December 13, 2016 – BlackLine, a finance controls and automation software provider, today announced a new contract with Struers, leaders in pioneering technology development. The team at Struers is now able to take advantage of BlackLine’s cloud-based Finance Controls and Automation Platform to automate core close processes, delivering increased efficiency, reduced paper consumption and a simplified close process.
Founded in 1875, Struers has offices and affiliates in 24 countries worldwide working with global brands - such as BMW and Mercedes - to manufacture equipment, consumables and services for materialographic surface preparation and analysis of solid materials. BlackLine has been implemented for all periodic SoX Controls, providing real-time status and overview at all times, enabling improved compliance and strengthened internal controls. In addition, time reductions whilst documenting data for external and internal audits benefits resource control.
Before the BlackLine implementation, the finance processes were different for each business unit and were primarily manual and highly time-consuming. The knock-on effect of this was SoX Controls documentation were generally documented through Excel sheets which were printed, signed and stored in binders.
Christian Nielsen, Group Financial Controller at Struers, commented, “From my perspective, it has always been my dream to set up a highly effective and efficient SoX Compliant Internal Control Environment that was intuitively easy to use. Group finance plays a key role in driving finance best practices throughout the group assisting our business units in building a high quality internal control environment which is a key objective from the BlackLine deployment. To date, we have seen success from utilising BlackLine’s technology and the time savings has allowed the team to focus on supporting decision-making at all levels throughout the organisation.”
BlackLine was selected after Struers reviewed a range of systems, with the finance team benchmarking each using a requirement specification. Following the selection process, BlackLine was set up in Struers’ HQ as a pilot over a three-month period. Following the success of the initial trial, the company then went live with the solution throughout the rest of the organisation over the next three months.
Andy Bottrill, Regional Vice President, BlackLine, said, “It is a compliment that a global company with a strong heritage selected BlackLine. Throughout the stringent selection process, the technology and capabilities proved to meet the modern-day finance demands required by Struers. We are pleased to hear of the immediate benefits the Struer’s team has seen, and we look forward to our continued work together.”