The last 12 months has seen IMP Software double in size despite the ongoing impact of Covid-19 on schools. And a “brilliantly resourceful team” has been highlighted as a major factor in their success.
As specialists in the provision of budgeting, financial management, and reporting software for multi-academy trusts (MATs), IMP is now working with 135 MATs and 1,250 schools. And 200 of these came on board in December alone.
The award-winning IMP Planner system helps MATs to co-ordinate their planning and budgeting processes, apply discipline in financial management, and prepare monthly budget monitoring reports. Their system has attracted trusts of all sizes including primary, secondary, and special schools across England.
Crucially, IMP provides time and cost efficiencies by showing an overview of the budget position for trusts as well as individual academies.
“The past year has been a challenging one for many companies working within the education sector. And as MATs are our customer base we always expected some kind of impact. But we are really fortunate to have a brilliantly resourceful team driving our IMP Planner system,” explained IMP Software’s Co-founder, Will Jordan.
“Not only has this seen us exceed our in-year target of supporting 1,000 schools, but we have increased our team by 150% and launched an industry-first awards and recognition programme, the MAT Finance Awards, which has further cemented our market position. We ended 2021 really well and 2022 is going to be a big year for us. The future is really bright if we keep doing what we are doing in the right way.”
Whilst its first three years in operation has shown there is huge interest in IMP’s MAT-focused budgeting, forecasting and reporting software – from all sizes of trust – Will defines the “right way” as continuing its heralded customer-first approach.
“We’ve achieved our success to date by sticking to the basics: we focus on the problems that we solve with our innovative product, and look after our customers. We make sure they get the most value out of our solution,” Will said. “We will continue this approach and these principles into 2022 and beyond: it is what we are as a company and as a group of people. So, first and foremost we want to maintain and increase customer satisfaction. We are targeting another year of 100% customer growth so we must ensure we are meeting our customers’ needs and adapting our services to their feedback.”
Will revealed that IMP’s customers have played a vital role in supporting the company’s growth. “High levels of customer satisfaction and recommendation: people raving about what we do via in-person and online forums is making a real difference,” he said. “We are looking forward to further establishing our position as the strategic financial planning partner to MATs and are having lots of good conversations with Trust finance teams who are excited about our fresh approach to their challenges. Additionally, we plan to launch a second core product alongside our flagship IMP Planner later this year.”
With policy direction indicating further evolution of the MAT sector, IMP Software is also planning to expand its team from 26 to “around 40 people” in the near future. Will said: “It is clear that greater academisation, both through growing MATs and some through an increase in merger approvals, will be a major part of the sector landscape in 2022. Ensuring that we can meet this growth head on, and attracting skilled developers along with top talent in MAT finance, is a major business priority. We are always on the hunt for passionate, bright people.”
Will added that IMP was “proud to have a large team footprint in the South West and to be a part of the growth of tech companies in the region that are operating nationally”. He said: “Our ambition is clear and, whilst it will be a challenge, it is one we are really excited about and feel empowered to deliver.”
Meanwhile, to inform the development of a new sector research report, IMP is seeking MAT Chief Executives, Chief Financial Officers, Chief Operating Officers and Trust business/finance/operations managers to complete its MAT Growth 2022 survey. The deadline for responses is 18th February.
