What Does Oracle EPM Cloud Offer the CFO?

Traditionally, the finance department has been more resistant to change, and slower to adopt disruptive technologies such as cloud computing. Yet the same advantages that the cloud has to offer other parts of the business – such as flexibility, scalability, lower costs, and ease of access – apply to financial processes as well.

According to a 2017 survey, 73 percent of chief financial officers reported that they trusted the cloud to hold their information, which represents a major increase from only 33 percent in 2014. In this article, we’ll discuss five of the biggest catalysts that have caused more and more CFOs to turn to cloud finance platforms such as Oracle EPM Cloud.

1. Efficiency

Repetitive, tedious, transactional activities are the bane of every finance department. Less than a quarter of finance time is spent on delivering real business insights.

Moving to Oracle EPM Cloud means that you can offload a great deal of your technology infrastructure to a third-party cloud vendor, opening up possibilities for process automation. More than half of CFOs list lack of time and lack of skills as the biggest barriers to automation in their company – both of which can be solved by a cloud migration.

By automating trivial and tedious manual activities, finance team members can spend more time analyzing the data and generating insightful reports, so that CFOs can make the right decisions for their company’s financial health.

2. Cost Savings

Oracle EPM Cloud, like most cloud software, uses a recurring monthly or annual payment model, rather than a single purchase. Many finance departments prefer operating expenses to capital expenses because they’re more flexible and free them from the obligations of support and maintenance.

Thanks to the pay-as-you-go model of the cloud, companies can launch new projects without having to make a large upfront investment. In turn, this facilitates innovation and experimentation.

3. Agility

Because cloud computing is now a well-established best practice, there are offerings that fit the needs of any organization, from tiny startups to giant multinationals. Hybrid cloud solutions, for example, allow companies to leverage the benefits of the cloud while maintaining some legacy systems on-premises.

Many technology providers, including Oracle, now roll out software updates to their customers in the cloud before they reach the on-premises version, which gives clients faster access to new features. This is because cloud software can be automatically updated, without the need to plan for extensive downtime.

4. Business Intelligence

Before the great cloud migration, business intelligence and analytics were often handled in separate software applications. However, Oracle EPM Cloud’s financial applications come with reporting and analytics capabilities embedded directly in the software.

For example, managers and executives can build self-service dashboards with exactly the metrics and KPIs that they need to track on a day-to-day basis.

5. Governance and Compliance

A strong governance policy is essential to the role of the CFO, including data governance. Oracle EPM Cloud helps support organizational governance by establishing a single source and version of the truth for your financial data.

In addition, moving to the cloud helps you establish a digital “paper trail” for your transactions and processes. This makes it easier to prove your compliance with financial regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley in the event of an audit, as well as accounting principles such as GAAP.