Heckfield Place Digitally Transforms CFO Office with Sage Intacct
Modern financial management platform delivers intelligence, agility and scale for a luxury country hotel and spa.
About Heckfield Place
Set within 438 acres of the Hampshire countryside, Heckfield Place is a luxury country hotel housed in a restored Georgian mansion, offering an authentic escape just an hour from London. With an organic home farm, a biodynamic market garden, a Michelin-starred restaurant, and a spa, the hotel is committed to delivering exceptional guest experiences at every touchpoint.
Supporting Transformation
The events of 2020 and 2021 have fundamentally reshaped the hospitality industry. The combined impact of the pandemic and Brexit not only introduced unprecedented operational challenges but has also transformed how the industry thinks.
In the years since, traditional planning cycles have been replaced by a need for dynamic performance monitoring as the pace of change continues to accelerate. Rising costs are now being carefully balanced with innovation and service diversification to offset losses. And digital has become essential for optimising resources, supporting retention, and attracting talent.
Against this backdrop, Heckfield Place worked with Percipient to replace its legacy accounting package with Sage Intacct. The decision was based on Sage Intacct’s modern, cloud-based intelligence, which aligned with the firm’s mindset for navigating a new world. Having spoken with existing users, the finance team had no hesitation in moving forward with the platform.
“Sage Intacct demonstrated all of the capabilities we needed as an organisation,” comments Deepak Puri, Director of Finance, Heckfield Place. “The granularity, scale, and ability to download reports on a given area in a few clicks were a game changer. In parallel, Percipient was a very impressive partner. Not only were the team very experienced, proficient and professional, they clearly understood the dynamics of our business and spoke our language from the outset.”
Moving away from our previous system naturally met some resistance. Percipient supported us in addressing this, and following our initial deployment, we initiated a series of workshops and education sessions, which helped to win hearts and minds by clearly demonstrating the benefits of the new way of working.
Driving Cultural Change
As with many transformation initiatives, change management proved to be as critical as the technology implementation itself, Deepak adds.
“Moving away from our previous system naturally met some resistance. Percipient supported us in addressing this, and following our initial deployment, we initiated a series of workshops and education sessions, which helped to win hearts and minds by clearly demonstrating the benefits of the new way of working.”
One of the finance team’s early objectives was to significantly reduce the month-end close, and using Sage Intacct, Heckfield Place removed seven days from its month-end process. Reports are now issued on the 2nd or 3rd of the month, compared to the 10th previously. While the efficiency gains from this were substantial, the real value came from being able to plan more effectively, using timely, accurate insights.
One Version of the Truth
Sage Intacct has transformed visibility across the business, delivering detailed, real-time insights and supporting more accurate, dynamic decision-making.
“The intelligence and analysis Sage Intacct provides is incredible. We now have complete visibility across every P&L, allowing us to see instantly what has influenced performance in any given month,” Deepak continues.
Through seamless integration with Heckfield Place’s Property Management System (PMS), the finance team can analyse bookings, occupancy and cost of sales across periods, as well as assess departmental performance to determine where resources should be focused.
This transparency has established a single version of the truth, removing bias and subjectivity from decision-making. Planning is faster, more accurate and fully insight-driven, which is particularly valuable in board meetings and leadership discussions. Department heads now have direct access to performance insights against budgets and KPIs, empowering them to take ownership of planning and results.
Cashflow visibility has also improved significantly according to Deepak:
“We can clearly see outstanding balances, take prompt remedial action and quickly investigate anomalies. As a result, our cashflow position is much stronger.”
From day one, Percipient have been proactive and knowledgeable, and is deeply experienced in hospitality. From data migration and ledger design to integrations, training and education, they have consistently ensured we get the most value from the platform.
Built for Continuous Improvement
“Having all our data in one place gives us the scale to grow. We can model different scenarios, identify the best course of action and be confident that the system will support the changes that follow.
“From day one, Percipient have been proactive and knowledgeable, and is deeply experienced in hospitality. From data migration and ledger design to integrations, training and education, they have consistently ensured we get the most value from the platform.
“While we’ve achieved the objectives we initially set out to deliver with Sage Intacct, transformation never stands still. We’re now exploring Sage Intacct Planning (SIP) to deepen our forecasting and budgeting capabilities with a dedicated planning module.”
A Future-Proof Strategy
“The challenges facing hospitality, whether it’s business rates, National Insurance, skills, price hikes or geopolitics, aren’t going away any time soon,” Deepak concludes.
“But with Sage Intacct, we can clearly understand their impact and plan dynamically, balancing investment against cost pressures. Ultimately, this enables us to continue delivering an exceptional guest experience while driving sustainable performance and profitability for the long term.”
Sage Intacct for Hospitality
Discover how Sage Intacct is helping hospitality finance teams gain real-time visibility, streamline reporting, and plan with confidence in an increasingly complex operating environment. If you’d like to learn more about Sage Intacct, explore our work with hospitality businesses like Heckfield Place, or discuss how we can support your organisation, get in touch with Percipient today or call us on 01606 871332.