Customer Stories
The Boston Globe Eliminates Double Work, Improves Accuracy and Communication After Switching to FloQast
Software is designed to help businesses solve problems. But how much of a solution is software if it’s actually creating more work?
This is precisely the situation The Boston Globe’s accounting team found itself in. Using BlackLine to share documentation with its auditors was useful. The only problem was that its use didn’t extend much beyond this singular function.
“We were completing a lot of the work in Excel and then going back into BlackLine to attach those documents,” said Walter Silva, Senior Accounting Manager with the Boston Globe Media Partners. “There was a lot of manual work that needed to be done. So, when we were looking for ways to reduce our dependency on manual tasks, we felt BlackLine wasn’t helping.”
Following the company’s acquisition, the accounting department decided it was time for a change, ultimately selecting FloQast as the replacement for BlackLine.
“This was one of the easiest implementations we’ve done just because there wasn’t any heavy lifting on our end,” Silva said. “It was pretty much all done by FloQast. We just needed training to get used to the application itself.”
Following its FloQast implementation, Silva said he noticed that communication between teams became much more efficient, allowing the team to eliminate many time-consuming status update meetings.
“It’s much easier to collaborate and add notes directly into FloQast,” said Silva. “That definitely increases productivity because it reduces the back-and-forth emails — hundreds of them — especially with how many accounts we have.”
Reflecting on his team’s efficiency gains after implementing FloQast, Silva admitted that while the team has maintained its five-day Month-End Close, he’s much more confident in its accuracy, as well as the team’s overall efficiency.
“FloQast allows my team to focus on attention to detail, on making sure the work is completed correctly versus being rushed,” he said. “We’re more efficient now because we’re spending more time actually doing the work rather than answering emails on status updates.
