Video & Slides: http://www.proformative.com/events/owning-finance-technology-unlock-productivity-drive-growth-how-finance-leaders-get-it-done Despite recent advances in cloud and related technologies many CFOs experience finance technology that drives business practices instead of supporting business flexibility and driving company growth. A recent survey conducted by CFO Research, reported 94% of finance executives indicated they are struggling to adapt existing Financial Management systems to new business requirements, and 46% want better performance out of them. Discover how finance leaders are leading the charge in aligning existing systems and longstanding practices with cloud-based finance applications and related best practices to alleviate technology related pain points, and deliver technology that drives company growth.

1. THE RESOURCE FOR CORPORATE FINANCE, ACCOUNTING & TREASURY PROFESSIONALS
Owning Finance Technology to Unlock
Productivity & Drive Growth
How Finance Leaders Get it Done
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3. Learning Objectives
After attending this webinar you will be able to:

4. THE RESOURCE FOR CORPORATE FINANCE, ACCOUNTING & TREASURY PROFESSIONALS
Owning Finance Technology to Unlock
Productivity & Drive Growth
How Finance Leaders Get it Done
•

5. How do CFOs Manage Tech for Finance?
Q: How do CFOs manage
Objective: To learn about senior finance executives’ views on
the strengths and weaknesses
of their finance systems
Electronic survey;
202 respondents
Interviews with nine CFOs
North American companies
across all industries
Joint study between Workday and CFO Research
Copyright © 2012 CFO Publishing LLC

6. One instance of an ERP system with additional modules
from different best-of-breed application vendors
30%
Multiple ERP systems from different ERP vendors
27%
One instance of an ERP system with complementary
modules from a single vendor
21%
Multiple instances of an ERP system from a single vendor
10%
Financial applications developed in-house
6%
Manual processes (including spreadsheets and email)
2%
Other
1%
Not sure
3%
0%
Copyright © 2012 CFO Publishing LLC
20%
40%

7. Business intelligence/Data warehousing
66%
Financial and/or management reporting
56%
Business planning (e.g., budgeting, forecasting)
53%
Travel and expense management
51%
Workforce management (e.g., time and attendance;…
50%
Financial consolidation
42%
Customer relationship management
39%
Purchasing/Procurement
38%
Treasury management
30%
Contract management
28%
Tax management
27%
Sales performance management (e.g., variable-…
21%
Governance, risk, and compliance
21%
Supply-chain management
Other
19%
2%
We do not use any best-of-breed financial-management…
Not sure
6%
3%
Percentage of Respondents
0%
Note: Respondents were asked to select all that apply.
Note: Percentages may not total 100%, due to multiple responses.
20%
40%
60%
80%
Copyright © 2012 CFO Publishing LLC

8. SFEs Confirm That They Are Slow to Adapt
To Changing Requirements
How quickly does your company adapt its financial management system to
changes to business priorities or processes?
Copyright © 2012 CFO Publishing LLC

9. Systems Inflexibility is Cited More Often
Than Any Other Concern
Which of the following system related issues interfere most with your finance
function’s ability to meet the demands of its role?
17%
Lack of Speed
30%
34%
High Maintenance /
Upgrade Costs
37%
Lack of Visibility
Fragmentation
Copyright © 2012 CFO Publishing LLC
44%
Lack of Flexibility

10. Every 2 years or less
9%
Every 2-5 years
28%
Every 5-10 years
23%
Every 10 years or more
21%
It depends
9%
Not sure
10%
0%
Copyright © 2012 CFO Publishing LLC
20%
40%

11. Reaching For Better Performance
Improvement in each of the following aspects of my company’s finance systems
would substantially improve my finance function’s ability to fulfill its objectives
(Percentage of finance executives saying they agree strongly)
Copyright © 2012 CFO Publishing LLC

12. Where Finance Spends It’s Time
79%
“Finance is burdened with
too many manual tasks.”
48%
CURRENTLY spend most of
their time on business planning,
analysis, and decision support
86%
Copyright © 2012 CFO Publishing LLC
SHOULD spend most of
their time on business planning, analysis, and
decision support

13. Catalysts for Change
Reduce Costs/
Increase
Efficiency
Changing
Regulatory
Requirements
Business
Process Change
Changes to
Company
Structure
Technology
Advancements
Growth
Organizational /
Leadership
Change
Vendor Imposed

14. How companies approach change
When making plans to replace finance systems, SFEs favor a long-term view
Copyright © 2012 CFO Publishing LLC

15. “We wanted to do something more
dynamic, and, more importantly, we wanted
something that we wouldn’t be forced to
replace for another 8 to 10 years.”
—Managing director,
financial-services firm

16. Do you favor the concept of using
cloud-based systems for financial
management at your company?
Copyright © 2012 CFO Publishing LLC

17. Cloud Adoption for Financial Apps
“By YE2015, customer adoption of Cloud-based finance and accounting
solutions will exceed 40 percent of enterprises – as the office of the CFO
looks for solutions that support its evolving role as ‘score keeper’ to leadenabler of business performance improvement.”
65%
55%
40%
25%
12%
2011
2012
2013
Financial-Accounting cloud software purchase plans
Source: Saugatuck Technology, March 2012, N=228
2014
2015

18. What are the most valuable benefits that cloud-based systems for financial
management offer your company
Copyright © 2012 CFO Publishing LLC

19. Cloud Can Help Reallocate Resources
More than 75% of the IT budget today is spent on maintaining and
running existing systems and software infrastructure
-Gartner Group
Strategic
Initiatives
25%
75%
75%
Administration, O
perations and
Maintenance
Traditional ERP
25%
Cloud

20. Cloud Hits the Enterprise

21. Thank You!

22. Please join us at www.proformative.com to ask any
additional questions you may have and to continue this
conversation with your peers and the experts you heard
from today.
If you have questions about CPE Credit please contact
Chris Brauer at cbrauer@proformative.com