reconciliation quicker isn’t just a benefit for our internal team, it’s also about showing to our insurers that we are really on the ball, improving relationships with them, and most importantly, helping create better communication with our clients down the line. Having a slick reconciliation process which impacts even clients who don’t come to us directly is really important – we want them to feel that they receive the same high level of service.
Shaun Eggleston, CFO, Islands Insurance
Ultimately, Islands Insurance has firmly recognised timesaving within its finance functions as an invaluable resource. After all, completing their daily bank reconciliation in a matter of minutes each day now means they have time to comprehensively conduct exception investigations. As a result, Shaun is freed from the position of having to concede to balance anomalies and write off differences; instead, he has confidence that his team has time to investigate exceptions, and together, they can protect Islands Insurance’s cash flow.
Writing off differences is no longer something we find ourselves doing thanks to Aurum’s reconciliation boosting our levels of control.
Shaun Eggleston, CFO, Islands Insurance
Overall, Islands Insurance has now reclaimed control over its financial back-office. Whilst volumes might continue to increase, so too does employee morale and time spent on value-adding activities rather than rote tasks such as reconciliation. As a result, Shaun, Fiona, and the wider team can now look at their impressive growth with admiration rather than concern and continue on their upward trajectory.
