Embridge Managed Services | Embridge Consulting

Embridge boosts internal efficiency using LEO – its self-developed integration platform

The problem: Manual timesheet processes were costing valuable hours

Embridge Consulting’s managed services team – comprising of eight highly skilled consultants, supporting between 10 and 15 customers daily – prides itself on delivering exceptional customer service. To do so, the team need accurate, timely records of its customer activity for billing and reporting. However, logging time across multiple systems was eating into the hours that could be spent on adding value for our clients.

Much of this was due to the way information flowed between systems. Tickets from Freshdesk, Embridge’s customer service platform, had to be manually recorded in the Unit4 ERP timesheet module. While each update only took around 15 minutes per day for each consultant, that transferred into 35 hours of valuable cumulative team time per month – or the equivalent of an entire working day (8 hours) lost every week. In addition to affecting operational efficiency, this process increased unnecessary stress for staff by burdening them with repetitive tasks that reduced job satisfaction, as well as making it harder for team members to maintain a real-time view of customer activity – time and energy that could be redeployed towards client services, innovation and strategic projects.

The solution: Automated timesheet integration using LEO

Embridge turned to its own fully managed integration platform, LEO, to address this problem. The cloud-based solution, which is securely hosted in Microsoft Azure, makes it possible for all kinds of organisations to streamline tasks effortlessly, whilst crucially maintaining reliable connections between all software and systems used across the business. Without these connections, enterprise systems are unable to communicate, perpetuating the long-ingrained problem of data siloes. With LEO, the Freshdesk-to-Unit4 connection could be fully automated, eliminating the need for manual entry.

LEO was set up to extract daily ticketing data from Freshdesk automatically – importing it directly into the Unit4 timesheet module, where each entry can be matched to the correct customer and consultant. This took minimal setup and, once fully configured, meant that users were automatically assigned customer references, making it easier for Embridge consultants to do their job. Consultants no longer had to engage in manual input, making it much easier and more satisfying for them to keep on top of their workloads, without worrying about data accuracy or the risk of missed entries.

What used to take each consultant 15 minutes per day is now completed seamlessly in the background – ensuring consistency and accuracy in data for better service, too.

The result: A more efficient, reputable, respected service

Since implementing LEO, Embridge has witnessed immediate, measurable benefits:

The organisation has saved one hour per consultant per week – the equivalent of four full working days reclaimed per month across the team.
Real-time, automated entry also ensures precise tracking of time spent on each customer with LEO eliminating the risk of human error.
Consultants now enter timesheets more regularly, enabling faster, more accurate billing cycles, and the ability to provide customers with up-to-date insights into service activity. This has seen a drastic improvement in customer satisfaction.

After a minimal setup – which requires no ongoing maintenance unlike traditional, in-house integrations – Embridge’s billing service now runs smoothly, without disruption or need for manual intervention. All information is recorded accurately and automatically, team members are under less time pressure and stress – allowing them to add further value to their service where it truly matters – and clients benefit from a faster, more reliable and more transparent service. A win-win all round.