Why Cloud? Why now? Business Stream Breakout Session

Transcription

1 Why Cloud? Why now? Business Stream Breakout Session

2 Business Breakout Agenda What does Cloud mean to business (as opposed to practice)? What is driving the change? Where are we now? What is next? Experience - Real businesses who have done it or are doing it What are the benefits? What are the lessons learnt? Open panel discussion Question and answers The good, the bad and the challenging Lunch

3 Hugh Scantlebury, CEO at Aqilla WHAT DOES CLOUD MEAN TO BUSINESS?

4 Business in the Cloud Business not practice What is driving the change? Where are we now? What is next?

5 Business Accounting what s the difference? Banks view = Cash Fixed Simple Fixed Chart of Accounts Basic Book-keeping Operational Load + Go Practice led Business view = Accruals Customisable Sophisticated Flexible CofA Multi dimensional Financial Analysis Business Intelligence Cloud + Services Business led

6 Business Drivers IDC Research By /3 of all organisations will be using some form of cloud business service. 65% of executive boards view IT as being strategically important (double expectation from 2011) IT budgets only growing at 3% Better use of resources and less waste Greater flexibility Better engagement with staff, suppliers and customers Social-business

7 Vendor Behaviour Ageing legacy, on-premise solutions 2000 and earlier pedigree According to Ernst & Young (2011) on average 75% of R&D spent just keeping older versions running not innovating or helping develop new business so no new software (beyond the cosmetic) and increased complexity Multiple versions require big expensive teams to maintain All focused on maintenance income annual support bills. Happy so long as you pay Disenchantment

8 Secure & Scaleable How reliable and expensive is your IT? Encrypted data UK data centres Less physical risk (theft, viruses, unauthorised access) From small to large multinational requirements Flexible location and resource mobile & home working Local and global tax Grow with your organisation (and contract if required) Powerful relational database Performance & analysis No DBA overhead

9 Value Modern vendors = modern SLAs Clear terms (fewer pages!) No time bombs, no creeping upgrade fees OPEX not CAPEX Easy in, easy out. No more lock ins It s always YOUR data. Take it with you at ANY time No lock-ins

10 Not just accounting, and not just Cloud Beyond Book-keeping Advanced multi-currency ledgers Financial Analysis & Reporting Cash management Order Fulfillment Project Costing, Timesheets & Expenses Budgeting & Forecasting Work-flow Business Intelligence Document Management Spreadsheet Integration

11 Working with line of business applications Specific to each accounting system Plug your system in APIs (000s) Bi-directional (Two way) Microsoft Excel 100% of people use Excel every day Complement your business accounting software Leave the data in the system (link not export) Secure. Reliable. Control.

12

13 Case study Hospitality Sector Tried many on-premise solutions including SunSystems and Microsoft Dynamics Found these to be unwieldy, complex and didn t meet the reporting needs of the business. Historical data was migrated into Aqilla Utilising its very flexible Microsoft Excel Add-In. Interfaces between the EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale) system and Aqilla were set up and tested. To capture daily/weekly sales data that could be easily accessed and reported upon. The interfaces between the employee management system and Aqilla were also set up and tested allowing the business to capture weekly labour data.

14 More time for the business Reports could now be delivered to the management team every Monday morning Providing analysis of the previous 7 days. Reports were fully configured to meet the specific requirements of the client and are available to view online or download to Excel with no formatting required. Project completed in just 6 weeks Able to easily handle the large volume of data once it had been mapped onto Aqilla. Can now spend time on the business, addressing issues, rather than in it trying to gather data and assess the quality of the information they are looking at.

15 Still to come Constantly evolving functionality New release with new functionality every 6-8 weeks No disruption (opt in) New ideas, new methods Class leading capability Audit management, permissions, workflow Agile development Customer centric and market driven improvements

16 Why Cloud? Why Now? What s it been like for real business? EXPERIENCE

17 Real world experience Why did you do it? What has been your experience of cloud? What are the benefits? What would you do differently? Philip Schumacher, Sound Oil Aqilla user Perry Offer, Dialogue Communications Financialforce user Gerry Kerins, Rococo Chocolates Netsuite user

18 Why Cloud? Why Now? Questions & Answers PANEL DISCUSSION

19 Panel Discussion Questions and Answers What is driving the change? Where are we now? What is next? Panel: Philip Schumacher, Sound Oil Aqilla user Perry Offer, Dialogue Communications Financialforce user Gerry Kerins, Rococo Chocolates Netsuite user Hugh Scantlebury, CEO of Aqilla

20 Why Cloud? Why Now? IN SUMMARY