accenture saas financial applications
DESCRIPTION
Presentation given by Accenture managing director Tamara Emerson at Host Analytics' 2013 roadshow discussing how the finance department is evolving towards the cloud.TRANSCRIPT
The Sky Is the Limit:
Finance is Moving to the Cloud
August 2013
2 Copyright © 2013 Accenture All Rights Reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
Agenda
Drivers of SaaS Adoption
Finance Technology Trends
Implementing SaaS
Accenture’s Point of View
3 Copyright © 2013 Accenture All Rights Reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
• 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
Reliable (global)
harmonized
Financial systems
• Investing in standard and advanced enterprise performance management capabilities (43% of masters and 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
Add value through
strategic applications
• Growing demand for analytics and technologies to turn data into forward-looking insight that enable business
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
Harvest benefits
from technology
• 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
Leveraging technology
to address new and
changing regulation
Source: Accenture 2011 High Performance Finance Study
Finance Technology Trends Accenture Finance Study
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Finance Technology Trends Finance IT Trends and Implications
© Copyright Gartner, Source: The Impact of the Cloud on Architecting an ERP Solution by Pat Phelan, August, 2012
Trends
demanded by Business Users
Implications
to the Finance IT Infrastructure
• The need to continually cost optimize the
operations
• Demonstrate value back to the business
– speed to market, service availability
• An infrastructure that can scale up and
down against business demand
• Move to a variable cost model rather than
static
• Intuitive, easy-to-use applications that
work anywhere from any device.
• The emergence of the Cloud creates a
significant challenge to existing
Governance processes
• Moving away from a single ERP solution to
selective ‘best of breed’
• There is a need for an end to end service
management function or integration
capability
• Financial Management is more complex
as a result of multiple ERP systems
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Finance Technology Trends Agile Applications
• Higher cost (pay up front)
• Specialization Availability (Region/Industry)
• Traditional solutions (Greater product functionality
depth and reference customers)
• Mostly In-sourcing
• Lower cost (subscription or “fixed”
pricing)
• Speed of implementation
• Emerging solutions
• Outsourcing
More
Internal Less
Internal
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.
Global Enterprise
Finance Applications
Cloud Finance
Applications
SaaS Finance
Applications
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Agenda
Drivers of SaaS Adoption
Finance Technology Trends
Implementing SaaS
Accenture’s Point of View
7 Copyright © 2013 Accenture All Rights Reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
Cloud/SaaS Overview Why?
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
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
Intuitive Understand the application´s
users and their work context
Clear Structure Less complex and more coherent is the
navigation. SaaS applications follow web
design principles, which most people are
now comfortable navigating.
Simple 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.
Simple
Accessible
Clear
Structure
Efficient Intuitive
Engaging Supportive
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Cloud/SaaS Overview Adoption Trends
Second Movers Late Adopters First Movers
$750M - $2B > 2B Annual Revenue < $750M
Australia, China,
and Brazil
Most other
territories Region
North America,
Europe, Japan
Retail and
Healthcare Continuous process
manufacturing
Industry
Example
Software, Consulting
Services, Supplier
Networks, and Light
Manufacturing
Current
State
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Why are organizations considering the cloud for EPM?
Cost reduction
Elasticity/ scalability
Speed to market
High performance computing
• Lower capital and operational costs
• Lower maintenance and energy costs
• Pay as you go
• OPEX costs in place of CAPEX
• Capacity only when you need it
• Ability to handle sudden load changes
• Achieve high business agility
• Reduction of time to pilot and test projects
• Faster availability to customers
• Software updates included with service
• Increased capacity from your current physical infrastructure
• Avoid provisioning (and paying) for the peak
• “Infinite” computing capacity on demand
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Agenda
Drivers of SaaS Adoption
Finance Technology Trends
Implementing SaaS
Accenture’s Point of View
11 Copyright © 2013 Accenture All Rights Reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
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
Tenant Management
Iterative vs. Waterfall Methodology
Configuration vs. Customization
Product Release Strategy
Implementation Team Composition
• Need strong project management to
control scope and timeline
• Business owners need to be clearly
identified and empowered to make
decisions on the spot
• More real-time involvement from the
business
• Increased Change Management
effort up front
Implications
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Key Differences In SaaS Implementations
Tenant Management
Iterative vs. Waterfall Methodology
Configuration vs. Customization
Product Release Strategy
Implementation Team Composition
• Can more readily drive adoption of
standardized processes and leading
practices
• Adopt the solution capabilities, or
create a work around rather than
customize
• Requires strong change
management discipline earlier in the
project
Implications
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Key Differences In SaaS Implementations
Tenant Management
Iterative vs. Waterfall Methodology
Configuration vs. Customization
Product Release Strategy
Implementation Team Composition
• Highly likely to experience a mid-
implementation product release /
upgrade
• 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
Implications
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Key Differences In SaaS Implementations
Tenant Management
Iterative vs. Waterfall Methodology
Configuration vs. Customization
Product Release Strategy
Implementation Team Composition
• “New” activity for many teams –
similar to traditional on-premise
landscape management
• Need up front Tenant Management
strategy to coordinate prototyping,
integration development activity
Implications
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Key Differences In SaaS Implementations
Tenant Management
Iterative vs. Waterfall Methodology
Configuration vs. Customization
Product Release Strategy
Implementation Team Composition
• 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
Implications
17 Copyright © 2013 Accenture All Rights Reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
Agenda
Drivers of SaaS Adoption
Finance Technology Trends
Implementing SaaS
Accenture’s Point of View
18 Copyright © 2013 Accenture All Rights Reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
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
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What is right for my business? 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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What is right for my business? 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: [email protected]