With every passing year and every new release of an ERP system, technology becomes way more modern. That is why it is hard to believe that even in 2016, there are still businesses relying on Excel for accounting, reporting, and other financial processes. Epicor conducted a survey recently that showed about 60% of CFOs are still using spreadsheets. This same survey revealed that CFOs and other finance executives find it difficult to get the accurate information they need to effectively do their jobs. What’s shocking about this is that in most cases, these organizations have an ERP system that can help these employees with this, but for whatever reason, they are not using it.
Spreadsheets remain the comfortable, go-to tool of choice for finance professionals and while it’s familiarity and ease-of-use aren’t bad, the limits of what they can do are still present. Using spreadsheets does not give you automatic updates, so there is no real time aspect in your reporting. There is also no complex reporting since Excel doesn’t have access to other areas of data. Using an ERP system for financials allows you to cross reference your data and allows all of your departments to work together. Why would businesses still use spreadsheets for processes that are so integral to day-to-day business operations? You are just wasting your employees time. Your accounting department is the central point of your business. To have proper financial reporting, you need to collect data from every department in your business. Data is collected, formatted properly, and then entered into a spreadsheet. This process requires multiple employees to spend time, causing duplicate data entry and increased chance of human error. Modern ERP systems are able to grab the information from all the different departments of the business, in real time, and aggregate the data. This allows you to save your employees time, all while streamlining your financial operations.
One thing we regularly hear from our clients when discussing an upgrade or new ERP system, is that they are too busy to deal with this topic. This becomes a Catch 22. CFO’s are too busy to provide the information needed in a timely fashion and they are too busy to find a new solution. Over the last 12 months, the topic of CFOs and ERP systems have been regularly discussed. New versions of ERP systems have focused on easier financial functionality to help address these concerns and to ultimately make the lives of CFOs and financial employees easier. You now can produce more accurate reports, quicker and more easily than before. It takes less resources to produce more information, and it comes with a lesser risk of error.
There are many ERP vendors out there. Many ERP systems are geared towards certain verticals and sizes of organization. CFOs and other financial professionals need to understand what it is they need out of an ERP system, and make sure they only select and implement a system that can help them achieve that outcome. With the right IT solution, you are giving your organization access to better and faster data and better decision making at the end of the day. 2W Tech is proud to be an Epicor Certified Partner and would be happy to discuss if an Epicor ERP system is the right one for your organization.
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