The finance function, an actor of change in the digital transformation of the company

The digitalization of companies impacts the finance function. Today, the finance function goes far beyond the strict performance of accounting operations. It now participates in the decision-making process and provides advice on investment matters. The digital transformation of the finance department allows companies to optimize their performance by automating routine management tasks and using reliable data that is accessible in real time.

Strategy FINANCE

The Finance blog

The cloud as a tool for modernizing the finance function

A few years ago, investing in new IT tools could legitimately raise some questions. In fact, companies using ERP used to buy software on premise, in order to install it on internal servers.

At each version change, adding functionalities, they had to pay again an operating license without benefiting from notable evolutions. In addition, there was a substantial budget to be spent on the initial installation and maintenance operations.

Today, technology, and therefore CFOs ‘ receptivity to the need for digital transformation, has evolved considerably.

With the arrival of the cloud, more and more companies are choosing to migrate all or part of their ERP to the cloud, well aware of the strong potential of this technological innovation in terms of added value:

  • First, the cloud is an effective way to reduce costs and get rid of recurring updates. Thanks to the development of digitization and process automation that the cloud promotes, the finance department is freed from low-value-added tasks and can thus refocus its work.
  • In addition, with the cloud, companies have a totally isolated and secure environment that can be made permanently accessible to all employees concerned. Data encryption, two-factor authentication, and password controls ensure that users can keep their data secure in the cloud while complying with the most stringent regulations.
  • Finally, the availability of this data facilitates the conduct of periodic inspections. The uniqueness and reliability of the data also enhances the accuracy of forecasts and other cost anticipations.

Oracle’s NETSUITE ERP solution, ranked No. 1 among Cloud ERP solutions, thanks to its broad functional coverage and its architecture based natively on a Business Intelligence platform, enables the management of the entire company through a single 100% Cloud platform and to have indicators, reports and dashboards in real time for steering and making decisions more quickly.

Its particularity of being a SAAS Cloud solution significantly reduces IT maintenance and update costs. It also allows you to have access to the evolutions and new functionalities as they become available. NetSuite provides two major updates per year. When the NetSuite solution evolves and grows, so does your ERP.

CFOs must become technology champions to strengthen analytics

Due to the nature of their business, CFOs have a particular interest in accelerating digital transformation projects. Therefore, they are fully entitled to participate in the management of the “Corporate Data”.

The CFO plays a key role in anticipating and controlling risks. The implementation of a unified financial information system, through the cloud, can significantly reduce the time spent collecting information and complying with various and sometimes illegible security procedures.

Such a system provides reliable data that is updated in real time. It also significantly reduces the risk of errors and fraud. Finally, a unified information system makes audit and consulting missions easier and more accurate.

The CFO will be able to deliver an objective and relevant analysis of the situation, with a graphical visualization of the data for faster decision making.

It can also prescribe the implementation of measures and inform the choices of the general management, prior to the commitment of important investments or strategic decisions: mergers-acquisitions, disposals, creation of organizational entities or branches…

Kyriba’s SaaS solution offers companies a true cloud-based cash management solution. With predictive intelligence capabilities, it helps CFOs find the best balance between growth and risk to achieve better financial results.

Make the circulation of the company’s financial data reliable and secure

Cloud ERP is particularly well suited for international companies as it does not require installing the same software on different servers around the world.

While the cloud facilitates the flow of information between the parent company and foreign-based branches, it also improves collaboration between the finance department and other group departments. Indeed, the finance department must interact with most of the other departments: purchasing, customer service, HR, marketing…

The circulation of financial data between the various divisions is therefore a key issue. With reliable and up-to-date data, each department is armed to develop its strategy, engage in negotiations or identify a potential risk or non-compliance.

The flow of information to operational departments needs to be increased, so that connectivity and experience sharing lead to greater coherence throughout the organization at company or group level.

As far as data security is concerned, the company is exempt from backup and update operations, which are entrusted to its software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider.

The level of security achieved today is prompting many companies to migrate almost all of their data to their “public” cloud, to increase connectivity and thus improve the quality of reporting.

With Axway’s My GL Cloud Migration solution, the CFO is able to address more than just technical migration to the cloud. This complete solution offers agility to the customer, allowing him to reduce costs and delays by automating the tedious tasks of a “classic” data recovery, but also to control at any time the integrity of his data (audit trail, balance queries, reconciliations between the legacy and the new GL).

Cloud My GL will handle the transformation of source data to enrich the new target GL via its 200 standard connectors. This allows it to adapt quickly to any ERP in the cloud. In addition, the existing back-offices will be able to continue to feed the old and new GL, without compromising data loss and ensuring test quality (notably via a double run). Axway’s solution also gives customers the ability to modify the granularity of their accounting key before integrating their data into the target ERP. This avoids him to treat this project separately. A real cost reduction for the company, but also flexibility and the guarantee, via the controls put in place, of the integrity of the data between the source and target systems.

SQORUS assists its major customers in the digitalization of their finance functions. With a functional and technical expertise of the main solutions of the market dedicated to finance, we implement and accompany our customers in all phases of their projects. With consultants certified on solutions such as Oracle, Netsuite, PeopleSoft, Kyriba or Axway, S&H is the preferred integrator of financial solutions on the market.

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