IBM Global Services Financial Management the company s heartbeat
2 Financial Management the company s heartbeat There is no room for error in financial management and no room for slow, inefficient and unreliable processes in a successful modern company. More than any other part of the company, the handling of finance demands accuracy, reliability, and transparency. But without speed, accuracy and efficiency, financial management can leak profitability out of a company. Preparation of month-end and year-end accounts may divert key staff from other important work Management reporting is off-system and inaccurate Old-fashioned paper invoices are costly and time-consuming Cash forecasting is untimely and reconciliation labour intensive Bills may be wrongly directed. Financial management is not just about counting the profits and paying the bills: it s a key element of any company s overall business strategy. Everything profitability, employee satisfaction, compliance, planning and performance depends on the finance department. But often financial management systems are not properly integrated into a company s IT provision, so they do not fully support its business goals. IBM Foundation Finance helps a company to leverage its financial strength and streamline its processes. It brings every aspect of financial management within the company s overall IT strategy, bringing better service to the client or customer, better support to the workforce, and better profitability to the company. IBM s Foundation Finance solution will be the beating heart of your company. It will give you the strength to flex your financial muscles. The solution bringing experience to bear IBM Foundation Finance brings the combined weight of IBM s worldwide business experience and Oracle s sophisticated applications to bear on the problems and challenges of your company s financial management systems. Real-life client experiences provide the background to a configuration of solutions that are currently being used to perform finance transactions in successful companies around the world. It is not a standard package implementation, but a comprehensive approach developed in the UK specifically for the UK market. It is an approach focused on business processes (rather than technically implementing a software package), which aims to maximise business value, optimise implemented processes and reduce business risk. Competitive pricing coupled with an efficient, packaged implementation mean that IBM Foundation Finance offers Tier 1 finance applications at a Tier 2 cost. Among the specific benefits it brings to bear are: An end to the time-consuming use of spreadsheets and other off-system tools Reduction of overall maintenance costs for financial systems Migration to good practice finance processes exploiting automation and workflow Reduction in the number of system interfaces supporting the finance function. IBM Foundation Finance is a vital part of any strategy to move towards establishing a paperless environment for finance. It offers a fully automated solution for reconciliation, month-end closure, and finalisation of year-end accounts. Compliance issues can be settled simply, transparently, and reliably. Invoices can be prepared, submitted, and received electronically, with the entire process fully integrated into the company s overall IT system.
IBM Global Services 3 Precision IBM Foundation Finance goes to the heart of your company s financial management strategy with a delivery methodology to implement the fundamentals of FINANCE through Oracle s e-business suite R12. The core solution consists of General Ledger (GL), Accounts Payable (AP), Payments (IBY), e-business Tax (ZX), Accounts Receivable (AR), Cash Management (CE) and Fixed Assets (FA) functionality providing support for multiple currencies and legal entities. It includes project accelerators to support the rapid development of system interfaces and data migration routines and IBM s extensive asset library provides a comprehensive suite of IBM s leading Industry Practice Business Process maps to support Foundations accelerated delivery methodology. End user training is simplified by the provision of templated user guides. IBM Foundation Finance brings the precision and reliability of Oracle s leading financial software together with IBM s own global business experience and expertise to provide an over-arching and fully inclusive business-based solution. Excellence IBM has broad and deep experience in implementing Oracle ebs Finance solutions. We will deliver Finance Foundation in just 18 weeks, using an accelerated approach and comprising process mapping and conference room pilot techniques. IBM s Delivery Excellence experience ensures the implementation is a complete solution rather than just a technical implementation. It comprises application software, implementation services, licensing, systems hardware or managed hosting service, functional support, and helpdesk. Without speed, accuracy and efficiency, financial management can leak profitability out of a company.
