For a company with over 7,000 employees and various assets under its purview, from buildings to warehouses, cars, and compressors distributed across the country, management can be a gigantic task involving hundreds of contracts and Excel files, dates that must be remembered, payments in different currencies that have to be controlled, and reports that must be generated on time.

This is the story of how Grupo Gondi integrated a simple and intuitive solution that saved its employees hundreds of hours of manual processes. They had access to all the information in their native language and enjoyed automatic compliance with lease legislation NIIF 16 (derived from the international regulation IFRS 16).

Grupo Gondi is a leading Mexican paper and packaging corporation that manages hundreds of master contracts with multiple additional pieces of documentation, attachments and appendices, adding to the complexity. As a result, lease management became complicated, involving an increasing number of people in the company to manage the process. “Before adopting Nakisa’s solution, we managed all the information in Excel files. Soon, we were facing such a daunting volume of operations that directors started looking for solutions,” said accounting analyst Francisco Javier Chavez Espinosa, one of the first at Grupo Gondi to hear about Nakisa.

Optimizing operations and saying goodbye to spreadsheets

From comptroller Marisol Gutiérrez Rojas’ point of view: “We were looking for ways to optimize time and stop the needless pencil-pushing.” NIIF 16 has changed the lease accounting standards for public and international companies listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange. Complying with this regulation is no easy task.

“In the past, it took half an hour to check a contract or generate an accounting record. It can now be done in two minutes”

Francisco Javier Chavez Espinosa, accounting analyst

Implementing Nakisa Lease Administration was key for Grupo Gondi. “In the past, it took half an hour to check a contract or generate an accounting record. It can now be done in two minutes,” illustrated Espinosa. Rojas added: “Nakisa Lease Administration accounts for everything this regulation (NIIF 16) demands out of the box. We simply type in the contract data and the tool gives us the records and data tables that we need.”

She also pointed out another advantage that tipped the scales in favor of Nakisa: It was one of the few solutions on the market available in several languages, including Spanish.

After signing with Nakisa, it was time to migrate all the information into the solution and learn how to use the tool. These tasks were of utmost importance for Grupo Gondi.

“I feared that implementing the system and mastering the platform would be very difficult. We had little time. Fortunately, Nakisa’s team was there to train us and never left us in the dark,” Espinosa pointed out. “The numbers make us feel 100% confident that the information we enter into the system is correct,” said the analyst. “It is a very precise tool.”

For Espinosa and Rojas, the support of Nakisa’s team has provided a great advantage. “They were always present, and they are still there for us despite the implementation contract being finalized. We can rely on them for quick answers to all our questions.”

An easy-to-use tool

Rojas points out that the platform’s ease of use is one of many benefits the team enjoys. “There are many things that we like. For instance, Nakisa allows us to put postings on standby while we perform other tasks.”

“The numbers make us feel 100% confident that the information we enter into the system is correct. It is a very precise tool”

– Valerie Leffray, Global Business & Functions Director

Grupo Gondi’s contracts are listed in various currencies with different types of interest, a problem that was solved thanks to Nakisa Lease Administration. “Definitely, the accounting records are the same. It only takes a moment to record the contracts you need, and obtaining all the reports and information is easy,” said Espinosa.

Another great advantage of Nakisa’s solution, according to him, is how easy it is to generate, send, and read reports. “It is not necessary to know how the platform operates. Anyone will immediately be able to use it, and it perfectly adjusts to the user’s needs.”

The analyst believes that the company’s newfound planning and forecasting abilities will be key for further time optimization. “Our accounting colleagues at the plant already have a visualization of everything that will happen throughout the life of the contract. They have undoubtedly helped us to optimize timelines and anticipate events,” he adds.

“They (Nakisa) were always present, and they are still there for us despite the implementation contract being finalized. We can rely on them for quick answers to all our questions”

Francisco Javier Chavez Espinosa, accounting analyst

One of the advantages of modern cloud-native software is backup and recovery capabilities that protect data and also provide failover protection. Grupo Gondi found themselves in a situation that could have resulted in significant delays, if they were still using on-premise or legacy, retrofit cloud technology. When sharing, Francisco remembered the words from Nakisa’s response team: “’Relax, the system can be reset, no problem.’ And they did it,” explains Espinosa. The situation was quickly resolved and Grupo Gondi was able to ensure their critical go-live timelines. A great relief for the team, which now knows that with Nakisa “There is always backup for anything that could happen. There is a copy stored in the cloud, and that changes everything,” Espinosa concluded.