xAssets Case Study - Essilor

Essilor is the world leader in vision solutions. Present in more than 100 countries, the Group asserts its difference through a set of unique characteristics: our role as an international player, our open business model, our 360° culture of innovation and our employee shareholding strategy.

Summary

Essilor approached xAssets in June 2011 to enquire about xAssets Fixed Asset Management Software. They were researching a fixed asset management solution to replace their existing spreadsheet based system. xAssets provided a demonstration of the capabilities of its Fixed Asset Management module and also provided Essilor with a trial site with test data to evaluate the operation of the solutuion.

Previous Fixed Asset Management Environment

Prior to installing the xAssets solution, Essilor was using Excel spreadsheets to manage and track its fixed assets. These spreadsheets were maintained manually, which required constant input and updating. Consequently the company did not have a solid grasp on its fixed asset environment. In addition, it was difficult to consolidate all of the asset information across eight separate divisions and feed data to the existing Oracle accounting system. It became clear to management that a fully automated system would benefit the corporation.

Solution Requirements and Business Objectives

In order to improve and automate its ITAM practices, Essilor established a comprehensive set of objectives and capabilities for the selected solution. These requirements included:

• Importing of existing asset details from spreadsheets
• Accounting of assets separately for 8 companies as well as consolidation across companies
• Exporting monthly journals to Oracle Accounting software
• Forecasting and budgeting capabilities
• Attaching of documents to asset records
• Managing and reporting of assets by projects

Essilor stated the main benefits that they wanted from the system were improved asset tracking and reporting capabilities, transactional processing efficiencies and enhanced security. xAssets was able to speed the implementation of the solution due to the precise requirements supplied by Essilor. The company’s original intent was to use the new solution for three years as they transitioned to an Oracle solution that would be integrated with its accounting system.

Approach

In September 2011 Essilor completed its purchase of SaaS licenses and services for a cloud based solution for management of their fixed assets using xAssets Fixed Asset Management and Asset Accounting/Depreciation software, hosted by xAssets on its cloud servers. Implementation was performed by xAssets with close collaboration with Essilor’s IT and accounting staff. As part of the implementation, xAssets provided user and administration training for the key users. After a number of parallel runs and tests performed by Essilor, the implementation, on schedule and on budget went live at the start of 2012. The system currently is being used regularly to manage a portfolio of about 6,000 fixed assets and easily integrates with the existing oracle accounting system.

Results

Essilor achieved all of the objectives it set for the automated fixed asset solution, and found the xAssets software so robust and easy to use that it abandoned its plans to transition to an Oracle solution. Comments from company staff, such as the following, indicate the high level of satisfaction they have with the xAssets software.