Given that many big corporations have spent years investing heavily in centralising and standardising their finance systems, often as part of an ERP initiative, making a complete switch from on-premise to cloud is not a viable option.
Instead, a hybrid approach is proving a popular way of accessing new capabilities for individual divisions or specific tasks all whilst keeping the holistic management platform intact.
At the same time, the impetus for a finance shake-up is increasingly driven by factors outside the department’s four walls, such as demand for accounting visibility across the organisation, and the changing relationship between IT and finance.
Other motivators include improving cashflow management and streamlining processes.
Business is expected to achieve all of this while simultaneously cutting costs and remaining efficient or improving operational efficiency.
CIO Australia’s Rachel Sullivan recently reported on the example of this with engineering, operations and maintenance firm Transfield Services, which recently secured the contract to build the National Broadband Network (NBN) in Sydney.
The company is in the process of implementing a hybrid model SAP’s ERP platform to replace disparate systems and processes with a single global platform. Dubbed Project Quantum, the project is being undertaken in parallel with a payroll implementation.
Undertaken partly as a cost-cutting measure, the project will see IT and shared services, including accounts payable, accounts receivable and payroll, outsourced to India. Down the track, there may be more opportunities to offshore other corporate support services if regulatory requirements can be met.
Having been completed in the US, Project Quantum is being implemented in stages across Australia and New Zealand and is due for completion in the second quarter of 2014. Transfield CIO, Stephen Phillips, says business benefits are already emerging in the United States.
The human resources management tool is delivered via the cloud. The balance of the system is run by SAP’s on-premise suite.
Transfield Services received the Cloud Vision award from Success Factors for its on-time and on-budget implementation.
Read More: http://www.cio.com.au/article/524295/financing_cloud/?fp=4&fpid=7
