What Are Cloud Financial Management Tools?
efore we get started discussing the benefits of cloud financial management tools, it may be useful to clearly define which tools we are going to be referring to in this blog. Cloud financial management tools (like SunSystems Cloud and others) are software applications that allow businesses to manage their financial information, perform accounting tasks, and keep track of their finances, all on a virtual platform.
As time has gone on and technology has advanced, both manual methods of tracking financial information and more traditional accounting software solutions have shown that they can be time-consuming, and error-prone. Investing in cloud financial management tools is a step towards an effective digital transformation at your company, and a new (and better) way of carrying out your accounting operations.
The Main Benefits of Cloud Financial Management Tools
Increased Efficiency and Accuracy
Cloud financial management tools are a game-changer for businesses seeking to streamline their finances, because they bring a new level of automation, centralisation, and security to financial management. By investing in these tools and making proper use of them, businesses can take advantage of a number of advantages over more traditional methods – leading to increased financial efficiency and growth.
Accounting tasks are known to be one of the areas where businesses can waste large amounts of valuable time and resources. However, cloud financial management tools can automate these tasks, in turn freeing up employees to focus on more complex financial operations. This results in increased efficiency and productivity.
Moreover, SunSystems Cloud and other cloud financial management tools help to reduce the risk of errors – or worse – fraud. By automating processes such as accounts payable and receivable, reconciliation, and invoicing, these tools help to minimise the risk of data inaccuracies that if left unchecked, could lead to major financial issues down the line.
Lastly from an efficiency standpoint, don’t forget that because cloud financial management tools such as SunSystems Cloud, can automate the data entry process and integrate data from various sources more reliably than humans can, cloud financial management tools are able to provide highly-detailed financial reports that deliver valuable information and insights from all departments, divisions or locations within your company. Management can then use those insights to practise better, more informed decision-making.
Cost Reduction
One of the most appealing reasons for businesses to invest in cloud financial management tools is the cost reduction opportunities they offer. By adopting tools like SunSystems Cloud, companies can eliminate the need for expensive hardware and software, thereby saving them a significant amount of money. Additionally, the task automation capabilities that cloud financial management solutions bring may also mean that a company needs to hire less staff – again presenting a cost saving in terms of extra salaries that they do not need to pay.
Of course however, the idea behind making these savings may not just be about keeping more money in a company’s coffers – the money not spent here can instead be re-invested elsewhere, potentially bringing even more benefits in other areas.
Centralisation of Financial Data
Hosting your business-critical data in solutions such as SunSystems Cloud, or a similar solution on TouchstoneCloud provides you with access to real-time financial information, enabling you to act, react, and immediately realise the financial impact of your business decisions. In addition to putting your finger much closer to your business’ financial pulse, these cloud financial management tools also centralise your data – putting everything in one place so that all stakeholders can access it as they need to.
Such an approach eliminates the need for files to be transferred between parties, and the risk of multiple different versions of the same files existing, each dating from different times and having different amendments made to them. Such an approach gives your company that ‘single vision of truth’ that is crucial to effective collaboration within a business – as a result the use of cloud-based financial management tools can also promote enhanced collaboration and communication within your business.
Visions of the present, and the future
Because they work with your company’s ‘real’ financial analytics data, in addition to giving you an accurate picture of your company’s financial health and situation in the here-and-now, cloud financial management tools like SunSystems Cloud can also provide you with a reliable vision of the future thanks to enhanced forecasting and financial planning capabilities. With these insights in-hand, your company will be able to plan for the future with confidence, better analyse trends, identify areas for improvement, and make more informed financial decisions.
Enhanced Security
We live in an age where sadly data breaches are a threat, and one that can cause huge financial losses and damage to an organisation’s reputation if the right protective and preventative steps aren’t taken to prevent or mitigate them. However, the good news is that the experts behind cloud financial management tools such as SunSystems Cloud, understand the risks and threats that your data faces, and so to protect your data they offer a level of security that traditional methods simply cannot. Centralising financial data on cloud platforms, the data can be secured by encryption, multi-factor authentication, and monitoring software that can detect cyberattacks much faster, compared to in-house solutions.
Secure data transmission and storage ensure that sensitive financial data is protected from unauthorised access. Meanwhile, auditing processes mean less hassle for your human workforce as things like auditing and the creation and maintenance of audit trails can be automated. All of this means your company can track who accessed or modified any given piece of data and what changes were made.
As an added bonus, implementing cloud financial management tools can also help to identify potential cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities. The cloud system provider is also usually able to handle security patches and updates on behalf of your company – this is certainly the case when you partner with TouchstoneFMS – and helps to ensure that everything is always up-to-date and as protected as possible, even against the newest of threats.
Conclusion
To sum up, cloud financial management tools such as SunSystems Cloud, or another solution hosted via TouchstoneCloud can have numerous benefits for businesses. There are of course the ones that we’ve spoken about here today, but it should also be pointed out that the advantages mentioned in this blog do not constitute a complete list. There are others – such as easier and more complete regulatory compliance – that we haven’t spoken about here, simply because there are too many possibilities in terms of applicable regulations depending on where a company operates geographically and the industry (or industries) that they work in.
For more personalised advice on how the adoption of cloud financial management tools can benefit your business specifically, why not contact TouchstoneFMS today?
