Client story: Sandstone Technology

Founded by ex-IBM staffers, Robert Hall and Violet Yu, Sandstone Technology has forged a formidable presence in the tech industry since its humble beginnings. 

With a head office in Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary in the UK, and a branch office in the Philippines, the company was first established in 1996 in a private home based in Sydney.

Remaining privately owned and operated, Sandstone Technology has grown from two staff members to over 300, serving more than 30 financial institutions globally.  

Emily Abad, Head of Finance for Sandstone Technology, has been fortunate to witness that growth first-hand, having been with the company for well over 10 years. 

We asked Emily to share her experience with Sandstone Technology, revisiting the journey so far and what’s on the horizon…

What does your team do at Sandstone Technology?

My team manages all the financial tax and statutory requirements across the company, including the subsidiary and branch office. 

We work with the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Shankar Balasubramaniam, who also oversees our compliance, legal, risk, and operational excellence teams. 

What were you doing before joining Sandstone Technology?

I actually worked for a Big 4 consulting firm and came to know Sandstone Technology through my role there. The people were very nice, and when the opportunity came up to join them, I found myself excited to be part of an internal finance team. 

Before launching Sandstone Technology, Robert and Violet were software engineers at a global tech firm. They spotted a gap in digital banking and lending, and set out to close it. I found their story, and what they had already achieved, very inspiring.  

What was it like to watch their growth over the years?

When I started in the finance team over a decade ago, it was just the CFO and one other person. Now we’re a much larger team, and revenue has more than doubled.

I’ve enjoyed watching new customers come onboard, and the evolution of our products. We have a core product base, and innovate around that so we are always solving our clients’ challenges. Our Chief Executive Officer is very passionate about the product side and has been a driving force of innovation.

Can you tell us more about Sandstone Technology’s core product line?

All of our products are designed to address key challenges in the financial services sector. 

One of our flagship products, Apply and LendFast, streamlines the loan application process from application submission through to settlement. It automates credit assessments, application workflow, document management, and decision making so institutions can have faster and more efficient loan services.

Our popular digital banking platforms include both internet banking and mobile banking apps which enable our customers to provide a seamless and secure digital banking experience for their customers – anywhere, anytime, and on any device. 

We have also recently invested in digital origination, with lead generation and application capture across all banking product lines. This helps financial institutions to digitise highly manual processes through semi-automation.  

How has RSM supported Sandstone Technology on its journey?

RSM manages our research and development (R&D) tax claims. The R&D tax incentive is so important to us because we use the return to support ongoing innovation.

Before RSM, we did the R&D tax assessments ourselves with guidance from consultants. Having RSM manage everything for us resulted in a record return last year. It was a credit to Peter Xi and his team, who have so much knowledge about R&D tax and eligibility. 

They helped us establish proper processes – such as developing an investment register. They also engaged with every department to flush out the specific R&D activities they’d done, and conducted whiteboard sessions which helped us understand how much had gone into R&D that year. 

We were so pleased with their services that we shifted our audit team to RSM after Peter introduced us. Now we’re exploring how RSM can assist with tax, and if we can leverage their local presence in the UK and Philippines to ensure our teams there have local support when they need it. 

What’s it like to work with the RSM team?

The partnership with RSM has been great on both sides. We’re very happy with the approach they’ve taken, and the attitude and care they show. 

Peter, Jessie Lin, and the team is very flexible during the R&D process. They work around everyone’s busy schedules to ensure they have sufficient time to draw out all the information needed to complete our tax claim. 

An unexpected benefit of this attention to detail is we now have a much better gage on R&D activities across our business. For example, how much are we really spending and is it sufficient? If we’re working on something that’s not billable, is it adding real value?

Being able to ask and answer questions like these helps us in so many ways.

What’s next for Sandstone Technology?

Our key focus right now is efficiency and innovation. Being more efficient gives us more time for innovation. So we’re implementing a number of internal systems to drive efficiency and keep us at the forefront of compliance, which is particularly important in our sector. 

On the product side, our lending platform has really taken off. Building in-house technology requires a large investment to not only build out the solution, but also support and maintain those platforms. That’s where our strength lies – providing best-practice technology with the support required to maintain integrity across the banking system. We want clients to have the best possible tech out-of-the-box so customisations and time to implement are minimal. 

What’s next for Sandstone Technology?

The people. Here, you have direct contact with everyone and they’re very genuine. During the pandemic, the shift to digital collaboration brought us even closer together across the different departments and countries. 

We have really good retention here too – I’m not the only one who has been here for over 10 years. The relationships you form with people who’ve taken a similar journey to you are very special. 
 

Reach out to the RSM R&D Tax Team for guidance and support for your business.