The Other House is an innovative concept of creating a home environment within London that can be rented much like a hotel. Each complex also includes a private club for use by residents. Currently, it has one location in Kensington, with another being created in Covent Garden and due to open in Winter 2024. Each flat contains a kitchen, living space and bedroom enabling people to have a home from home in the heart of London without the capital expense and with flexibility. Flats range in price and are comparable to hotel prices.
Managing the business of such a growing and complex organisation is a challenge. Initially, The Other House used Xero, as most startups do. However, with ambitious growth plans, it hopes to open 15 more sites over the next few years, the company needed to find a more suitable solution for a scale-up company. All options were on the table. It reviewed whether Xero could scale to meet its demands. It also looked at Visma and Sage Intacct.
Ultimately it selected Sage Intacct, with its ability to support multiple-dimensional reporting and an extensive set of integrations supported by open APIs. Alongside Sage Intacct, it found Percipient, one of the launch partners in the UK of Sage Intacct with experience working in the hospitality industry.
Tom Haley, CFO of The Other House, commented, “We first looked at Sage Intacct at HOSPACE 2020. Having witnessed it in action, and talked to existing customers, it represented the best digital platform to support our business. Underpinned by Percipient’s expertise and experience, its ability to integrate and provide intelligence was unrivalled in our search and selection process.”
The project
Haley revealed that the project kicked off in May 2021 and was completed in October 2021. It went live during the pre-opening preparations of the Kensington Other House. The solution now provides the intelligence to support the customer experience, track profitability, and expedite operational processes. The Other House can track costs, including energy consumption across the units.
Haley commented, “Crucially, Sage Intacct can be used by anyone, not just finance, which promotes transparency and allows intelligence to be applied where relevant. Our quarter-end accounts are produced at a click of a button, and we are able to plot and compare any insight we need to create a comprehensive picture, so that when viewing, say, profit and loss, we can look at the numerous variables associated with that. Sage Intacct delivers truly end-to-end finance, but in reality, it does so much more than that. It allows us to have a high-level business conversation based on statistical insights, which in turn, give us an in-depth understanding and control of our numbers in real-time.”
The initial implementation included several integrations: YooZ AP Automation, MEWS PMS and Access Procure Wizard. The Other House leadership team now has visibility across the entire business. Visibility into and reporting across the business has improved.
Ashley Slinger, Senior Finance Manager at The Other House, explains, “We now benefit from a massive amount of automation across the business. Because of the impressive integration via APIs, we can view pretty much anything via an easy-to-navigate dashboard, daily, weekly, monthly, or by any other configuration we choose. This unprecedented level of speed and intelligence means that we are able to distil key data in minutes rather than days. In practice, this means that when, for example, we report to the bank, we can access and download the information needed in ten minutes rather than the two days it took previously.”
Haley added, “Digital is, without doubt, a crucial aspect of any modern hospitality business, and we see it as a competitive advantage. While our app will play a significant role in helping to deliver the Resident experience, it’s all of the intelligence generated in the back office, powered by Sage Intacct, which ultimately delivers the magic.”
Looking forward
This is not the end of the journey for the trinity of Percipient, The Other House and Sage Intacct. Haley revealed that the team intends to continue improving the solution by leveraging existing APIs where possible. Applications it intends to integrate into its technology stack include:
- Sage Intacct Planning, its CPM, Budget and forecasting solution
- Culture Amp
- Integrations to social media, including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google Hotels
- Veolia (Waste Management)
- Eon (energy usage)
- harri (HCM for the hospitality industry, though subject to an API being developed)
Percipient and hospitality
Percipient has a long history of working in the hospitality industry with Sage Intacct. It was a UK launch partner in 2019. It has already rolled out solutions to hospitality groups, including The Other House, Umbel Restaurant Group, The Exclusive Collection, Dakota Hotels, Hastings Hotels and LGH Hotels management.
Enterprise Times asked Chris Stock, MD, Percipient, about how Percipient enables Sage Intacct for the hospitality industry. He replied, “Financial management software for the hospitality sector needs to have industry-specific functionality. This includes strong reporting capabilities that can highlight areas of the business that are generating the most revenue and services which may no longer be profitable.
“Whether you operate multi-property hotels, restaurant chains, entertainment venues, resorts, clubs or other business, Sage Intacct provides a powerful chart of accounts, specially configured by us, using USALI. It enables you to automate processes across multiple operations and locations, streamlining and accelerating your entire finance function. With this taken care of, it leaves more time for you to focus on business development and growth – furnished with in-depth, accurate financial insights for robust, strategic decision-making.
“Hoteliers are under constant pressure to deliver an exceptional experience and win the loyalty of their guests. With so many variables within the hospitality industry, it can be difficult to best focus resources for first-class customer service. Sage accounting software provides a clear, 360° view of business performance, with accurate, live sales and revenue data, across multiple services and facilities. Supporting complex reporting structures and simplifying processes across multiple sites, companies, and business groups.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
Yet another success story for Sage Intacct and Percipient. Hospitality is just one of the industries that Percipient is targeting. Stock revealed its ambitions in a 2021 interview. Since then, it has added several case studies and, no doubt, even more customers to its list of successes.
The growing success of both Sage Intacct and Percipient in the hospitality industry is noteworthy. Most other stories see Infor and Oracle competing, especially in the hotel industry, sometimes in larger chains, but not always. The Other House, powered by Sage Intacct, can now look forward to a period of growth with the assurance that it has the finger on the pulse of the business and visibility across metrics that will matter in any decision-making process.
For other hospitality businesses looking to make a selection for their next business software. Success requires three things. The software itself is only one part. A partner that understands and has had proven success is the second. The third is the resources within the company itself to make it work. Sage Intacct and Percipient, are one of the combinations that can deliver the first two elements.
