Released: 11/1/2011

$2,000 Software System Wins Against $200,000 Software System

Red Wing, MN – November 1, 2011– Carisch, Inc., a Minnesota based company that owns and manages 70+ Arby’s® restaurants, has partnered with Red Wing Software to improve and streamline payroll processes for its multiple entities in multiple states. Choosing Red Wing Software’s CenterPoint Payroll has not only saved them an initial cost of around $180,000, it has also helped them greatly improve payroll processes. Ongoing yearly costs are also drastically reduced, weighing in at around $1,000 per year with Red Wing Software as compared with potential yearly costs of $40,000 or more with the higher end systems.

When Carisch found their payroll software of many years at the end of its lifecycle, they began searching for a new system. Starting with the high-end systems, Carisch quickly found that, though the price tag was high, the flexibility they needed still just wasn’t there. Mark Gregory, Carisch CFO, had seen a favorable review of CenterPoint in the CPA Technology Advisor magazine and decided to look into it further.

Since Carisch used a human resources management program in addition to (and separate from) their payroll software, this resulted in double entry of employees into both systems. And with 1,800 employees hired each year, significant time could be saved by streamlining that process. In addition, the company needed a time import function to pull punches from the time clock directly into the payroll system. Red Wing Software was able to accommodate this need by pulling the new employee information into the payroll system directly from the HR system and time clock, so double entry of employee information was eliminated. Carisch also had more than 300 employees whose wages were being garnished. “We were impressed with Red Wing Software’s flexibility in calculating these complex wage garnishments,” says Mark Gregory.

Minimizing the number of screens necessary to complete processes was another crucial feature for Carisch. “There are far fewer screens to get through in CenterPoint in order to get things done,” says Janice Carlson, Carisch Controller, “It’s very user friendly. There are only about six screens to get through in CenterPoint to complete a payroll, and that’s including direct deposit. Some other systems are so polluted with different screens, fields and tabs to get through. CenterPoint helps us get things done faster.” They also liked the simplicity of easily switching from keyboard to mouse functions, to improve efficiency.

Mark and Janice were also pleased with the reporting capability of CenterPoint Payroll. “There are a lot of standard reports available,” says Mark, “But creating your own custom reports is also easy.” Janice expanded by saying, “A payroll system is only as good at the information you can pull out of it. CenterPoint saves us time by making our reporting more efficient.” With Carisch’s legacy payroll system it almost took a programmer to generate a report. The Carisch staff feels that the ad hoc reporting in CenterPoint is probably the software’s major strength.

Carisch decided to go with Red Wing Software and CenterPoint Payroll. The cost for CenterPoint, along with a variety of custom software revisions was around $20,000. While Red Wing Software does not typically offer open source revisions, they made an exception for Carisch, and continue to partner with Carisch for ongoing support and revisions.

“Response times are critical for us,” says Janice, “Our payroll is 100% direct deposit, and we must have the payroll data to the bank before the required cutoff time. So response time was especially crucial when we first started, and continues to be important. We were very pleased to find that Red Wing Software’s customer support always reacts quickly.”

Red Wing Software, Inc., along with its nationwide network of business partners, offers industry-leading service, as well as training, on-site installation and implementation of the software. Their vision is to create the best management software experience through personal support and attention to customers’ business goals.

Red Wing Software, Inc. develops, integrates and supports the accounting and payroll needs of small- to mid-sized businesses, agribusinesses and producers across North America . For more information on Red Wing products, including TurningPoint Accounting, Payroll, CenterPoint ® , Perception Accounting, AgCHEK™ and Cow/Calf, call 1-800-732-9464 or visit www.redwingsoftware.com .

Contact: Stephanie Elsen
Red Wing Software, Inc.
491 Highway19, Red Wing, MN 55066
Phone: 800-732-9464
Fax: 651-388-7950
www.redwingsoftware.com
info@redwingsoftware.com