1. For Clarity, CFOs
Look to the Cloud
Bill.com survey shows early adopters
are getting first-mover advantage as
finance managers adopt the cloud
“We’re a fast growing In today’s high-pressure economic cli- to provide insight into how CFOs are
mate, CFOs and other financial manag- thinking about cloud-based financial
company and the only ers are aggressively searching for ways systems, whether they plan to imple-
to save money, maximize efficiency, ment the systems, and what they see
way we’ve been able and drive growth. Increasingly, cloud- as the advantages and disadvantages
achieve that is by lever- based financial tools are emerging as a of online tools for managing tasks like
solution that can help them accomplish accounts payable, accounts receivable,
aging cloud-based sys- their daily tasks more efficiently while and cash flow.
improving their cash flow management
tems like Bill.com. I can and visibility. Financial execs still foggy
tell you if we didn’t Yet, while most CFOs are aware that about the cloud
leverage that, we wouldn’t other departments are moving to While CFOs in general were familiar
cloud-based solutions, early adopters with the cloud, most were not yet
be able to grow as fast are just becoming aware that tools aware that new products were emerg-
exist for the finance department, acc- ing in this space, created specifically to
and efficiently as we have.” ording to a new research study by serve their needs. As a result, paper-
Bill.com. As a result, many CFOs based manual processes and static
David Ostrowe remain stuck in the past, continuing spreadsheets remain the standard
President, O&M to rely on paper-based processes and
Restaurant Group tools for financial executives, and
Excel spreadsheets to do their work. managing cash flow continues to be an
The survey, taken in August 2012, imprecise, time-consuming task. When
includes responses from 355 CFOs and asked what system they currently use
financial executives in a wide range of to predict future cash flow, 72.9% of
industries. The study is one of the first respondents said they still use their old

2. Excel spreadsheets, 8.5% use an ERP Could misconceptions 33% of respondents said no and 37%
system, and 8.3% said they just do the said they were unsure. Only 30%
calculations in their head. The remain- slow the move to online thought a cloud-based system could
ing 10.3% said they don’t use any tools systems? offer a better way. However, organiza-
at all. (See Figure 1.) tions that have embraced cloud-based
Why has it taken so long for CFOs to finance tools are realizing the tremen-
consider moving to the cloud? One dous value. A separate study of 541
theory is that some recall intense U.S. finance executives by Dimensional
technology projects from a decade Research found that 92% of organiza-
ago – projects that were notorious for tions using cloud-based planning tools
going over-budget, sucking up time in have seen improved results, demon-
intense user-training sessions, and not strating the first-mover advantage
integrating well with existing systems. already in place.
As a result, some financial executives
might dismiss technology initiatives Early adopters reap results,
as too risky and time-consuming. In reaffirm that cash is king
Figure 1.
fact, when asked what they think are
What System is Currently Used Early adopters who have switched to
to Predict Cash Flow? the biggest challenges in moving to
cloud-based financial systems told
a cloud environment, 64.1% of survey
Bill.com they have greatly improved
respondents said integration with
CFOs’ frustration with this status quo both their accounts receivable and
existing systems, 54.7% said system
was clearly expressed in the Bill.com accounts payable processes. Sav-
and network security, and 43.6% said
survey. When asked to name the top ing money and time are significant
introducing a new process.
three challenges faced by CFOs today, motivating factors for companies that
respondents cited the inability to fore- There is a widespread misconception are considering a cloud-based system.
cast results (51.1%) and manage cash that it can take from six months to a 65.2% of survey respondents said sav-
flow (47.4%) as their most pressing year to implement any new technol- ing dollars and hours would lead them
concerns. These numbers indicate that ogy, including cloud-based systems. to the cloud.
financial executives could greatly ben- One CEO of a large franchise chain
Indeed, knowing when customers will
efit from tools that provide real-time told Bill.com that he originally calcu-
pay is the number one problem faced
visibility into the amount of money lated it would take months to get all
by finance departments on a daily
they’re paying out and taking in, at 25 of his locations up and running on a
basis, according to the Bill.com study.
any given moment. cloud-based financial system. When he
Almost 59% of respondents cited it
finally made the transition, it took him
However, despite their general famil- as a top concern. Other high-level
under 2 hours.
iarity with the cloud, 16.5% of financial concerns, survey respondents said, are
executives said that, as far as they In reality, cloud-based systems are easi- difficulty estimating cash flow (55.7%)
know, cash flow management tools er to implement than other software and slow action by those employees
and systems are nonexistent in the packages, in large part due to new who are tasked with approving invoices
market. Only 22% said they know the technology and open APIs. Most cloud to be paid (46.3%). (See Figure 2.)
