6 signs your business is ready for a cloud-based accounting solution

Businesses want, and need, more from their finance systems than ever before—and that includes using the most up-to-date and advanced systems found in SaaS and cloud-enabled financial management systems.

Leading businesses have turned their focus to cloud-enabled software because they need flexible and agile financial applications that are relatively easy to implement, configure, and update.

The cloud offers compelling advantages for deploying business software and particularly financial applications. Demand for cloud-based financial applications continues to grow because of the ability to access and analyze massive amounts of data in real time.

 

Check this list of telltale signs your organization is ready for a next-level financial management solution:

1. Your team needs to work remotely. Your entire finance team can work anywhere—in the office, at home, on the move—using only a standard and secure web browser and an internet connection. You don’t need extra security hardware or software, or a VPN connection.

 

2. Your business needs to accelerate financial processes. High ROI and rapid payback are common with cloud applications. In a recent study by Nucleus Research, cloud-based financial management and accounting implementations were found to deliver 3.2 times more ROI than on-premises software.

 

3. Your financial system needs to integrate with other applications. Easy integration comes with the territory in the cloud. APIs and web services enable cloud systems to integrate with one another so your company can use the best applications for each functional area of the business—such as Salesforce.

 

4. Your managers want access to their relevant KPIs. Real-time visibility is a hallmark of today’s cloud systems because you can provide access not only to traditional finance department users, but also to other stakeholders across the business

 

5. Your organization struggles with inefficient processes. The cloud can help you gain company-wide operational efficiencies. You can streamline classic finance processes—such as consolidations and closes. But you can also leverage the Internet to tie in other company functions and processes—for example, you can coordinate purchasing workflows.

 

6. You’re trying to compete with bigger businesses. Your vendor amortizes costs over thousands of customers, so they can maintain world-class infrastructure, operations, support, continuous backups, disaster recovery, and superior security. This offers you a higher level of performance than you could afford on your own and therefore helps you compete more effectively.

 

 

Cloud-based solutions reduce CAPEX and OPEX

 

Considerable financial advantages come from avoiding the capital investments and operating expenses associated with an on-premises system.

 

There’s no upfront cost required to implement a cloud-based solution—only a monthly subscription fee. Operating costs can decrease because the cloud-based software provider is responsible for things like IT support, server maintenance and software updates.

 

As stated earlier, cloud systems also drive higher ROI through time savings and process efficiencies.

 

Easy to rollout, too

 

A cloud financial system can be rolled out incrementally, replacing only core, on-premises financial functions in the first few months or weeks. Over time, new modules, reports, and connections to other systems can be added as needed.

Summary

Ultimately, cloud computing is about capitalizing on a new software delivery model that accelerates payback of a larger ROI and better aligns financial systems with the dynamics of a growing business. A cloud financial system can provide your business with the tools to adapt to and successfully compete in a connected, digital world.