Seamless Transfer for Everton FC

Everton Football Club was formed over 120 years ago, and its famous royal blue home strip has been gracing league and premiership stadia for more than a century. The club was a founder member of the Football League in 1888 and, in 1892, Goodison Park became the country's first purpose-built football stadium. Five-times FA Cup winners and nine-times English League Champions, Everton FC can lay claim to greater success - and more established football heritage - than many of today's Premiership clubs.

One fact often forgotten by football fans the world over is that, whilst football clubs' core product is still "the glorious  game", successful clubs in particular have exceptionally diverse businesses - especially in relation to their size. Everton FC, for example, has a total of 52 profit/cost centres.

The club's financial staff need to be experts in a number of fields and it is vital for them to have access to up-to-the-minute data and extremely flexible reporting.

Everton FC chose a Microsoft Dynamics™ GP financial solution to meet its evolving requirements, opting for a 15-user package of modules incorporating General Ledger, Receivables, Payables, Invoicing, Credit Control and Cashbook, which would provide the scalability and functionality necessary to support the club's complex financial management requirements.

Noreen Taylor, assistant group financial controller at Everton FC, commented: "We had an ambitious integration strategy, so we needed an integrated accounting and finance application that would connect with other business solutions. Of course, with the growth of e-business across all market sectors, this was also a key consideration for us."

Long Term Support
The club was seeking a new technology partner which it felt could provide the comprehensive long term support it required. Everton FC's IT department considered its options very carefully, keen to ensure that, in terms of both technical expertise and company philosophy, it made the right decision.

As one of a select few members of the Microsoft Dynamics™ GP EMEA Circle of Excellence, JMC has been successfully supplying the Microsoft Dynamics™ GP range of products for over ten years. These impressive initial credentials, underpinned by over 28 years' experience in the financial sector and a growing number of clients specific to the sporting industry, gave Everton FC more than enough reassurance of JMC's knowledge, experience and commitment to forging a long-term partnership.
JMC technicians staff quickly familiarised themselves with Everton FC's technological infrastructure and established a dedicated team of support staff who could provide the benefit of their expertise to the club's own IT department as required - either on-site, via modem or on the telephone.

High Standards
Noreen Taylor added: "We have high standards here at Everton. We expect, without compromise, that the work ethic is stringently fulfilled, and I know JMC live up to everything we ask. It really is a pleasure to work with their staff: without exception I have found them to be hugely positive, friendly and extremely knowledgeable about the product and the industry. I have considerable experience as a system administrator and I can easily spot the 'holes' in client support service delivery. There is no doubt in my mind that JMC are the best I've worked with so far."

In line with Everton FC's development plans, the club has also completed an upgrade to the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics™ GP, in conjunction with CRM tools from Siebel to provide further functionality across the business. JMC planned the implementation over a weekend to avoid any possible disruption to the club's day-to-day financial operations, and complemented the upgrade with training for key financial and IT staff.

Noreen Taylor concluded: "Long-term, there is no doubt that Microsoft ownership gives comfort and reassurance about the future of the product, and I expect that we'll be able to carry on working smarter, not harder, as design and capability continue to improve. With the expertise of a smart and resourceful supplier to fall back on too, I am confident about the future."