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Case Study: Banyards Consultants
Driving efficiency and growth with Access ERP and Financials
Banyards Consultants, an engineering consultancy serving the construction industry, moved from a legacy finance system to Access ERP to gain greater flexibility and streamline project and financial management. By bringing finance, project operations and automation tools together on one platform, the business has reduced manual processes and improved efficiency across its finance team.
Business size
Small
Industry
Construction
Products
Lightyear, Access Finance Software, Access CRM, Access Workspace (Analytics & Data Engine),
The challenge
Banyards Consultants had outgrown their previous finance and project systems, which created manual work, duplication, and delays. Their legacy tools could no longer support the operational demands of a growing engineering consultancy. Key challenges included:
- Limited flexibility and weak project management in Sage
- Manual bank reconciliations and finance processes
- Month‑end delays from downloading and reconciling full bank statements
- Time‑heavy credit invoice capture workflows
- Double entry across CRM and project setup in FinOps
- A need for a scalable, unified system that could evolve with the business
The approach
To address these challenges, Banyards Consultants implemented the full Access ERP suite, centred around Access Financials and FinOps, replacing multiple disconnected systems with one integrated platform.
- Migrating from Sage to Access for greater financial and project management flexibility
- Using automated bank feeds and auto‑matching to speed up reconciliations
- Introducing Lightyear for automated invoice capture and smoother data flow
- Moving from SugarCRM to Prospect CRM for better integration and to remove double entry
- Early adoption of new Access features, working through initial teething issues
- Exploring AI to enhance reporting and reduce manual tasks further
The results
With Access Financials and FinOps, Banyards Consultants have achieved significant efficiency gains, streamlined processes, and a future‑ready digital foundation.
- Significant reduction in manual finance work through automation
- 5+ hours per week saved thanks to automatic bank matching and daily feeds
- Faster month‑end, with reconciliations now completed daily in 5–10 minutes
- Significant time savings for automated invoice capture and processing
- Improved integration, with CRM–ERP automation underway to eliminate duplication
- A unified, scalable ERP ecosystem supporting finance and project operations
Banyards Consultants: Enhancing Efficiency and Financial Control with Access ERP
Watch Keith Brown talk about how Banyards Consultants replaced manual processes with automated bank reconciliation, smarter invoice capture, and a more connected ERP setup using Access solutions.
Why Banyards Chose Access
Before moving to Access, Banyards Consultants relied on Sage. However, the system lacked the flexibility and project management capability the business needed.
“We came over to Access because we were on Sage previously, and the Sage product at the time didn’t offer us the flexibility and project management we needed. Access offered us the solution.”
— Keith Broadfoote-Brown, Financial Director
The team selected Access FinOps and Access Financials to create a single ERP ecosystem supporting project management, finance, and future integrations.
Implementation and onboarding
As part of the implementation, the organisation brought multiple systems together into a single platform, enabling the finance team and wider business to operate within one integrated environment.
“We came over to Access because we were on Sage previously, and the Sage product at the time didn't offer us the flexibility and our project management on the FinOps Access product that we use.”
— Keith Broadfoote-Brown, Financial Director
Since adopting Access ERP, Banyards has gradually expanded its use of the platform, introducing additional tools and automation capabilities as the business evolves.
The organisation has also embraced newer solutions such as Lightyear for invoice automation and Prospect CRM to support sales and project management, ensuring its systems continue to grow alongside its operational needs.
Looking ahead
Banyards Consultants continues to explore new ways to enhance efficiency and automation across the business using Access solutions.
The organisation recently transitioned from SugarCRM to Prospect CRM and is now focusing on integrating CRM with its project management systems. This will enable projects created in CRM to automatically generate project records within FinOps, eliminating duplicate data entry and further streamlining workflows.
“We are in the process because we've just moved over from SugarCRM to Prospect CRM, and we are now starting the integration development so that when we win a project, we capture that project on CRM, which will then create the project in FinOps without double entry.”
— Keith Broadfoote-Brown, Financial Director
The integration will initially focus on basic project data before expanding into deeper automation across systems.
“We're going to start with some basic integration – project number, name, what department it falls under – and then when that's working, we're actually going to advance that even further with the integration. So we're excited about that.”
— Keith Broadfoote-Brown, Financial Director
Alongside system integration, the business is also exploring emerging technologies such as AI to help automate reporting and streamline operational processes across the organisation.