Accenture SaaS Financial Applications

The Sky Is the Limit:
Finance is Moving to the Cloud
August 2013

Agenda
Finance Technology Trends
Drivers of SaaS Adoption
Implementing SaaS
Accenture’s Point of View

Copyright © 2013 Accenture All Rights Reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.

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Accenture Finance Study
Leveraging technology
to address new and
changing regulation

Reliable (global)
harmonized
Financial systems

• 53% of Finance Executives indicated regulation as the most pressing environmental challenge facing Finance
organization in comparison to permanent volatility, data, and talent.

• 55% of Finance Executives devoting resources for technology and capability development to address
regulation challenges

• 43% of masters and 34% of non-masters Implementing or expanding their ERP systems in the next two years
• Medium to large global enterprises are now choosing Finance SaaS for Core Financials (accelerated
implementation, potential lower total cost of ownership, continual innovation, improved user interface)

• Leaders implement in conjunction with integrated business services or expand existing integrated business
services

• Investing in standard and advanced enterprise performance management capabilities (43% of masters and

Add value through
strategic applications

31% of non-masters)

• 39% of respondents Implementing or enhancing processes and systems to address governance, regulatory
and compliance
• Continued focus on advanced and integrated risk management processes and technologies
• Deploying new workforce management programs and related technologies

• Growing demand for analytics and technologies to turn data into forward-looking insight that enable business
Harvest benefits
from technology

•

leaders to make fast, confident decisions
Continued efforts to drive cost and productivity improvements across core finance operations equipping
them with the time, tools and information to be a valued partner to senior business executives

Source: Accenture 2011 High Performance Finance Study

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Finance IT Trends and Implications
Trends
demanded by Business Users

Implications
to the Finance IT Infrastructure

• The need to continually cost optimize the
operations

• The emergence of the Cloud creates a
significant challenge to existing
Governance processes

• Demonstrate value back to the business
– speed to market, service availability
• An infrastructure that can scale up and
down against business demand

• Moving away from a single ERP solution to
selective ‘best of breed’

• Move to a variable cost model rather than
static

• There is a need for an end to end service
management function or integration
capability

• Intuitive, easy-to-use applications that
work anywhere from any device.

• Financial Management is more complex
as a result of multiple ERP systems

© Copyright Gartner, Source: The Impact of the Cloud on Architecting an ERP Solution by Pat Phelan, August, 2012


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Agile Applications

More
Internal

• Higher cost (pay up front)
• Specialization Availability (Region/Industry)
• Traditional solutions (Greater product functionality
depth and reference customers)
• Mostly In-sourcing

Global Enterprise
Finance Applications

• Lower cost (subscription or “fixed”
pricing)
Less
• Speed of implementation
Internal
• Emerging solutions
• Outsourcing

Cloud Finance
Applications

SaaS Finance
Applications

The new Business Transformation Themes:
Agile Finance Solutions bringing “lights-on” capabilities in less time than before.
Less internal and more reliance on external solutions and providers.


5

Agenda
Implementing SaaS


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Cloud/SaaS Overview
Why?
Simple

Clear Structure

Many SaaS UIs are designed with simplicity in
mind, so that the user doesn´t feel
overwhelmed with the amount and complexity
of content often present in ERP UIs.

Less complex and more coherent is the
navigation. SaaS applications follow web
design principles, which most people are
now comfortable navigating.

Efficient
Many SaaS UIs are designed to
allow the user to complete the
tasks with a minimum of actions
allowing him to work with what he
knows

Clear
Structure

Efficient

Intuitive

Understand the application´s
users and their work context

Simple
Engaging

Intuitive

Supportive

Accessible

Engaging
Users want to login to the
application and do his or her
tasks, Users feel in control and
comfortable using SaaS solutions

Accessible
Many SaaS applications are available on
mobile devices, available when and where
users need it.


Supportive
Provide effective support during
the task completion, and report
to the user what is happening in
a simple way

7

Cloud/SaaS Overview
Adoption Trends
First Movers

Second Movers

Annual Revenue

< $750M

$750M - $2B

> 2B

Region

North America,
Europe, Japan

Australia, China,
and Brazil

Most other
territories

Industry
Example

Software, Consulting
Services, Supplier
Networks, and Light
Manufacturing

Retail and
Healthcare

Late Adopters

Continuous process
manufacturing

Current
State


8

Why are organizations considering the cloud for EPM?
Cost
reduction

•
•
•
•

Elasticity/
scalability

• Capacity only when you need it
• Ability to handle sudden load changes
• Achieve high business agility

Speed to
market

• Reduction of time to pilot and test projects
• Faster availability to customers
• Software updates included with service

High
performance
computing

• Increased capacity from your current physical
infrastructure
• Avoid provisioning (and paying) for the peak
• “Infinite” computing capacity on demand

Lower capital and operational costs
Lower maintenance and energy costs
Pay as you go
OPEX costs in place of CAPEX


9

Agenda
Implementing SaaS


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On-Premise and SaaS Compared
Overview
SaaS (Software as a Service)

Software On-Premise

Customers pay subscription fee per seat/user and module

Customers pay perpetual license fee

No hardware and upgrade fees are incurred, and generally,
total cost of ownership is lower.

