I have been reading up on the latest Enterprise Resource Planning(ERP) software trends and articles and couldn’t help but notice a theme. Many stories are mentioning the increased role CFOs have in ERP selection. Sure, you may be thinking, anytime a business is going to invest tens of thousands of dollars in anything, the CFO is going to want to understand and be involved. However, in many cases the CFO is also involved because the tools they are using in their business are hindering them from being the most effective they can be.
There has been a lot of buzz around the increased importance in business intelligence tools. CFOs are finding they are needing better data analytic tools. A significant number of CFOs are facing major challenges when it comes to big data and overall IT investment decisions, according to a recent survey from Epicor Software. What that survey also uncovered, is that many of these same CFOs report they are still using spreadsheets or outdated financial software. CFOs can not properly forecast and plan when they are using inaccurate data, so many spend extra time trying to extract meaningful data from lines and lines of numbers.
“Digital disruption has introduced more data sources, more channels, more numerous and complex business models, a more global nature of business and more reliance on external partners. This is a real challenge for all business leaders, but particularly so from the perspective of fiscal management and financial operations” stated Malcolm Fox, Epicor Software’s VP of Product Marketing.
Epicor also published some research recently that stated 46% of CFOs are making important decisions based solely on instinct. It also stated that 1/3 of the CFOs cited not having access to data quickly enough as the reason they make bad business decisions. As a company grows, CFOs are no longer safe making decisions based on instinct, they need to be able to back these decisions with facts and relevant data.
In order to do this, CFOs must ensure that their ERP selection is going to be able to:
- Provide accurate financial information when they need it, in the format they need it
- Allow CFOs to focus on using their experience and intuition to add value to the organization instead of using it to fill the gaps left by inadequate data
- Facilitate collaboration with all employees both within and outside the financial department
Epicor ERP v. 10 has strong functionality in financial reporting, financial planning, and business intelligence, and presents this information in an easy to use dashboard. Epicor ERP connects all the data from across all business units of your organization and presents it in a single truth for the decision makers of the business to use to make smart and educated business decisions. This allows CFOs to feel confident in the financial decisions the business is making.
Also Read:
Five Reasons to Upgrade to Epicor 10
Flexible Deployment Options for ERP