The Sky’s the Limit: Finance is Moving to the Cloud
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Transcript of The Sky’s the Limit: Finance is Moving to the Cloud
The Sky’s the Limit: Finance is Moving to the Cloud
Introductions
2
Jeannie Martinez Director, MorganFranklin Consulting
Jeannie serves as a Director within MorganFranklin’s
Performance Improvement practice, bringing more
than 13 years of experience working with some of the
world’s largest corporations. She has spent her career
working with client CFOs and finance executives to
transform and redesign their organizations, processes,
and tools, enabling finance to better serve as a valued
business partner. Jeannie has experience leading
process improvement, close optimization, planning
and forecasting redesign, consolidation, planning and
reporting tool implementations, finance transformation,
operating model design, shared services
implementations, mergers, divestitures, and
integrations across the Americas and in Europe.
Brad Rhoderick Director, MorganFranklin Consulting
Brad serves as a Director within MorganFranklin’s
Performance Improvement practice and has advised
executives on a variety of strategic initiatives, including
business process redesign, management reporting,
and strategic planning. Brad has a well-rounded
finance functional background and has successfully
led accounting and management reporting system
implementations. He has deep experience in all stages
of the project life cycle and has served both public and
private companies in a variety of industries, including
consumer products, government contracting, financial
services, and manufacturing.
For more information contact [email protected]
3
MorganFranklin is an execution-oriented business consulting and technology solutions company.
We deliver financial management, performance improvement, and technology enablement solutions to
industry and government clients.
Business Facts
• Founded in 1998
• Headquartered in Washington, D.C.
• European operations established in London in 2007
• National presence and international reach
• Diverse full-time workforce comprised of industry, global consulting, Big Four,
and government professionals
• Technical excellence: CPA, CIA, CISA, CISSP, MCSE, RCDD, MBA, Ph.D., PMP
• Fast access to a powerful network of trusted partners with solid industry experience
• Unique blend of industry and government clients
• Industry recognition as a top consulting firm in the U.S.
• Recognized for industry-leading workplace best practices
About MorganFranklin
Agenda
4
• Overview of “on-premise” and “cloud”
• Marketplace trends
• Evaluating on-premise versus cloud-based solutions
• Value of an implementation partner
• Next steps
• Q&A
Finance solutions are now available in both traditional on-premise and cloud-based
applications
5
On-Premise
Cloud-Based
Solution that resides and is maintained
on-site for an organization
Solution supported by resources that
resides off-site and is accessible via a
network
Cloud-based solutions can be made up of any combination of environments and services
6
En
vir
on
men
t
Private/
Single Tenant
Public/ Multi-Tenant
• Cloud computing is highly secured and used by a single
organization
• Cloud computing is highly scalable and used by multiple
organizations to achieve economies of scale
Hybrid • Cloud solution utilizes a combination of private and public
environments (e.g., public for a collaboration tool but private
for a finance application)
Cloud-based solutions can be made up of any combination of environments and services
(continued)
7
Serv
ices
Software as a
Service (SaaS) • Subscription-based applications for functional users that
are owned and maintained by a third-party provider (e.g.,
SharePoint)
Platform as a
Service (PaaS)
Infrastructure as a
Service (IaaS)
• Subscription-based or on-demand application infrastructure
(e.g., operating system)
• Subscription-based or on-demand network and storage
services (e.g., virtual machines)
The remainder of the presentation will focus on SaaS, as this is the primary
service to consider when looking at finance solutions (e.g., Corporate Performance
Management)
A recent survey by the Everest Group on SaaS revealed unique trends in finance
solutions
8
• 78% of respondents have adopted or plan to adopt SaaS
• 70% of respondents prefer a private cloud environment for finance applications versus
48% for collaboration applications
• The top three considerations for a cloud strategy were:
• Data security
• Application performance
• Infrastructure variability/resilience
Source: Everest Group, Enterprise Cloud Adoption Survey, March 2013
“2013 will be the year that we start addressing the real drawbacks of cloud computing—the
challenges of scale, complexity, and change—rather than fixating on its supposed
drawbacks such as security, compliance, and SLAs.”
– Bernard Golden, CIO.com
According to Korn/Ferry Institute’s 2013 CFO Pulse Survey, CFOs overwhelming state
interest in big data and predictive analytics, yet list their organizations’ talent as a top
challenge
Source: Korn/Ferry Institute, 2013 CFO Pulse Survey
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
49%
8% 8%
2%
32%
INC
RE
AS
E
CFOs Plan to Increase the Use of Predictive Analytics & Big Data
0%
20%
40%
60%
5%
38%
19%
52%
25% 25%
47%
SA
LE
S
Many Restless Nights From...
Cloud-based solutions for finance can bridge the talent gap and reduce IT administrative
costs
Almost all of the most reputable providers of finance solutions now play in the cloud
Source: Gartner Magic Quadrant for Corporate Performance Management, February 2013
“There has been increased traction for
SaaS-based applications within mid-market
organizations and, more recently, for larger
Tier 1 organizations. Gartner expects this
trend to continue and has elevated the
importance of CPM cloud capabilities for CPM
suite vendors.”
– Gartner Report
Completeness of Vision
Ab
ility
to
Exe
cu
te
Niche Players Visionaries
Challengers Leaders
SaaS only provider
On-premise only provider
On- and off-premise provider
Oracle SAP
IBM
Host Analytics
Tagetik Longview
SAS
Infor
Prophix Software
Board International
prevero
KCI Computing
Bitam
When deciding between on-premise and SaaS for a finance solution, there are several
characteristics to consider:
Cost-Effectiveness
Data Security
Scalability
Access to
Community
Ability to
Customize
Maintenance-Free
High Medium Low
Scale and complexity are two criteria that often dictate whether organizations choose
on-premise versus SaaS solutions
Scale C
om
ple
xit
y
Lower Risk Higher Risk
Two different organizational profiles:
1. Large Multinational Organization:
Traditionally more likely to consider an on-
premise solution, given the customization
required to address highly complex business
processes.
2. Mid-Market Service Provider: Likely to
consider SaaS, given a more standard
business model and desire to take advantage
of economies of scale.
An implementation partner can drive critical, value-add activities beyond technical
configuration and documentation
Design & Build Test & Deploy Deliver
• Current-State Technical
Assessment
• Technical Project Plan
• Business Requirements
Definition
• Configure and/or Tailor
Solution
Plan & Analyze
• Test Execution and Issue
Resolution
• Knowledge Transfer
• Current-State Process
Assessment
• Industry and Solution
Expertise
• Implementation Roadmap
Development
• Quality Improvement
• Data Migration Planning
• Focus on End-User
Impact
• End-User Training
Development
• Change Management
and Stakeholder
Communication
• User Acceptance Testing
• Readiness and
Deployment Planning
Core
Configuration
Implementation
Partner Focus
• Software Handoff and
Activation
• Project Readiness
Documentation
If I’m interested in a cloud-based finance solution, what do I do next?
It is important that every organization think through the following questions before determining
if a cloud-based finance solution is right for them:
1. Cost—What is the true cost of moving to a cloud-based solution?
2. Process Standardization—Has your organization standardized core finance processes?
If not, a cloud-based solution will escalate this need.
3. IT Capabilities—Is your IT function equipped with the necessary resources and skill sets
to manage an on-site, owned solution? If not, a cloud-based solution can alleviate that
concern.
4. 5-Year Outlook—Do you expect major changes to your business model or the necessary
finance support within the next 5 years? If so, it may not be worth the expense of migrating
to a cloud-based solution.