Understanding the cloud computing in CFO's eyes

Even though most CFOs agree on the virtues of "cloud computing", a new survey suggests they still refuse to move closer to "cloud computing". The bill's online company, which specializes in cash-flow operations for software and services, unveiled a survey of 350 CFOs that began last year, and found that when the CFO was automating the accounts payable process through "cloud computing," the Accounts payable department could cut working hours by half, You can also reduce the maximum cost per invoice by 70%.

But 73% of respondents said they still use Excel spreadsheets to record and process invoices.

What stopped the CFO from turning his mind to "cloud computing"? When asked about the biggest challenge to "cloud computing" migration, 64% of respondents said it was too difficult to integrate existing legacy systems; 55% per cent said that system and cybersecurity were the biggest headaches; 44% per cent of respondents pointed out that introducing new processes meant bringing in trouble.

Chris Peng, chief analyst at Geithner's market research firm, said the company's migration of accounts payable to "cloud computing" could reduce the time of the manual intervention process of "getting invoices from A to B and then back to place".

But even so, any company's finance department can turn a blind eye to the virtues of "cloud computing" as long as it is comfortable with its original systems and ensures that the system keeps running at a low cost.

It is only when the business growth cycle of a company is blocked by a business process that the boss finds a solution to the problem.

Blaine Pretti, vice president of Finance, an E-commerce platform provider —— — demand goods company, said his company was using financial management software based on "cloud computing" only 2008 years after Han Shu financial software restrictions left it with no choice.

When Preti first arrived in 2007, the company had a branch office in the United States and Germany. At that time, Han Shu financial software to coordinate the results of the three units, he was particularly headache, because the Han Shu financial software can not be required to the German branch of the company's euro with the U.S. parent company and the United States dollar to deal with the subsidiary.

In addition, because the Han Shu financial software can not create a variety of currency invoices, the company's finance department has to use Excel table to create different currency invoices, and then the artificial exchange rate conversion.

"My world was filled with Excel tables," Preti said. Han Shu financial software is driving me crazy. "Preti has done some research on the" cloud computing "software market before deciding to work with the Anglo-Thai software and services financial management accounting firm.

After comparing the company with Internet speed and Microsoft, Preti finally persuaded his company to extend the olive branch to the Anglo-Thai company of the United States.

Demand goods company will be the first fiscal quarter of 2008 for all the new software debugging and familiar with the work.

"We chose the right company," said Preti proudly. I myself and my team are involved in the debugging of the software, and the Anglo-Thai company also Gesanchaiwu sent technicians to guide. We will Han Shu financial software downloaded information into the template, and send it to the Anglo-Thai company. The company then sent the template data to the ' cloud '. In this way, Preti, as vice president of corporate finance, can get the data through the cloud at any time when needed. In addition to the low cost of software, the company also received a permanent software license agreement. "What is the most immediate benefit for companies using cloud finance?" According to Chris Peng, the chief analyst at the US Geithner market research firm, the company's finance department has spent less time achieving a significant increase in labour productivity. Because the software provider's configuration work, namely: "Cloud computing" implementation is mostly done through remote operation, this process produces an indisputable fact that the company's finance department to save a lot of time.

(Responsible editor: Lu Guang)