Iplicit surveyed 1,000 decision makers to determine UK financial professionals’ top problems, including legacy accounting software and industry goals.
The top three issues encountered by UK financial decision makers have been disclosed by accounting software company iplicit, as legacy accounting software continues to have a detrimental effect on organizations’ bottom lines.
iplicit polled 1,000 finance professionals in the UK who use financial accounting software on a daily basis to find out what obstacles they see in changing accounting software and what their companies’ future goals are. Out of more than ten possibilities, the top three things that frustrate UK finance decision-makers about their current accounting software are as follows:
- Accessing remotely and sharing data with coworkers is time-consuming (14%).
- Its integration with other current systems is subpar (11%).
- It’s challenging to produce the reports they require (10%)
“The research raises serious concerns for the accounting and finance profession,” said Paul Sparkes, commercial director at iplicit, “with remote and hybrid working practices here to stay, the four-day working week becoming a reality and an increasing pressure on companies to provide fit-for-purpose equipment.”
“Providers of accounting software must take action and offer solutions that can accommodate contemporary work procedures.
The main issue is that the existing approach makes it difficult to share data with colleagues remotely. Respondents also express dissatisfaction over the current solution’s poor integration with other systems and its difficulty in producing the necessary reports.
Ironically, since there is a greater need for cloud solutions, integration issues have grown in importance.
“Organizations must lower operational risk and become more nimble”
Even while many businesses have successfully integrated finance, ERP, CRM, and e-commerce technologies while operating on-premises, traditional vendors’ cloud deployments have not been able to adequately mimic this, particularly as businesses quickly transition to remote working.
Older finance systems combined with restricted data sharing and reporting capabilities can substantially impede a business’s capacity to innovate and adapt in a financial world that is changing quickly. They can also result in operational inefficiencies, higher costs, and compliance issues.
Additionally, Sparkes clarified, “It is not easy to migrate an accounting system that is intended to run on-premises into the cloud. Most significantly, security flaws lead to a severely restricted system that eliminates all communication with other essential systems.
“A common (workaround) method is for the vendor to host the system in a private cloud in order to provide remote access. However, this is wholly devoid of the freedom and agility offered by solutions created especially for a true cloud platform.
“Businesses need to be more agile and lower operational risk in a challenging global economy. Modern, cloud-first systems offer an array of features to deliver those goals and avoid costly surprises.”
“It is imperative that businesses invest in cutting-edge cloud-first technology”
The iplicit analysis emphasizes how outdated accounting software still can’t offer the flexibility that modern organizations need, even when it’s moved to the cloud. A further source of concern for mid-sized organizations is the fact that many smaller enterprises, who can afford to use entry-level solutions, can nevertheless profit from genuine cloud software even though they won’t have access to all the features they’ll need as they expand.
Sparkes came to the following conclusion: “To help satisfy the needs of the modern finance function, firms must invest in current cloud-first technology that integrates systems and sophisticated data-sharing capabilities. The onus is primarily on accounting software companies to demonstrate how their product can enhance operations, save costs, and support both employees and clients while having a positive financial impact.
