Have You Outgrown Your Finance Software?
Modern Challenges Demand Flexible Finance Systems
By Michelle Duffy, Percipient
The challenges and opportunities facing businesses today aren’t getting any easier. Inflexible on-prem finance software that can’t adapt to change and growth will only hold your business back. Many legacy accounting solutions don’t integrate with other enterprise-level tools and systems. These limitations can trap you in manual processes, spreadsheets, cumbersome workarounds, and slower workflows.
The cloud offers compelling advantages for deploying business software, especially financial applications. Demand for cloud-based financial applications continues to grow because they can access and analyse massive amounts of data in real time.
Upgrade From Sage 50 to Sage Intacct
Finance works best when departments and functions collaborate seamlessly. Organisations need more from their back-office systems than ever before. This includes using the most advanced SaaS and cloud-enabled software that is easy to implement, configure, and update.
While your existing accounting software and processes have worked well for your organisation so far, you may be starting to see signs that you’re ready to upgrade. It could be time to move to a fully cloud-based financial management solution.
Let’s use Sage 50 Cloud as an example of a great accounting platform that may no longer meet your current business needs.
Financial Automation
Have manual processes become standard operating procedure?
Without automation for processes like PO approvals, invoice generation, payment processing, and currency conversions, you can lose days of productivity to manual work.
And when your systems can’t communicate, integrations are replaced with manual workarounds.
Multi-Entity Business
Does your close take over 10 days, and do you manage more than 2 entities?
Developed as an on-prem solution, Sage 50 wasn’t built to handle the needs of organisations that often have multiple business entities. As a result, setting up a new entity may feel like a whole new implementation. Customisations must be reconfigured, the chart of accounts rebuilt, and entities kept separate.
As a result, inter-entity transactions must be manually keyed in to keep the books balanced, and consolidations can take days to complete. These delays ultimately slow how quickly you can close the books, making it feel like a never-ending cycle.
Operationally we’ve taken an entire month off our close period. This speed is largely due to eliminating manual intervention, ensuring the process is not only more efficient but less error prone.
Hastings Hotels
Read more about our work with Hastings Hotels.
Financial Reporting
Are you configuring your reports in Excel?
As your business grows and your reporting needs become more complex, they may outpace what your existing accounting solution can provide.
For example, you may not be able to ‘slice and dice’ your data in the ways that you need because the software lacks the dimensions and calculated fields.
Remote Access
Do you need to access your accounting system remotely?
With on-prem software, you have two choices: work from the office or set up a remote access server. In the wake of the global pandemic, with so much uncertainty over when and in some cases if, everyone will be returning to the office, your team needs to be able to work remotely. True cloud-based software gives you and your team the ability to work anywhere, anytime and from any device.
Managing Growth
Is your software struggling to keep up?
While it likely helped you build your business, Sage 50 may not keep pace with your current growth.
As you add business units and expand into new markets and geographies, you may feel your existing software is holding you back.
Is Your Finance Software Holding You Back?
If manual processes, slow reporting, or growing complexity are taking up more of your finance team’s time, your current system may no longer keep pace with your business.
Sage Intacct gives growing organisations the automation, visibility and flexibility they need to work more efficiently and make better-informed decisions. Talk to our Sage Intacct experts to explore whether it’s time for a change and what the right next step could look like for your business.