SPF Gains Visibility Across Sales & Customers

IT Overhaul Provides UK Wealth Management and Insurance Broker with Platform for Growth

SPF Private Clients (SPF) started in 1999 as the financial services arm of Savills PLC. Now known as SPF Private Clients following a management buyout, it offers bespoke financial services for mortgages, insurance, wealth management as well as commercial financial advice for clients. In 2018, private equity investor Cabot Square Partners acquired 70% of the business, leading to the creation of a joint lending venture called Lendco, specialising in buy-to-let, bridging and refurbishment.

Private equity boosts business outlook: Starting out with a handful of people, SPF grew to over 300 employees before the financial crash left it with just 75. Following the Cabot acquisition, SPF now has around 180 employees and a growing portfolio offering a one-stop-shop for everything relating to property, wealth generation and investment, including private and client insurance and specialist mortgages. Impacted heavily by economic and market uncertainty, SPF is well versed in adjusting its business strategy to enable future growth. Supported by the success of its lending business and private equity investment, SPF is building a strong portfolio supported by its technology stack to ensure it is in a strong position to identify and navigate future market uncertainties.

Cloudy with a chance of sunshine: SPF inherited Unit 4 Dream on-premises software from Savills with no development roadmap and none of the reporting capabilities that investors were requiring. With Dream, the company could see the data but do little with it, instead relying on Excel. The company had been strategically moving away from on-premises technology and needed a solution that aligned with its application consolidation strategy.

Making wholesale changes: SPF selected NetSuite over Unit 4, Microsoft, Sage, SAP and Blue Square for its heritage as a cloud-only company that has built accounting and finance into the core of the platform. SPF replaced four systems, Unit 4, Concur, Sage and Croner, with NetSuite. It was a move enabled by the SuiteSuccess model and a remote implementation that simplified the selection process and created a smooth deployment resulting in the integration of payroll, expense management, ERP, HR and CRM software.

Connections key to success: Aligning the insurance, debt and wealth parts of the business is a core requirement for SPF. Connecting these parts of the business, which currently sit on separate systems, and integrating them into NetSuite will enable automatic reporting and greater visibility across sales and customers. The company believes it needs to have a ‘big company’ mentality and the systems and support to match.