Financial data is the last to go into the cloud - isn't it? Not as much as it seems. But if you are selecting then why and what should you be looking at?

1. Dennis Howlett
Finance in the cloud:
The no-nonsense business case
‣ 13th June, 2011
AccMan

2. yesterday...
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3. today...
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4. What I really do....
beep!
and I suspect you do too...
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5. My mission...today
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6. Your mission
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7. ...which means...
...are you surprised?
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8. ...which also means...
...and many battles
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9. Hit ‘em with this
Finance - yay !!
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10. They’ll come back with this
Finance - boo !!
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11. Which is when you have to remind yourself...
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12. And point out the stupidity of the argument
Ranked no.1 in category for most admired companies - Forbes 2011
Online filing is now mandatory (jokes aside about effectiveness)
If it’s good enough for them why not us?
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13. Or perhaps emphasis pioneer comments?
92% said that they felt SaaS solutions
were very secure
AccMan survey, 8th June 2011
If it’s good enough for them why not us?
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14. ...and the money men
raises $12.3 million
“Cloud computing is fundamentally altering the landscape of the financial
applications market and Intacct is well positioned to be the dominant
provider of cloud financial management and accounting software for mid-
market companies and CPA firms.”
Jim Simons, managing director at Split Rock Partners - 9th June, 2011
If it’s good enough for them why not us?
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15. ...and later this week
If it’s good enough for them why not us?
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16. Why go to the cloud for accounting?
‣ Improve the billing process - 50%
‣ Fast track implementation for new venture - 20%
‣ Requirement to reduce IT investments (capex) - 18%
‣ Required systems refresh with limited IT resource - 18%
results from survey data among those who have invested
do more with less and do it better
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17. Why go to the cloud for accounting?
‣ Cost reduction etc...yeah, yeah, yeah
‣ Easy to extend - seriously !!
‣ Flexibility - meter up or down (if you negotiate carefully)
‣ Deliver value quickly - no forced march
‣ No more upgrade hell
‣ Re-engineering the business for value
get something you can’t get today
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18. Is that it?
“The company is quite literally a business that would not be possible
on its current scale without the cloud. This is what business
transformation is really about — not incremental improvements in
performance, but being able to do things that simply were not
possible before the cloud existed.”
Phil Wainewright talking about m62 visualcommunications
do something you can’t do today
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19. Why the cloud makes a difference
‣ Forces agility
‣ Gives you reach
‣ Dissolves time, space and geography
‣ Provides opportunities to re-invent without disruption
‣ Makes competitive comparison easier
‣ Offers the potential for work to become fun - seriously
I would not be here but for the cloud
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20. On-prem v cloud differences
On-prem Cloud
Avoid change Embrace change
Lagging innovation Leading innovation
IT project Functional review only
Long upgrade cycle Short/no upgrade cycle
Lack of commonality Lots of commonality
a different way of thinking
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21. Finance and CRM
CRM
Finance
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22. Finance and CRM: benefits
CRM
★transparency into a/cs
★automated oppty to cash
★improved cust sat
Finance
★automated billings
★no manual rekeying
★improved DSO
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23. ...and when they object..show ‘em this
n(n-1)2
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24. Organisational benefits
“apps not only share the same language but can share the
same culture”
Jeremy Roche, CEO FinancialForce.com
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25. So what about the E2.0 aspect?
Updating a project total
Creating an opportunity
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26. So what about the E2.0 aspect?
Large deals notification
Dashboard data
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27. Even SAP is doing it
CRM/financial data
Social data
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28. OK, OK, I get it but who’s doing it?
‣ FreshBooks - 1 million + customers
‣ Xero - x2 cust nos in 2010>11 to 36,000, x3 revs
‣ KashFlow - x2 revenue 2009>2010
‣ NetSuite more than 10K orgs, $200 mill revs
‣ SAP closing 100 customers/month with ByDesign
‣ Workday - coming to market with cloud fins, expects to x2
bookings ($320-350 mill?) 2011>2012
...it is too big to be ignored
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29. What you can do
‣ Almost no-one does the math
‣ Almost no one tries to understand
the real costs
‣ CIMA members are well positioned
to undertake the work
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30. The question you have to answer?
OR
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31. I hope this guides your thinking
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32. ...and to help you along the way
The Comprehensive SAP Business ByDesign Report
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33. Dennis Howlett
Thank
You !!
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34. Dennis Howlett
Contact
‣ email: dahowlett@gmail.com
‣ Twitter: http://twitter.com/dahowlett
‣ Skype/Facebook/LinkedIn: dahowlett
‣ tel: +34 607 482 739
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