Despite the fact that many CFOs have been late to the table in the cloud revolution, cloud computing is having a major impact on the jobs of enterprise finance leaders. As the concerns about security, data location and control are allayed with one success story after another, the question is no longer “to cloud or not to cloud” but “how and what to cloud.”
Four misconceptions have traditionally framed CFOs’ thinking about cloud-based solutions, but over time each one has less and less power. Here are the myths and the logic that undoes them.
- The biggest reason to use the cloud is to save money. While cloud solutions are often less expensive than on-premises systems, total cost of ownership is perhaps the least of the benefits. Most companies find that the cloud’s adaptability, scalability, ease of access, and use as an enabling tool to improve financial operations and value far outweigh whatever savings they might calculate.
- The cloud is less secure than on-premises systems. CFOs are naturally concerned with security regardless of the platform, but most concerns about cloud security are fading. Today’s CFOs recognize that cloud systems, which are built with the latest security technologies, are an order of magnitude more secure than the typical enterprise Finance mix of traditional, siloed, and fragmented on-premises solutions.
- To have control over a system, the software and data itself must be within your reach. The “fallacy of direct control” is an easy one to buy into, but it is being disproven. Many cloud providers offer customer-specified data location, but control is typically easier and more accessible with cloud systems than on-premises systems.
- The cloud won’t interoperate with our other systems. In fact, cloud-based finance systems, aided by middleware layers and APIs provided by the cloud vendors, frequently allow for the development of a more holistic ecosystem that enables easier integration of data from anywhere in the enterprise.
Unlike in years past, when cloud vendors had to answer questions as to whether cloud was a viable strategy, the procurement process today is much more likely to begin with an assumption that it is. And this true when it comes to CFOs considering what they need for a financial system. In more and more cases, when leaders list the capabilities that will be most valuable and desirable to their firm, the solutions that provide those capabilities will be cloud-based.
