Cloud financial management is based upon the concept of managing a business’s commercial activities in “the cloud”. Typically this provides the company with a suite of integrated tools to enable management, reporting, payments, payroll and budgets.
Cloud financial management solutions are an integral part of the success of your business in the future. Business is moving to cloud-based services because of the functionality, flexibility, lower cost of ownership and mobile accessibility that it provides. An example would be Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Affordability
It is relatively inexpensive in comparison to on-premise systems. As it’s a subscription model, you can control your expenses and cash flow more effectively.
Maintenance and Upgrades
Like your iPhone or Android device updates come out regularly to improve the software.
Mobile Access
Cloud enables you to access your systems irrespective of your location. Access is multi-device rather than just desktop access. These are typically app and browser-based.
Cloud computing spending is expected to grow at better than 6x the rate of IT spending through 2020, according to IDC. IDC also predicts that by 2020, 67% of enterprise infrastructure and software will be cloud-based offerings.
Demand for cloud will grow 18% this year to $246.8 billion in total worldwide revenue from $209.2 billion according to Gartner.
Software-as-a-service
Paid for SaaS is the most popular cloud service. Applications paid for on a subscription basis. An example of this is Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Infrastructure- as-a-service
IaaS provides virtualised computing resources over the internet. An example would be Amazon Web Services (AWS). Typically this is storage, networking and virtualisation. In the case of cloud financial management, you would utilise this for hosting an application.
Platform- as-a-service
PaaS provides business with the ability to utilise hardware and software tools over the internet. They are typically used by companies that want to develop their applications.
The business case for the cloud should not just focus on cost reduction. After all, this is about future-proofing your business, not only saving money. Infrastructure, licences need to be considered as well as improvement in working practices, disaster recovery and dealing with a global crisis. Integrating your business into the cloud can deliver an improved speed of implementation for new technologies that drive your business forward.
The beauty of cloud solutions is the ability to implement without having specialist IT knowledge inhouse. Instead, you can focus on what your business does best.