{"id":69409,"date":"2022-02-09T13:30:32","date_gmt":"2022-02-09T11:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/?p=69409"},"modified":"2026-01-29T14:22:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T12:22:20","slug":"turning-data-into-strategic-stories-why-finance-leaders-are-moving-to-the-cloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/turning-data-into-strategic-stories-why-finance-leaders-are-moving-to-the-cloud\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning data into strategic stories: Why finance leaders are moving to the cloud"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTechnology & Innovation<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTurning data into strategic stories: Why finance leaders are moving to the cloud\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\tCharlotte Danby<\/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

Finance leaders are navigating interesting times. Their old roles have gained new responsibilities as COVID-19 and digital transformation pressures continue to remodel the working world. The past 18+ months have been a breathless blur of survival strategies compounded by the necessary shift to remote working and online customer engagement \u2013 both of which are here to stay.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the ongoing unpredictability of the COVID-19 virus, its variants, and the global response to it all, finance leaders are struggling to forecast demand and revenue while trying to adapt to the so-called \u2018new normal\u2019. Additionally, the volumes of data that finance functions need to process are exploding, overwhelming teams as they try to pull sense from never-ending streams of numbers, often while battling to access the necessary systems remotely. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During all this unprecedented change, Sage reached out to the South African finance community to better understand the realities its professionals now face. Interestingly, 85% of finance leaders say the increased complexities of their roles is keeping them up at night. This is understandable; new responsibilities bring new risks \u2013 and new expectations. <\/span> <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business leaders are turning to their senior finance decision-makers more and more for insights that will help steer their companies through uncharted waters. This is pushing finance leaders into the spotlight, shifting their focus from number-crunching spreadsheets to strategic storytelling. Under pressure to communicate insights more effectively to stakeholders, finance leaders need to unpuzzle the data and extract its business narrative. And to do that, 91% of senior financial decision-makers agree that <\/span>cloud-based software<\/span><\/a> is the way to go.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sage Intacct<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Discover how Sage Intacct takes the stress away and can make financial management fun and empowering.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFind out how<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The cloud is calling<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On-site software systems simply do not have the brains or brawn to help finance leaders and their teams meet their new mandates \u2013 particularly when reliable remote access is so crucial, cybercrime is a growing concern, and data volumes are so, well, voluminous. Online activities currently create 2.5. quintillion bytes of data every day. To try and put that into perspective, 2.5 quintillion 20c coins (laid out flat on the ground) would cover the Earth\u2019s surface five times. No surprise, then, that 95% of finance leaders say they need better financial technology in their organisations to unpack the data and provide stakeholders with better insights. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, finance teams using on-site software spend most of their time on manual data collection and inputting. What\u2019s more, financial data has a very short shelf-life, so by the time finance leaders have processed it as best they can, the results lack the granularity and relevance needed to turn the numbers into a strategic story for the board. All this data and yet it doesn\u2019t provide sufficient information to guide good business decisions. This is why 89% of businesses using non-cloud-based finance systems plan to shift their operations to the cloud within the next 12 months.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A cloud-based software solution supports finance leaders and their teams by:<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n