Time to Get Saas-Y? Considerations for Successful Finance Transformation

Jennifer Segall, Tax Director, ASTEC

Jennifer Segall, Tax Director, ASTEC

The below viewpoints are my own and are in no way representative of my current nor prior employers.

Have you ever examined a process in your finance & accounting function and thought “there has to be a better way”? You may have uncovered an opportunity ripe for transformation. As a senior tax professional with 16 years working for multi-billion US public multinationals, I have experienced several transformation initiatives of all sizes. Examples include tax initiatives such as Onesource Income Tax & Provision and Global transformations such as Oracle Cloud. I have experienced a myriad of issues that can make or break the success of finance transformation. Many of eight considerations below are applicable to options other than a SAAS, or efforts outside of finance.

1. Choose low hanging fruit. CFO’s, CAO’s, and Heads of Tax are continually asked to do more with less. A challenge I’ve seen with transformation efforts is selecting what to transform. Another is starting off too large in scope. Especially at smaller organizations, it is key to start small to build momentum and not overwhelm staff. Brainstorm within your team to determine the low hanging fruit: processes that chew up time and would take minimal investment to transform.

2. Make the case. A robust business case is essential for articulating the potential of the investment and receiving approval. Questions to consider for making the case are:

• What are the cost savings? Always remember that time is money. Could your team insource work previously outsourced?

• What is the opportunity cost? In what areas can your staff better allocate their time to drive value? What does it cost to not make the investment?

• How can quality be increased, and risk be reduced? I’ve seen audit deficiencies due to inadequate technology to complete items such as the tax provision. Selecting a tax software or SAAS is one way to minimize risk in this area.

• How does this allow your team members to upskill? One factor in employee retention is giving employees learning opportunities to upskill and leverage new skills in their work.

“ If you remember one thing, I hope it’s this: technology is only as good as the data put into it and the people who build it, use it, and partner with you ”

3. Determine cross functional impact and involve key stakeholders. Questions that can be used in selecting a process for transformation are:

• Is the process in your case like those in other departments?

• Can other teams leverage the same technology for minimal additional cost?

• How does this impact the work of other teams? Technology can have cross-functional impacts without being used by multiple teams. An example is implementing Onesource Tax Provision as your Internal Audit team will need to be involved to determine impact on internal controls and risk assessment. Your IT team may need to be involved if Onesource is set up to access the general ledger. Reach out to determine cross-functional impacts early and invite key stakeholders in the decision and implementation process.

4. Select a vendor who will partner with you. Any good consultant can sell you something, but the best vendor is one that will partner with you throughout your transformation journey. Seek a vendor who values relationship building and adding value at every point in the process. Questions to determine the vendor’s ability to add value are:

• Is there a free trial period that allows you use of the technology without a commitment?

• Does the vendor offer support in building a business case by solving a specific problem?

• If yes to the above, do they have a high-level understanding of accounting or tax so they can relate to your organization’s SME’s issues and roadblocks?

• Are they willing to share stories from clients who have solved similar issues?

• Do they continue to stay in contact and add value even without an investment?

• Once the sale is made, do they stay involved or have a customer success team?

• Are they proactive in contacting their clients and solving product issues?

5. Know your current state to get to future state. A basic tenant of problem solving is understanding where you are to arrive at where you desire to be. Organizations choose finance transformation because their current technology does not meet their present and future needs. Knowing your processes inside and out and understanding who does what in your organization is key to articulating what needs to change to get to future state. Transformation efforts also provide the opportunity to bolster documentation on existing processes and knowledge base of people within your organization.

6. Perform fit-gap analyses. Once the desired future state is known, you need to chart the path to get there. Performing fit-gap analyses do just that. From a talent perspective, complete a fit-gap analysis to determine what skills and tasks are required vs. the capacity of your existing employees. This aids in deciding whether your organization has the capacity to fully insource the transformation initiative, co-source, or outsource. From technology perspective, a fit-gap analysis can determine to what extent the canned or default setup is sufficient, or if customizations are required to meet your organization’s needs.

7. Change management is key. Change management or the lack thereof can make or break transformation efforts. A reason to involve others is to grow change advocates. This is imperative for global efforts such as implementing Oracle Cloud. It may be 2023 but people are still hesitant to change. Have empathy for other’s concerns such as the learning curve that comes with new technology, time needed for implementation and testing, and the potential job insecurity. What operational training is available for onboarding employees, both new and existing? The more you have employees on board, the greater chance you have for success.

Technology can’t transform by itself. If you remember one thing, I hope it’s this: technology is only as good as the data put into it and the people who build it, use it, and partner with you. Considering the above will enable your organization to get the most “bang for your buck” and increase the likelihood of a successful finance transformation journey.