Junckers Industries wanted to streamline finance across parent and subsidiary companies. The newly employed Group Finance Manager quickly saw the opportunity to achieve the same positive effects of an Expense Management solution as he knew from his previous workplace.
Jesper Christiansen was employed as Group Finance Manager at Junckers Industries in the fall of 2017. In the same breath, he said “yes” to streamline the financial area in the concern across Denmark and the subsidiaries in France, Italy, Spain, UK, Ireland, Germany and the USA.
“Of course, there are many ways to handle such a task,” explains Jesper Christiansen, “but I was sure that the implementation of an app and web-based expense management system would be an obvious place to start. I used Acubiz EMS at my former workplace and already knew the business case – and not least the prospect of increased efficiency. And then it wasn’t a heavy investment”, says Jesper Christiansen. When joining Junkers Industries, expense management was based on manual processes, and finance used an excel template circulating across countries.
Professional selection process
Although Jesper Christiansen knew Acubiz in advance, his approach was professional. He sat up a pilot group of key employees who would become daily users of the expense management solution. “I primarily selected employees within finance and sales to the pilot group and invited three suppliers to pitch meetings. I let the pilot team make the final decision on what solution we should have. It’s the ones who have to do with the solution in everyday life”, says Jesper Christiansen.
User experience and “back-end” equally important
“Acubiz became the chosen EMS supplier of Junker Industries, and the pilot group’s reasoning was both the actual user experience of the app Acubiz One, and not least that “back-end” and the flow itself worked perfectly”, explains Jesper Christiansen. When the decision was made, the implementation process could get started. The first exchanges of information about the ERP and payroll system were made with Acubiz. After that, the pilot team participated in the setup of the solution, which only took one day with an Acubiz implementation consultant.
Denmark followed by other markets
With good user instructions from Acubiz, as well as the training of “Acubiz super users”. Junkers Industries was ready to push the first rollout phase. “We have 400 employees in the world, but we started rolling out in Denmark with the first 50-60 employees, primarily employees within finance and sales. After summer, we will continue rolling out in the United States, and then the other markets will come one by one.”
Expectations for the outcomes
“I know from my previous experience with Acubiz EMS, that we will experience many different benefits of an automated and digitized expense management process. The hours invested in the project and, not least, the solution itself, are quickly earned home. We will experience great time savings in finance, which we can use for other important tasks. And then we get much more insight into the business in finance. We can see some expense patterns across the organization’s departments, that we would be unable to see – I know by experience with Acubiz. Finally, it will of course be much easier for employees and managers in everyday life to approve and handle receipts”, concludes Jesper Christiansen.
Onboarding of colleagues
Jens Christian Kronbach is Account Manager at Junckers in Denmark. He is selected as “Acubiz super user” and will soon teach and on board two colleagues in the system. “There is no doubt that it’s super easy to use the app. It is prepared thoroughly. Even though my colleagues may fear using an app for handling of expenses, I certainly think one meeting is enough – and then they are in the air”, says Jens Christian Kronbach.
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About Junckers Industries A/S
Junckers Industries A/S is Europe’s leading manufacturer of solid wood floors for sports, housing and business. Junckers is also the only floor manufacturer in the market, which also produces wood care products for regular maintenance and renovation of wooden floors. This means that Junckers can always deliver a comprehensive solution regardless of the type of task.
All Junckers wood floors and wood care products are produced in Denmark and are therefore developed on the basis of a solid Danish hand craft tradition. Junckers is represented in more than 30 countries and the products are sold in more than 45 countries worldwide.
“I primarily selected employees within finance and sales to the pilot group and invited three suppliers to pitch meetings. I let the pilot team make the final decision on what solution we should have. It’s the ones who have to do with the solution in everyday life”
Jesper Christiansen Group Finance Manager Junckers Industries A/S
”There is no doubt that it’s super easy to use the app. It is prepared thoroughly. Even though my colleagues may fear using an app for handling of expenses, I certainly think one meeting is enough – and then they are in the air”
Jens Christian Kronbach Account Manager Junckers Industries A/S