Customers own and must operate the software with their own
resources (or via a third party). Additional costs apply for
hardware, maintenance and upgrades of the system.

The vendor releases patches, functionality enhancements or
full upgrades, so that the customer solution will be
automatically updated at no additional cost

Enhancement patches and release upgrade must be done by
the customer or a third party

Technology platform is hosted and operated by the vendor
via Web access

Hardware and software are installed at the customer
premises (company asset)

The application is typically offered in a multi-tenant architecture
with all of the vendor’s customers accessing a single code
base

The implemented solution is supported and operated by the
customer

Lower one off implementation cost, quicker implementation
cycle

Higher one off implementation cost, longer implementation
cycle

Most Best of Breed providers follow a clear SaaS model

Most “classic” ERP providers follow a clear “on-premise”
model


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Key Differences In SaaS Implementations
Iterative vs. Waterfall Methodology
Configuration vs. Customization

Implications
• Need strong project management to
control scope and timeline

Product Release Strategy

• Business owners need to be clearly
identified and empowered to make
decisions on the spot

Tenant Management

• More real-time involvement from the
business

Implementation Team Composition

• Increased Change Management
effort up front


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Implications


• Can more readily drive adoption of
standardized processes and leading
practices

Tenant Management

• Adopt the solution capabilities, or
create a work around rather than
customize
• Requires strong change
management discipline earlier in the
project


13


Implications


• Highly likely to experience a midimplementation product release /
upgrade

Tenant Management

• Need to determine strategy to
understand impacts of frequent
product releases and determine how
to address

• Plan to incorporate as part of iterative
proto-typing where key functionality

is anticipated


14


Implications


• “New” activity for many teams –
similar to traditional on-premise
landscape management


• Need up front Tenant Management
strategy to coordinate prototyping,
integration development activity

Tenant Management

15


Implications


• May have greater vendor
involvement due to newer solutions,
need for vendor to accept configured
solution for support


• Outside prototyping, typically more
remote work due to ease of access of
cloud based environments

Tenant Management

16

Agenda
Implementing SaaS


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What is right for my business?
Key Considerations
Time to Reevaluate Existing Solution?

• Financial systems are not providing the information necessary to make solid
business decisions
• Financial systems cannot easily adapt to changing business requirements
• Delivered SaaS business processes that fit business needs
• No current solution exists or financial systems are on an unsupported version
• Financial systems support is difficult to maintain and the skillsets needed are
not readily available in the company / marketplace
• Processes and capabilities fall behind industry benchmark


18

Accenture’s PoV
• The CFO’s role will continue to transform into one of a change enabler to better partner with other
areas in the business and influence the selection of supporting tools
• Determining the path forward will require the a Financials ERP Roadmap, driven by an analysis of
various factors and a clear vision of IT strategy
• On-Premise solutions currently provide the most functionality for large, multi-national companies
with well established, robust products but SaaS ERP players are rapidly emerging
• Ensure a Financials ERP business case considers all factors, explicit and implicit costs
• A Financial ERP choice should be driven by needed functionality
– If the organization is able to adopt the business processes prescribed by a SaaS vendor or has a
simpler business model, SaaS solutions may be faster and cheaper to deploy

– If an organization has unique or complex requirements, an On-Premise solution may be more
appropriate
• SaaS ERPs will continue to gain market share and become prevalent in all businesses across
industries and regions over time

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Accenture’s PoV (Continued)
The Financials ERP SaaS market will continue to evolve rapidly in the next 12-24 months for
several key reasons:
• SaaS players are investing heavily in Financials to address current challenges with functionality, global
options and scalability
• Fierce competition in the SaaS market will continue to lower cost
• SaaS vendors will continue to make their products more transparent and secure to gain market share
against On-Premise competitors.
• The Two-Tier model will gain popularity to help implement tools quickly for M&A, divestures and
subsidiaries
• Integrations will be a major priority for SaaS releases and implementations

• On-Premise providers recognize the SaaS threat and are beginning to compete in this space but at a
slower pace than startups
• SaaS solutions should be seriously considered in all finance strategies to determine if they can provide
the necessary capabilities

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Thank You
Tamara Emerson
Managing Director
Global F&P Finance & Enterprise
Performance - Enterprise Performance
Management SaaS Lead

818 Stewart Street
Suite 400
Seattle, WA 98101
email: tamara.l.emerson@accenture.com


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Accenture SaaS Financial Applications

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