As the year draws to a close, it’s time to reflect back on 2021 and offer thanks to our customers and partners.
2021 has been a year with many different faces. According to surveys, the majority of companies improved their profit even though revenue decreased for many. We have all had to adapt to multiple changes both in terms of business operations as well as the way we work, yet this exceptional situation has also provided an opportunity to reform policies and the working culture. While the huge digital leap made it easier to work from home, it has also been mentally challenging for many employees, not least due to endless online meetings and having to work alone. Therefore, working together, also with customers and partners, is key to sustainable development and success going forward.
Thanks to the Taimer acquisition, we will now be even better equipped to help our customers digitalise their business processes. As Taimer’s project management and ERP systems are seamlessly integrated into Heeros’s financial administration and invoicing processes, we will offer SMEs and accounting firms an easy and convenient way to improve their business management.
The partnership is already in action and we have begun the integration – our new Taimer colleagues will join the growing Heeros team next year. Our customers have been following news of the acquisition with a keen eye, especially our thousands of PSA customers who use Heeros financial administration solutions. While all of this is taking place, however, I can assure you that the development of Heeros’s financial administration solutions will continue as per usual.
After listing the projects, we launched this year and the improvements that we implemented, the result turned out to be rather inspiring. The common denominators in everything we did were automation, superior user experience and integrations.
We implemented user interface improvements with the aim of achieving a unified Heeros look and effortless user experience. On that front, we have made a lot of good progress, and I would say that the peak moment was the launch of Heeros Mobile at the end of September. This mobile app makes life easier for entrepreneurs as they now have access to financial administration literally in the palm of their hands. Because the app is so easy to use it saves entrepreneurs’ time – which they can then use to develop their business.
To achieve seamless user experience, we are continually building ready-made integrations and API interfaces to bridge the gaps between different systems. One of the most important time savers is our new API that connects the payroll and accounting apps. Forget slow, manual data transfers – this interface makes the data transfer from payroll to accounting smooth and effortless. Also, we aligned the eSalaries interface with the Heeros look and feel to give a more convenient user experience for calculating wages.
This year we also started to develop the Heeros customer invoices and invoicing reporting. Our aim was to streamline the customer invoicing process, particularly for accounting firms, by switching to consolidated invoicing and service usage reporting. We listened carefully to our customers’ needs and took them into account. Our invoices now have a more visual look, and customer invoicing for accounting firms using Heeros solutions is easier than ever before.
Providing top-class customer service is a core value for us at Heeros. In order to provide our customers a better and more comprehensive service, we launched a new automated support channel, Heeros chatbot, in August. Now our customers can get a faster service, for example, when they want to open new invoicing connections or reset a password, and work can continue without delay. The chatbot also frees up our support service’s time to focus on the most challenging customer issues, enabling them to be resolved more quickly.
To support our new strategy and mission to build an effortless future for financial administration, we refreshed our brand image. This year’s most visible changes towards a distinctive, bold and concrete brand were: making our product names clearer; creating a more harmonised user experience; and positioning ourselves as a provider of an increasingly integrated solution. In addition, our branding has been strengthened by the industry-specific solutions we provide and our offering through our extensive partner network to support our customers’ internationalisation through highly automated purchase and sales invoice solutions.
We are only a few days away from Christmas. Once again, it is time to thank you all for a wonderful collaboration. Businesses’ confidence in the economy continued to strengthen in November and, similarly, we should also feel confident about the future and continue investing in development and increasing the quality of everything that we do. But not until we’ve all taken a little rest; there’s already a bit of that Christmas magic in the air, so I hope everyone will have a relaxing time with their family and friends.
Have a Merry Christmas and a very successful New Year!
Mikko Pilkama
CEO
Heeros Oyj
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