People find their way to Aspasia via many different routes but perhaps the lowest risk option is when you gain a member of staff who is an experienced user, which is exactly what happened with home counties based chain Simmons and Sons. Prior to Aspasia they had been using an accounting package that had been written for Solicitors and managed the rest of their lettings business manually.  Against a background of continual expansion, their processes were in need of automation and a new solution had to be found.  With a young and motivated team who were constantly pushing the boundaries, technological change was required. 

When Simmons and Sons acquired the lettings portfolio of the Basingstoke Branch of Lane Fox, they got more than they bargained for though!  Lane Fox had been using Aspasia and thus the team could gain an appreciation of the software – warts and all – from people that had no reason but to tell it like it is.  With the endorsement of the Lane Fox users, Simmons settled on Aspasia as their choice for the future.

There are very few instances where technical change does not mean some sort of pain barrier.  To move from a manual system to server based Aspasia meant an awful lot of data entry but as Wendy Smith, Associate Partner of Simmons said, "there was no way around that."  The changes going on within the company also meant that a new member of staff was employed to manage the accounting side of the business and her enthusiasm for Aspasia further verified that this was the right route for them.

The move from manual systems to sophisticated technology such as Aspasia requires significant training.  Perhaps it was the youthfulness of the Simmons staff combined with the great training at Aspasia HQ in Crowthorne but, "everyone seemed to pick it up easily.  We do come across areas where we need additional help but the support team at Crowthorne are great and very patient," added Wendy.

Aspasia is always pushing the technological boundaries and evolving.  Much of the evolutionary process is user defined and the team at Aspasia thrive on challenges from companies to develop the technology in the way that the market requires.  Simmons endorse this. "They have been very helpful with everything.  We have made suggestions but in most cases it is something they are already working on but they never fail to come back to us and when we had a request to change something specifically for us, that need was met," added Wendy.

Perhaps it just seems all too good? "Our independent auditor thinks the system is great and it has certainly made her monthly audits easier.  Nothing so far has not met our expectations.  I only ever get positive feedback from the team," said Wendy – what more can anyone ask for?

April 2008