Why your firm’s journey to the cloud is a long-term project
Many firms are thinking increasingly long and hard about shifting all kinds of functions to the cloud. From data and information storage to finance functions such as payroll, there are increasingly few areas in which the cloud isn’t having an effect on a finance leader’s plans. Here in Britain, it’s believed that 88% of organisations use some sort of cloud-based tool – and the trend towards cloud-based products and software is on the rise. But how exactly does a shift to the cloud work – and what are the long-term considerations?
Choosing your cloud type
If you plan to move your firm’s finance functions into the cloud, there’s a whole host of hoops to jump through. The first one is to familiarise yourself with the sort of cloud services you need. Many finance functions can be carried out in the cloud, such as centralised payment management and the monitoring of dynamic cash flow models.
You’ll most likely have to choose between a public, private and a hybrid cloud – all three of which have their advantages and disadvantages. In essence, public clouds have shared virtualised servers, while private cloud servers are entirely your own. Public servers tend to be more flexible, but private servers can be especially handy if you require a large amount of processing power. Perhaps you have a distributed team with lots of members in each location, all of whom are running CPU-heavy specialist finance packages. In that case, private clouds could represent better return on investment.
Securing the buy-in
A move to the cloud requires you to get the buy-in of a number of key decision-makers within the organisation. There’s a significant amount of misinformation about the cloud, and high-profile cloud data breaches in recent years have not helped. As a finance leader looking to move some operations of what is probably a firm’s most sensitive department into the cloud, you may be forced to explain how the move won’t expose the firm to financial crime or fraud. Explaining security features such as advanced perimeter firewalls and encryption is therefore a good idea.
There is also a real future planning element to this, especially when it comes to projecting future cash flows. Cloud services are often subscription based – so if you’re not able to sustain a commitment in months or years to come, then your cloud move may have to be reversed. If your decision-makers are concerned about committing resources to a cloud move for several years to come, then choosing a public cloud option with adjustable, elastic pricing is a good move as it means that you can scale your service up and down depending on organisational requirements.
From the perspective of the C-suite, choosing a reliable and respectable supplier is the key here. The strategic priority of reducing organisational risk cannot be achieved if the services of an unreliable cloud is engaged and becomes a weak link in the security chain. But by running a rigorous procurement process to identify a firm with a strong track record, you can ensure your C-suite is on board.
Moving your software, your files, or any sort of regular process to the cloud is simple enough, but it’s the sort of job that requires long-term commitment. It’s not a case of simply flicking a switch – and it’s vital that you recognise this before getting started.
Learn more about The Access Group’s cloud accounting software here.
