Geomatikk: How Geomatikk Scales with ECIT NORIAN

How Geomatikk Scales with ECIT NORIAN

How do you integrate an acquired company into an international group – with payroll, accounting, and reporting in place within two months?

For Geomatikk, the answer is simple: a combination of the cloud-based financial system Xledger and the service provider ECIT NORIAN. The result is a scalable finance function that delivers speed, insight, and control – across five countries.

When Geomatikk began its digitalisation journey, it was still a Norwegian company with a degree of paper-driven processes and local financial systems. Today it is a group with operations in five European countries, a digital front line in the field, and a finance department that works fully digitally in the cloud. At the core of this development is a combination of Xledger as the system, and ECIT NORIANas the service and system partner.

– We are a group with significant complexity, and we need partners that grow at the same pace as us. Xledger and ECIT NORIAN give us that, says Johan Degala, Group CFO at Geomatikk.

A group in continuous growth – and with a high degree of complexity

Geomatikk Holding is the parent company of a group operating in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Spain. The company delivers effective services and software for managing and protecting critical infrastructure in a safe and sustainable manner. In Norway and Sweden, Geomatikk is a market leader in its field. The company’s main purpose is to ensure that contractors and public authorities know where cables and network infrastructure are located before digging, and that detection in the field is done safely and efficiently.

– We have several hundred employees in the field across the Nordic countries, a large service centre that handles excavation enquiries digitally, and our own developers in Trondheim who build our own systems, says Degala.

From Visma on the desktop to Xledger in the cloud

When the company in 2014 faced a market shift, where invoicing moved from a network-owner model to direct user payment, the need for scalable and automated invoice handling exploded.

– We relatively quickly reached a volume of 30,000 invoices, and the existing local solution was insufficient. We needed something completely new – and Xledger was chosen because it was both cloud-based and technologically forward-looking. It was a quantum leap for us at the time, he says.

The transition to Xledger made it possible to go from a hybrid, partially paper-driven everyday routine to a fully digital and flexible setup. From the very start, time reporting and workflow were also anchored in the system, which remains important in a group where accuracy and resource management are central.

– The employees experienced it as a change, naturally – but for management it provided a new type of insight into resource use and profitability. And when we now make acquisitions, like recently in Denmark, we can connect a completely new company to Xledger and have finance and payroll fully operational in two months. Very few other companies manage to accomplish that in such a short time.

One provider for the entire group: ECIT NORIAN

In 2020, Geomatikk decided to conduct a tender for accounting and payroll across the entire group. The goal was one partner with a local presence in all markets, and with the capacity to support both operations and group functions. The choice fell on ECIT NORIAN.

– We were experiencing strong growth and wanted a partner that could support us locally – but that also had the strength to consolidate everything in one setup. ECIT NORIAN won the tender, and it has been a very good choice for us, says Degala.

The collaboration with ECIT NORIAN means that accounting data flows seamlessly from department to group level, and that month-end closings, reporting, and controls are done quickly and efficiently.

– Previously, we used multiple accounting service providers per country. Now we have consolidated everything with ECIT NORIAN, and it has reduced the time it takes to close the books from two weeks to six days. That provides both a significant time saving and higher quality, he says.

Data-driven management and group consolidation in Power BI

To gain further insight and reporting power, Geomatikk – in collaboration with ECIT NORIAN – has established a data warehouse in Azure. Accounting and payroll data is automatically fed in from Xledger. The data foundation is then used in Power BI in combination with other data sources for advanced reporting, budgeting, and analysis.
– The data warehouse was built by ECIT NORIAN in 2020 as part of the delivery. We were their first customer with this specific reporting need. It was part of the tender that we wanted it – and ECIT NORIAN pivoted quickly, matched the best bidder, and delivered it as part of our solution, says Degala.

This gives Geomatikk the ability to create reports at both accumulated and detailed levels – with a fixed budgeted exchange rate instead of floating. They can easily remove defined extraordinary costs from EBITDA to analyse the result from that angle, and extract group services to show the real, underlying results in each company and each department. Everything is ready six days after month-end closing.

The reports are actively used by group management, while local managers and department heads use Xledger to monitor their own budgets, approve hours, and follow up on finances in their unit.

– What is great about Xledger is that it works well for all levels – from employees who report time, to group management working with strategic insight. It is flexible, and it works.

A partner organisation that works – every day

The collaboration between Geomatikk and ECIT NORIAN is close and trust-based. In the day-to-day collaboration, Geomatikk has one dedicated service manager who has overall responsibility for the delivery and serves as the primary contact for the finance team in the group.

– He knows the entire delivery, knows what is happening in all markets, and is always available when we have questions or changes. It is very valuable for us to have one person to relate to, who also has full overview and technical understanding, says Degala.

Under the service manager, there are dedicated local teams in each country and a network of consultants who work directly with accounting, payroll, and support tasks. When needed, direct contact is made between consultants and Geomatikk, but the structure ensures that there is always clear ownership, one point of contact, and a well-functioning support apparatus.

– It is a well-organised delivery model. We experience that many at ECIT NORIAN work for us – but it doesn’t feel chaotic, precisely because it is well organised. It provides predictability and confidence in daily operations.

Freed-up resources – and clear gains

With ECIT NORIAN as the provider and Xledger at the core, Geomatikk has streamlined itself such that the finance function has been radically transformed.

– We barely have anyone left working with payroll and accounting internally. ECIT NORIAN handles that, and those who previously worked broadly now work more specifically with invoicing or follow-up. In parallel, we have also adopted RPA internally to further increase efficiency. The combination of internal measures and outsourcing has given us clear gains.

A partner that looks ahead

Degala also highlights the proactive element in the collaboration with ECIT NORIAN. They deliver in the day-to-day, but also present new solutions and methods when they add value – whether it involves new software solutions or new ways of working.

– We find that they scan the market for us and come with suggestions on their own initiative, so we don’t have to be out in the market searching. It is a win-win, and makes ECIT NORIAN a very good partner for us.

Geomatikk has been owned by the British PE fund Hg since 2020, and has ambitions for further growth – both organically and through acquisitions. Then it is crucial to have systems and partners that can scale without friction.

– Scalability is one of the biggest advantages. There is no system limitation for the growth we are working towards. We know that both Xledger and ECIT NORIAN can be with us the whole way, says Degala.