tools exist but their company doesn’t applications are built from the ground
use them. up with the goal of lowering the cost,
time, and risk of integrating them with
These results show cloud-based tools, existing on-premise and on-demand
especially those for cash flow manage- applications. This means companies
ment, are still emerging in the market can implement cloud systems in record
place and that defining this new space time and users can reap the benefits
and educating the market will be with minimal training.
critical work for companies leading in
this new cloud-based financial pay- The more likely factor in CFOs’
ments space. For early adopting CFOs, responses is not misgivings from the
Figure 2.
deploying tools that are on the brink of past, but simply a lack of education What Are the Top 3 Problems Faced by
changing the financial industry will give around the space, a space that has Your Finance Department?
them a competitive advantage as they only started to take shape in the past
leapfrog past other companies, due to two years. When asked if they believe
their increased efficiency, effectiveness, it’s possible to eliminate the hassle of
and cost-savings. paying bills with a cloud-based system,

3. This last number comes as no surprise, However, by using the cloud, compa- Another incentive for moving to the
given the inefficient workflows and ap- nies could reduce the cost of sending cloud is the chance to reduce the
proval processes that hobble most or- invoices, while collecting receivables flow of paper bills and transition to a
ganizations. Financial executives have 2 to 3 times faster. In terms of hard paperless work environment. The vast
long complained about paper-based numbers, a small company sending an majority of survey respondents (85.5%)
invoices and expense reports that take average of 100 invoices a month would said reducing paper was either very
weeks or months to be approved, cut their expenses from $2200 to $750 important or somewhat important
because people put them aside, forget per month by using the cloud, accord- to them. Only 14.5% said it was not
about them, or file them under a pile ing to separate research conducted important at all.
of other papers. As a result, bills get by Bill.com.
paid too late and cash flow forecasts
Similarly, financial executives are
Cloud opens new horizons
grow ever more unpredictable.
discovering that, by putting their AP There is nothing more important to
The cloud can alleviate many of these process in the cloud, they can cut the CFOs than control—control over cash
problems, say CFOs who have adopt- work by more than half and slash the flow, payables, and receivables. At a
ed online invoicing and billing systems. cost by 50% to over 70%, a saving that moment’s notice, they need to know
For instance, online finance services amounts to tens of thousands of dol- what the business is doing and where
enable them to better track bills and lars for many organizations. In fact, a it’s going. They need intelligent finan-
monitor the approval process. That’s company with an average of 100 bills a cial systems that can accurately predict
because these payables tools eliminate month that uses a cloud-based system what will happen and when—systems
the inefficiencies of manual processing. can reduce costs from $3800 to $309 a that give them deeper insight to their
Instead, invoices to be paid are auto- month, according to industry research. cash flow and help them discern loom-
matically routed to the right person for ing shortages before they happen.
approval and prioritized for attention. Financial executives who have adopted
In fact, when asked the one piece
online systems also value the ability
of advice they’d offer as an industry
On the receivables side, finance pro- to approve bills remotely, wherever
expert, 31.9% of survey respondents
fessionals who use cloud-based tools they happen to be. One CFO noted
recommended implementing business
said on average they get paid faster that a cloud-based system unchained
controls, while 26.8% said automating
than they did using traditional paper him from the office and allowed him to
to avoid human error.
systems. In addition, when asked how approve an important invoice from his
much it costs their Accounts Receiv- mobile phone, while watching his child As cloud-based financial tools gain
able organization to process and send compete in a local swim meet. wider attention, CFOs will increasingly
an invoice, 38.7% of respondents said turn to these solutions to achieve bet-
under $5 and 32.2% said $5 to $10. Another priority that was uncovered
ter control, efficiency, and ROI.
In fact, the majority of respondents in the survey is that CFOs are looking
For early adopters, deploying cloud-
are likely underestimating the cost to implement systems that can help
based tools will result in a significant
because they’re not fully factoring in their business grow. Some 43% of
advantage in an increasingly competi-
the price of labor, materials, and other respondents said scalability was one of
tive marketplace, which will be driven
inputs. According to industry stan- the factors that would influence them
by more pioneering cloud-based solu-
dards, the average cost of processing to adopt cloud-based services. Only
tions as the cloud business payment
and sending an invoice is actually over 24.8% said scalability was not a factor,
space matures.
$22. (See Figure 3.) while 32.2% said they were unsure.
Figure 3.
How much does it cost your organization to pro-
cess and send an invoice (including labor costs)?
3200 Ash Street
Palo Alto, CA 94306
Main 650.353.3301 | Fax 650.644.0293 | www.Bill.com