Financial Management White Papers and Demos

SaaS does not spare customers the need to ask vendors the same questions about service levels, costs, and other issues that they would ask themselves if they were planning on-premise implementations. Of the nine questions customers should ask about SaaS, seven also apply to on-premise deployment. However, the issues of changing needs prompt two more questions unique to SaaS.

This paper, based on the experience and best practice established by early adopters, sets out a framework for deciding on and implementing on-demand ERP within enterprises of 250 employees or more, or in divisions within a larger enterprise. The paper will examine key concerns such as data integrity in enterprise systems, maintaining compliance and ensuring proper process management, as well as discussing new skills and approaches to help maximize returns on investment.

The investment of money, time and change in processes that come with a software implementation has a profound impact on any company, making it imperative that the right product and service provider are identified during the selection process.

Businesses of all sizes and in all industries are finding it difficult and costly to continue to update and modify enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems after they have been installed. The initial investment to acquire and implement an ERP system is substantial. But even after the system is up and running, the costs continue to mount as the business evolves, requiring the ERP system to evolve as well to keep pace.

Adoption of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) sales model is accelerating at a phenomenal rate in the region, changing the way vendors do business and the way organisations use software. SaaS has been one of the IT industry’s hottest buzzwords over the past couple of years, and for many good reasons. The ease of use, rapid deployment, limited upfront investment in capital and staffing, plus a reduction in software management responsibility all make SaaS a desirable alternative to on-site solutions.

The leaders of Finance are more and more becoming leaders of their companies. By no means are CFOs, controllers, or VPs of Finance taking over corporate leadership en masse. But they are increasingly being charged with being a part of that leadership, strategically and tactically. Internally, Finance as a department or group is responsible for the most critical aspects of any firm. Externally, Finance is the face of the firm to regulators, lenders, partners and, in many cases, the public at large. In severe economic situations, Finance has the responsibility for establishing, managing, or restoring public trust in a firm.

In the business world, customers are faced with an overabundance of enterprise software choices. The selection of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution is a critical decision that could provide numerous benefits or be less than an optimal selection. As ERP sales professionals, it is our job to offer potential customers the expert guidance needed to ensure that the right ERP solution is determined and selected based on the client’s needs.

Today's enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are challenged to provide the architectural agility necessary to support businesses in a high-change, global environment (e.g., to accommodate merger and acquisition [M&A] activity, new financial or regulatory requirements, organizational restructuring, or new business processes). A recent IDC survey shows that the negative impact of business disruptions attached to ERP modifications is simply too high: a 20.9% decline in stock price, a 14.3% revenue loss due to delayed product launches, and a 16.6% decline in customer satisfaction.

Entry level Accounting products such as MYOB and Quickbooks are great for businesses of a certain size – and up to a point. When a business is growing, adding employees, increasing the number of transactions they process and is becoming more complex, it needs a more robust business system.