Meet Team PKF SCS: Sage Consultant

Support, Sales, Consultancy, Marketing and Development. These are more than just departments at PKF Smith Cooper Systems – they are teams of people that have brought the company to where it is today.

Many of you may not have interacted with any of these departments or you may have interacted with them all! Either way, this series is intended to introduce you to the people behind the titles and give you insight into the people who make up Team PKF SCS.

Today, we’re hearing from Diane Leverick, one of our Sage Consultants.

Keep reading to find out more about Richard and how her PKF SCS journey began.

We have also featured a range of other team members, so to catch up on our past articles click here.

How did your journey with PKF SCS start?

It really began for me when I was an end user for a company back in 2007. Richard Brewster implemented Sage 50 for us as part of the migration away from Pegasus. From here, I started to realise I had an interest and flair for software so I paid attention to how Richard modified some of the Sage reports.

I moved companies a couple of years later; part of my new role was to lead the Sage 50 to Sage 200 migration project, so I got the chance again to work with Richard and was inspired by his knowledge.

A few years later, I began working as an independent contractor on various finance/software projects and stayed in touch with Richard, either to bring PKF Smith Cooper in on projects or vice versa.

Joining PKF Smith Cooper was a natural progression and a great fit for my skill set, which fits in perfectly with maintaining the ethos of what PKF Smith Cooper is all about.

What does the role of a Sage Consultant entail?

Ultimately ensuring the customers’ requirements are met in the most suitable way, whilst managing expectations and making recommendations. Generally, we must gain an understanding of the customer’s business, configure the software to work as efficiently as possible, and then guide the customer around using the software.

Did you always want to work within software, specifically within Sage?

I became a natural with software from the age of around 30; I had dealings with various software packages within the finance and operations functions of organisations. For the periods where Sage was not a package that was used, I did miss it. Moving forward, I decided that any software-related roles would need to have a Sage requirement. It takes years to build up the knowledge and I’m not getting any younger!

How is working at PKF SCS different from working for other companies?

I enjoy the variety whilst being able to utilise my skill set and strengths. Like many other consultants out there, part of our job is to travel, and sometimes these can be long distances away from home. As a Mum, this can be challenging at times, but PKF Smith Cooper has shown they are willing to accommodate that in order to make it work for us both. 

What is the biggest challenge you’ve experienced working for PKF SCS?

There have been many challenges, but probably the most common one is fulfilling the role of Project Manager and keeping on track with multiple sizeable project progress when there are no gaps between different projects allocated the next day.

That is all for this time around, thank you very much for reading and a huge thank you to Diane for sparing the time to answer our questions!