No doubt about it, the cloud is transforming and improving the way business is done today — from improving strategic planning (such as streamlined processes, access to real-time data, improved flexibility, reduced capital and corporate costs) to how services are delivered and much more.

Cloud technologies are having a growing and very positive impact on corporate finance as well. I’ll be digging deeper on this subject with special guest Paul Hamerman, a Forrester VP and principal analyst, in a webinar replay coming soon to the Host Analytics website. Paul will share his views on how the cloud is transforming today’s corporate financial management and offer first-hand guidelines and tips when selecting modern technologies such as the cloud to enhance and move businesses forward.

Specifically, our conversation will cover:

• How to analyze trends in technology that are changing the way companies buy and use business applications;
• How to explore the differences between SaaS, cloud hosting and on-premise delivery models, and the cost-of-ownership considerations for each;
• How to assess the impact of SaaS in finance and accounting, and the key drivers for adoption.

This past weekend I did a bit of “spring cleaning” at home. I thought a lot about what was working and what I should keep and what wasn’t working so well that I should rethink and/or toss. For any IT organization that isn’t already on the cloud train should this is an excellent time to apply this same philosophy to their technology plan and seriously consider cloud technology adoption for their business. Take a step back and consider what’s working, what isn’t and is there a better way to get the job done. I truly believe you’ll find success in cloud.

Earlier today, Host Analytics unveiled the next generation of Decision Hub for finance professionals and I couldn’t be more excited.  For a full rundown of all the key features, check it out here: http://hostanalytics.com/Products/decisionhub.aspx.             

Decision Hub brings an impressive set of features and resources together in one centralized location all with one common denominator— making life for the finance executive simpler.  

As CFO at Host Analytics, this outcome is certainly appealing to me.  I know all too well the difficulties CFOs and financial teams more broadly face as they try to get a complete, global, accurate and current view of their business, as well as the decisions they face.  That includes the important potential impact of external drivers and the guidance that understanding industry context and competitive realities can provide.  To do this right means managing and mastering select information that until now has remained hard to find because it is scattered across the web.

Once the information is found, added to these challenges is the manual process of cutting and pasting into our most important applications, tools, and reports.  It almost certainly creates errors, adding costs and hindering finance team productivity.
�
Many businesses are still relying on spreadsheets of data to make even their most important decisions, and according to a recent survey 47% of small and medium sized enterprises doubt the data they’re using in metrics and performance indicators is accurate or up to date ( http://searchbusinessanalytics.techtarget.com/news/2240037855/SMEs-still-hesitant-to-move-beyond-spreadsheets-for-advanced-analytics ).  Bad data leads to bad decisions, and the risk multiplies over time as our companies scale and the stakes becoming higher.

The beauty of Decision Hub is its simplicity.  For the CFO and the finance team, getting access to integrated external content such as benchmarking data, macro-economic indicator data, and currency exchange rate data is as easy as downloading an application for a mobile phone.  The ability to subscribe to only the data you need means you won’t get bombarded with useless figures.  With Decision Hub, the days of scouring the Web for external financial drivers and data, then manually cutting and pasting that data into applications and reports are gone.  

Previously, only the biggest Fortune 500 companies could afford such complex and high value added services.  Because Decision Hub is integrated into Host Analytics’ SaaS-based corporate performance management (CPM) suite, these capabilities are now available to any company, without having to devote an army of resources to make it work.  And for our existing customers, it’s there and ready to use.  We are proud to be the first vendor to offer a SaaS-based financial data resource such as this and look forward hearing what you think about it.