 |
||||
|
|
|
||
|
Contents 
Introduction
Profitability plus
Improving on multinationals
Niche skills on tap
The local touch
In defence of multinationals
Executive summary |
|
||
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
Lynda Cowley once trusted multinational service providers.
"In a previous job we used a multinational accounting firm to conduct our audits," she says. "When we decided to install a new general ledger using Great Plains software, we had confidence they were a high-calibre organisation of international standing, with such a good reputation they would deliver." Her trust turned out to be misplaced.
Despite the firm's global scale, Cowley says the firm's "...expertise rested with one person" in Australia. This "expert" was not permanently resident in Australia and had little experience customising the software for local conditions.
Worse still, the expert returned home to their native Canada before the project had been completed, leaving chaos in his wake.
"Another team took over and it ended up with 'he said this, she said that,'" Cowley laments. "We saw inadequate planning and poor examination of our needs. You could go on and on listing the problems." The light at the end of the tunnel came from the fact that the structure of the project called for Australian services provider Professional Advantage to maintain the new application once it had been installed and customised.
Professional Advantage had demonstrated plentiful local skills and eventually Cowley handed the entire project to the local services company.
Four years later, Cowley is now financial controller for YourHealth Group, a group of four medical practices specialising in preventative medicine. When she took on the role, the company required a new general ledger and she quickly turned to Professional Advantage for all of the necessary services.
"I saw no particular risk or downside because I knew Professional Advantage's background," she says.
"Some of PA's staff still worked there, four years after I last worked with the company," and their longevity gave her confidence. "I think it is important to deal with a company that understands the local environment. They need to understand our tax, our laws, and local accounting standards so they know what to customise.
"Because the team I worked with had been around for a while they had enough time to see the package does comply and learn how to customise it.
"I believe you have to do something badly to learn who can do things well," she concludes. "This time I knew to shop locally."
