Unica: Extended Banking is quick and easy!

Unica is a complete technical services provider, delivering solutions for any technological issues in and around facilities. The company specializes in installation technology, energy, ICT, internet of things (IoT), and smart buildings. With more than 3,500 employees, Unica is one of the largest technical service providers in the Netherlands. We spoke to assistant controller, Mirjam Melissen, and IT project manager at Unica, Thomas van Gorcum, about their decision to opt for Extended Banking from Focus Enterprise Solutions in their implementation of Dynamics 365 Finance.

‘We wanted a solution that would seamlessly fit into Dynamics 365 Finance and make it easier for us to process transactions on digital bank statements.’ – Thomas van Gorcum, IT Project Manager at Unica

‘While we were implementing Dynamics 365 Finance, we soon learned that there was a significant gap in Finance when it came to processing bank statements,’ Thomas began. ‘As a service provider with various business clusters, we have multiple different bank accounts, and it takes a lot of time to process all those bank statements. We wanted a solution that would seamlessly fit into Dynamics 365 Finance and make it easier for us to process transactions on digital bank statements. So, a finance consultant at Unica recommended Extended Banking.’

‘We also looked at other solutions, but we ending up going for Extended Banking. Unlike all the other solutions on the market, this is really an add-on for Dynamics 365 Finance. Extended Banking is fully integrated into Dynamics 365 Finance. One of the benefits for users is that it has the same look and feel as Dynamics 365 Finance, but it also improves manageability. We don’t have to worry about whether Extended Banking will still work after an update to Dynamics 365 Finance. Everything is sorted out for us.’

The implementation of Dynamics 365 Finance at Unica is a huge endeavour, as there is also legacy software that needs to be linked to Dynamics 365 Finance. That’s why Unica chose to approach the implementation of Extended Banking as a separate project, meaning it could be implemented quickly.

‘The implementation of Extended Banking didn’t throw up any significant challenges. We were able to implement the package completely to plan. We knew from the demos exactly what we could expect from the package, and what was delivered in practice was fully in line with that,’ said Thomas. ‘I was really impressed how much the consultant who carried out the implementation with us knew. He fully understood our questions, so the training delivered exactly what we needed. We learned a lot throughout the training, and the atmosphere was light-hearted and cheerful. Since then, we’ve had hardly any need to contact Focus Enterprise Solutions about Extended Banking: once it’s up and running, you’re good to go!’

‘We knew from the demos exactly what we could expect from the package, and what was delivered in practice was fully in line with that’ – Thomas van Gorcum, IT Project Manager at Unica

Mirjam adds, ‘Extended Banking saves us a great deal of time. You can process bank statements so quickly and easily, and the bank balance is updated automatically. Extended Banking makes it easy to import and match up items… not only to customers, but also to suppliers. Multiple people can work in the package at the same time, plus you can open multiple tabs side by side. So, you can perform a series of actions one after the other. We mainly process sales invoices, which is where Extended Banking really proves its worth: the package recognizes the number and processes the invoice immediately. Sometimes I even have to check whether the change has actually been reflected… it’s that fast!

Another advantage is that you can also post directly to the correct general ledger, so you don’t have to do a load of things like that afterwards. Of course, there are still some manual tasks to do: you need to check everything has been processed correctly, but the chances of errors are significantly reduced thanks to Extended Banking. I definitely recommend Extended Banking to companies that use Dynamics 365 Finance. It makes processing bank statements so easy!’

‘Extended Banking makes processing bank statements so easy!’ – Mirjam Melissen, assistent controller at Unica

Do you want more information about our solutions and services after reading this customer case? Then please contact us. We are happy to tell you more about Extended Banking and show you how easily it works!