Platforms hosted in the cloud have helped to transform the way we do business. The ability for complex, business-critical processes to be actioned and accessed securely from anywhere in the world helps organisations be more agile and, increasingly important in the modern world of work, more mobile too.
Cloud-based finance and accounting systems are an important part of that shift, helping to change the way in which organisations can access their important financial information, wherever they are and whenever needed.
If your business is looking to form a business case for making a switch towards a cloud-based finance and accounting system, here are five key benefits to help form your proposal.
One of the core issues with traditional finance and accounting methods is that, especially for multinational organisations or businesses with numerous outlets and revenue sources, it can be a clunky process to bring data together into one place.
With cloud-based finance software, organisations can centralise and integrate all their revenue streams into one single source of financial truth. This helps to improve the accuracy of data being assessed, as well as making sure any business decisions are being made using the most up-to-date financial information available.
Learn more about how real-time financial data can benefit your business here.
The office is no longer the primary location by which business is done. As the world of work shifts to an increasingly flexible and remote way of working, organisational infrastructure has adapted to ensure that key stakeholders can access the data, information, planning and communications platforms they need from wherever, and whenever, they are.
The shift to cloud-based technologies has increased the risk of data leaks and breaches. However, with increasingly-popular tools including single-sign-on and two-factor authentication, organisations can give tiered access to their financial systems based on who needs to be able to access what in a secure way.
Getting different business systems to talk to each other used to be an expensive headache for organisations to try and figure out. However, the new breed of cloud-based finance and accounting platforms are built with native integrations that are ready to launch in just a few clicks.
This means that organisations can create a network of business-critical tools that seamlessly align with one another. Your CRM can integrate directly with your finance software to generate invoices or predict cash flows, and your project management platform can automatically add billable hours to client accounts.
Download now: Choosing the right finance software for your business
Wider integrations with payroll software, including important employee features like being able to book time off, can also be built in.
40 years ago, if you would have tasked a software development firm to create a platform with all the features you’d expect as standard from a finance and accounting package today, you’d be running up a bill larger than most businesses turnover in a year.
The cost efficiency of cloud-based finance and accounting systems is perhaps their most attractive benefit. The SaaS business model has enabled millions of companies to harness market-leading technological capabilities across all areas of their business, without any initial outlay, and with affordable monthly payments.
As your organisation grows and changes, a cloud-based finance and accounting system can change with you.
This means that internal finance teams don’t need to periodically change processes and learn a new platform as soon as your business grows – the same platform can, typically, adapt to meet those challenges.
The pricing models of many finance platforms also means that you only need to pay for what you need right now. For a small business with one revenue stream, that can mean core functionality. As your business grows to numerous locations, shop fronts and a global employee base, your platform can expand to include all the multi-lingual, multi-currency features you need.
One of the big reasons why organisations don’t make the shift to cloud-based finance operations, or indeed upgrade from an increasingly outdated and limited platform, is the perceived time and cost of doing so.
Planning key features and integrations plus any potential future requirements, and then searching the market for the right solution, can seem daunting. Managing data transfers from one system to another and upskilling internal staff to a new platform can also cause issues.
At Phase 3, we help organisations to mitigate all of these potential headaches by doing the legwork for you.
Our system selection service has helped hundreds of firms to identify and adopt the right platform for their needs right now, and also their potential future requirements – all at the first time of asking.
And once the right solution has been identified, our financial implementation specialists lead on the technical implementation of your new system, from data management and quality assurance, to implementation review and testing support.
The benefits of upgrading to a market-leading, cloud-based finance and account system are clear, so don’t let a lack of internal resource get in the way of making the switch.
Learn more about our financial implementation support services here.
Laura’s role as Head of Marketing sees her continually looking for new opportunities to tell the world how great Phase 3 is.