4 Financial Management the company s heartbeat IBM is the number one Oracle partner. IBM and Oracle have over 30 years of successful partnership, and more than 17,000 joint customers. IBM is a Platinum Partner with Oracle, the highest level of membership available within the Oracle Partner Network. This level of membership is only available to long-term strategic business partners who have consistently demonstrated the highest level of competency and commitment to Oracle. We have more Oracle experience than any other independent consulting organisation, and have realised the largest number of successful on-time and on-budget ERP applications. All that experience will be targeted on a detailed, case-specific implementation for your company. Magic Quadrant Gartner Inc. has positioned IBM as the Leader of their Magic Quadrant for European ERP Service Providers in 2009. Magic Quadrant for ERP Service Providers, Europe, 2009. Ability to execute Challengers Tata Consultancy Services Atos Origin Logica CSC Bearing Point EDS Deloitte Capgemini Fujitsu Wipro Technologies Infosys Technologies Siemens IT solutions and services T-Systems Oracle SAP HCL Technologies Ciber Lawson Axon Leaders IBM Accenture Niche Players Visionaries Completeness of vision Simplicity The speed and simplicity of IBM s Finance Foundation methodology means that costs and time are kept to a minimum. The templated solution that we have developed over the past several years can be used in most companies to significantly reduce the implementation timescales when compared to previous methods. Choice The core Finance Foundation solution can be further extended to meet your business requirements. Additional implementation options include: Procurement (Purchasing, i-procurement), Projects (Project Costing) and a Carbon Intelligence reporting solution. It can also be implemented in conjunction with IBM Foundation HCM (Human Capital Management) to provide a fully integrated finance/hcm solution for your organisation. IBM s support in developing and operating the solution means that your company does not need sophisticated technical infrastructure or advanced IT skills. Services available include: Hosted development environments to fast-start projects Full Application on Demand services to support the ongoing maintenance of the production system. Flexible financing packages are available for companies wishing to spread the startup and implementation costs over several fiscal years to help smooth costs. Fixed price, deferred payment, comprehensive, and pay-as-you-go pricing structures can all be provided. IBM a one-stop shop With over 20 years of teaming with Oracle Corporation, IBM has one of the largest and most experienced team of resources of any Oracle systems integrator. We provide one-stop shopping with a single point of accountability one provider for all components including Hardware, Software, Implementation Services, Hosting, Application Services and Financing. What s more, over the past 10 years, Gartner has ranked IBM Global Business Services as a leader among European ERP service providers for its ability to execute and its completeness of vision. Source: Gartner (February 2009)
IBM Global Services 5 Where do we go from here? IBM Foundation Finance is flexible. It presents the opportunity either for a root-and-branch restructuring of an organisation s financial management system, or for the optimisation of existing processes. It provides a range of solutions which have been developed in the UK specifically for the needs of mid-market UK companies. By delivering the benefits of Oracle s tried and tested technology quickly and efficiently, IBM s implementation, backed by our global experience, maximises the benefits and minimises the risk. For organisations which want to cut down on slow and expensive paperwork, drive out inefficiency from their financial processes, and streamline their systems, Foundation Finance offers a solution which is proven to be transparent, flexible, and reliable. Implementing IBM s Foundation Finance solution will give you the means to flex your companies financial muscles how and when you want, enabling financial management at work. A delivery methodology, leveraging tools and accelerators, to implement the fundamentals of FINANCE (Oracle GL, AP, IBY, ZX, AR, CE, FA) within 18 weeks Incorporation of IBM s best practice and experience from successfully implemented client projects FEATURES An approach focused on business processes and conference room pilot techniques Accelerators for System Interfaces and Data Migration Templated Users Guides to assist End User Training Options for extended functionality to meet your organisation s requirements Options for on demand hosting services Flexible financing options Tier 1 Finance Application/s at a Tier 2 cost Accelerated delivery whilst maintaining standards of quality and programme management Optimised business processes BENEFITS Accurate reporting in realtime Reduced number of system interfaces to support finance System automation and workflow to reduce manual entry and bottlenecks Reduced TCO via managed hosting services A single point for accountability and responsibility, lowering the business risk
Contact information For more information about IBM and Oracle, please contact: Fiona Martin Oracle Alliance Manager IBM UK, Ireland and South Africa Tel: +44 (0) 776 466 4474 Email: MartinF@uk.ibm.com ibm.com/solutions/oracle Copyright IBM Corporation 2010 IBM United Kingdom Limited 76 Upper Ground South Bank London SE1 9PZ Produced in the United Kingdom June 2010 All Rights Reserved IBM, the IBM logo and ibm.com are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. If these and other IBM trademarked terms are marked on their first occurrence in this information with a trademark symbol ( or ), these symbols indicate U.S. registered or common law trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information was published. Such trademarks may also be registered or common law trademarks in other countries. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at Copyright and trademark information at ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml Other company, product and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. References in this publication to IBM products and services do not imply that IBM intends to make them available in all countries in which IBM operates. Please Recycle XBI03004-GBEN-00