{"id":9950,"date":"2021-06-30T15:22:44","date_gmt":"2021-06-30T19:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/?p=9950"},"modified":"2026-02-12T04:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T09:41:11","slug":"accounting-in-the-cloud-a-customers-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/accounting-in-the-cloud-a-customers-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"Accounting in the cloud: a customer’s perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"Judy\t\t\t\tJudy Hanover<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Cloud technology is revolutionizing the accounting and finance industry, and it is gaining momentum. I recently had the opportunity to moderate a webinar and panel discussion sponsored by Sage Intacct and hosted by IMA<\/span>\u00ae<\/span> (Institute of Management Accountants). The webinar included a panel discussion headlined by <\/span>three Sage Intacct customers and finance leaders, including Elliot Goldman, finance director at Rapid Ratings, Melissa DuVall, finance team lead at Epitec and Ashmi Shah, CFO at Talix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the Sage Intacct customers on our panel, cloud technology has emerged as the solution to numerous business challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic is first among them; while for many businesses the pandemic served as a catalyst to accelerate their move to the cloud, the accounting leaders on our panel had already accomplished the move and were ready to reap the benefits. As the pandemic proceeded, they fully appreciated the importance of real-time reporting and accessibility of financial data from any location at any time.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cloud: The bright light in the pandemic<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As the conversation proceeded, the panelists shed light on how their respective organizations navigated through recent choppy waters and continued to thrive with a modern accounting solution. <\/span>All three panelists, who had previously invested in cloud-accounting software, agreed that the ability to access information from any location proved especially valuable as the pandemic normalized work from home for most employees.   According to Ashmi Shah at Talix,\u201cjust having all of the data at our fingertips made our working processes seamless.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing in the cloud was really vital when the pandemic hit,\u201d Melissa DuVall at Epitec, noted. She believes her team was even more productive than before everyone went remote. \u201cI think we\u2019ll always be in the cloud and now be remote. My team will probably only go back to the office two days per week. Before, that was unheard of. There are definitely going to be lasting changes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elliot stated that his experience was similar to the other panelists. \u201cWe were already paperless because we were on the cloud, so we didn\u2019t miss a beat,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was business as usual.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outgrowing an on-premise solution<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Companies who have not yet moved accounting systems to the cloud report limitations on a day-to-day basis as they outgrow their on-premise solution. These companies are often stuck on an older version of software that is difficult and time consuming to upgrade to access the latest functionality, which may hinder worker productivity or affect the ability to meet changing compliance requirements. In addition, remote access is likely challenging, slow and unreliable. Manual processes may delay AR and AP approvals, and manually generated invoices often lead to rising Days Sales Outstanding (DSO). Without automation, organizations may miss out on data exploration, reporting and actionable analytics as well as the ability to integrate with partner ecosystems.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a company is ready to move to more modern technology, the key points to consider when choosing a Software as a Service (SAAS) cloud accounting vendor were covered in the webinar. Selecting a best-of-breed application that meets key functionality\/capability needs and is cloud native should be a priority, but the partner ecosystem and ease of integration also need to be assessed. Some considerations when looking at cloud ROI and Total Economic Impact (TEI), that were discussed include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n