Case Study

Conference of Independent Schools turns to Scalability for transition to remote work

CIS Ontario, an association that represents 48 independent schools in the province, is ahead of the curve in having staff work from home. Even prior to the pandemic, it permanently closed its office – with Scalability’s full suite of cloud-based financial services paving the way.

For CIS Ontario Executive Director Sarah Craig, the shift to virtual offices is all about recruiting the best people possible. “We’re a provincial association and we didn’t want to restrict hiring to one geographic area.”

The Challenge

The association had an office in the Toronto suburb of Whitby. However, that was limiting its ability to attract staff from across Ontario. Bookkeeping was paper-based and time-consuming—at one point, the Executive Director was signing up to 150 cheques a month.

CIS Ontario needed more flexibility and modern systems to better support its member schools.

The Solution

In September 2019, CIS Ontario closed its office and transitioned to remote operations. Scalability supported the shift by:

✅ Migrating their desktop accounting software to Xero and implementing automation tools like Dext.

✅ Setting up digital invoicing and e-transfer payment collection.

✅ Streamlining all bookkeeping into fully paperless workflows.

✅ Providing ongoing support and accounting expertise through a dedicated account manager.

All workflows are now simple, fast, and efficient.

The Results

CIS Ontario is delighted by its transformation to working remotely and to cloud-based bookkeeping with Scalability. Sarah cites the following benefits:

✔ Enabled remote hiring from anywhere in Ontario.

✔ Eliminated office costs—rent, copiers, landlines, and supplies.

✔ Replaced manual cheque signing with fast, digital payments.

✔ The Scalability account manager provides expert advice and is seen as part of the team.

✔ The board’s finance committee audit runs smoothly because all the accounting data is instantly available. There’s no more combing through paper files.

Final Thoughts

CIS Ontario’s move to remote work and cloud-based bookkeeping transformed its operations—and Scalability was a key partner in making it happen.

Looking to modernize your financial operations? Let’s chat.