In the last few years, the demands on the finance department -- from real-time reporting to global consolidation -- have increased significantly. At the same time, the choices for accounting and financial software have become much more complex. How do you begin to research, evaluate and select the right software for your business? Download The 2012 Buyer's Guide to Accounting and Financial Software and learn:
The different software options available: on-premise, hosted, and cloud computing
The 7 step evaluation process for selecting accounting applications
What's different about the cloud and what are the benefits for the finance department?
How to calculate ROI of cloud computing versus on-premises software
THE 2013 BUYER'S GUIDE
TO ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL SOFTWARE
The New Factors to Consider2013 BUYER'S GUIDE TO ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL SOFTWARE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
CLOUD COMPUTING: THE NEW OPTION IN FINANCIAL SOFTWARE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
COMPARISON CHART: SOFTWARE DELIVERY MODELS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE BENEFITS OF CLOUD COMPUTING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
THE BASIC EVALUATION PROCESSES ENDURE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
BUT, WHAT'S DIFFERENT IN CLOUD COMPUTING?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
BE AN INFORMED BUYER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
VIRTUAL HOLD TECHNOLOGY ADOPTS INTACCT AND SAVES NEARLY $100K ANNUALLY. . . . . . . 12
CONCLUSION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
22013 BUYER'S GUIDE TO ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL SOFTWARE
INTRODUCTION
As the world increasingly embraces a 24x7, borderless model for business, the demands on
spiraling overhead costs, functional limitations, and unnecessary risks. And that makes it all the more challenging for them to respond to the escalating complexity of this new business climate which is more real-time and faster changing than ever before - encompassing frequent regulatory change and increased compliance challenges coupled with an expectation of Internet-speed business management and visibility across multiple entities, multiple currencies, and multiple tax and regulatory frameworks.
back to the late 1980's, following the shift in the workplace from DOS to Microsoft Windows.
born out of this transition twenty years ago. And this is why so many companies are struggling
Internet and were never designed for today's always on, always connected, rapidly changing world.
of choices - choices that are designed and built for the modern, connected real-time world. By
the organization. It means faster execution of traditionally complex consolidations and period closes. And it means exceptionally rapid ROI.
32013 BUYER'S GUIDE TO ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL SOFTWARE
CLOUD COMPUTING: THE NEW OPTION IN FINANCIAL SOFTWARE
more choices than ever before, typically falling into three major categories:
. On-Premises - The traditional implementation where you purchase software and run it on your own servers - on-premises software deployment - remains a viable option for some companies who have the IT infrastructure, investment capital, and expertise to support and maintain major software applications. However, for small and mid-sized organizations, the high capital and operating expenses associated with deployment, operations, support, customization, integration, maintenance, and upgrades have become too great to sustain.
. Hosted Solutions - In a hosted environment, the software physically resides at a remote data center operated by an expert third-party hosting provider. Users access the software - a
that allows them to see the screens that are being generated at the hosting provider. This eliminates the responsibility of maintaining a hardware infrastructure. But companies still face the same customization, upgrade, and integration headaches and support and service that drive up costs. Because with hosting, you are still running that same old 1980's era software with all the headaches that it implies - you are just accessing it remotely.
. Cloud Computing - Also known as "software as a service" (SaaS), cloud computing
Here, the application vendor develops a shared, scalable system that users access over the Internet - just like Google, Amazon, WebEx or on-line banking. The client does not need to buy, license, operate, or mana... [download for more]
