Business Stream is the non-domestic retail arm of Scottish Water, which was launched following the introduction of competition into the Scottish water industry in 2008. As part of the deregulation, both companies were required to operate separate financial systems by the end of 2009. Business Stream wanted a flexible accounting solution that could deliver the high level of functionality the company had previously experienced. As Business Stream does not have a large in-house IT team, an online accounting solution was the preferred choice as it minimises the need for internal IT resource, providing the functionality that the business needed in a cost effective and efficient way.

Johanna Dow, Financial Director of Business Stream, explains, “When looking for an accounting solution, we researched a number of different products including some large players such as SAP. However, Twinfield stood out as providing the most value for money because for a single monthly subscription we have real-time management information available through a web browser. In contrast, the SAP software would have cost us substantially more to implement and there would have been ongoing support and maintenance costs. With Twinfield, all of these costs are eliminated which saves us approximately £50,000 per annum.”  

Dow adds, “The system is really easy to use, so much so that we are able to do all of our staff training in-house, which keeps training time and costs to a minimum. Another advantage of the system is that it is very flexible, enabling us to make changes to account structures, add new suppliers and make payments quickly and easily.”

Dow concludes, “We have received a fantastic service from Twinfield, and we are looking forward to exploiting the full functionality of the system now that we have gone live.  

Mark Davies, UK Country Manager, Twinfield, comments, “Online solutions and Software as a Service (SaaS) is often labelled as something that only SMEs are able to benefit from. However, as Business Stream clearly shows, one of the major advantages of Twinfield is its scalability and agility in flexing to suit the size of the business – making it advantageous for all. As SaaS continues to become a core-part of modern business operations, online accounting is set to grow significantly as larger organisations realise the potential of the cloud.”

About Business Stream
A wholly-owned subsidiary of Scottish Water, Business Stream has been formed as an arms-length company with its own board and independent management team. Its goal is to provide a first class service for business customers and respond to the challenge of other established utility companies entering the new, competitive market which opened on 1 April 2008.

Under the Water Services etc. (Scotland) Act 2005, Scottish Water had to split its operation into wholesale (Scottish Water) and retail (Business Stream) units. Although ostensibly remaining a part of Scottish Water, Business Stream is a new business working completely independently of its parent company in order to ensure fair and transparent retail practice under the rules of the new competitive marketplace for business customers. The Business Stream website can be found at www.business-stream.co.uk

About Twinfield
Twinfield UK is a subsidiary of Twinfield International N.V., the European market leader in the area of online accounting. Today, more than 80,000 financial accounts are being compiled using Twinfield in 22 countries. Online accounting via Twinfield means flexible accounting, with a range of subscriptions to suit both small and large organisations. Twinfield also ensures efficient, secure, real-time data exchange between clients and administration or accountancy firms. Because Twinfield works as a web application, users can access and exchange financial reports online anywhere and anytime via a secure internet connection. For more information about the company and its services go to: www.twinfield.co.uk