Cookies help us display personalized product recommendations and ensure you have great shopping experience.

By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    data driven insights
    How Data-Driven Insights Are Addressing Gaps in Patient Communication and Equity
    8 Min Read
    pexels pavel danilyuk 8112119
    Data Analytics Is Revolutionizing Medical Credentialing
    8 Min Read
    data and seo
    Maximize SEO Success with Powerful Data Analytics Insights
    8 Min Read
    data analytics for trademark registration
    Optimizing Trademark Registration with Data Analytics
    6 Min Read
    data analytics for finding zip codes
    Unlocking Zip Code Insights with Data Analytics
    6 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-25 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Intacct Improves Cloud of Collaboration, Payments and Reporting
Share
Notification
Font ResizerAa
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > IT > Cloud Computing > Intacct Improves Cloud of Collaboration, Payments and Reporting
Cloud ComputingData ManagementInside CompaniesITSoftware

Intacct Improves Cloud of Collaboration, Payments and Reporting

Robert Kugel
Robert Kugel
0 Min Read
SHARE

vr_bti_br_technology_innovation_prioritiesFinancial management software provider Intacct recently vr_bti_br_technology_innovation_prioritiesFinancial management software provider Intacct recently held its fourth annual user conference. In addition to a long list of enhancements in current and upcoming product releases, the company used the occasion to announce Intacct Collaborate, a capability built into its software that enables finance and accounting organizations to work together to answer questions or resolve issues while performing a process. Our benchmark research shows that collaboration ranks second in importance behind analytics as a technology innovation priority. Collaborative capabilities in software will multiply over the next several years as software transitions from the rigid constructs established in the client/server days, which force users to adapt to the limitations of the software, to fluid and dynamic designs that mold themselves around the needs of the user. A while back, I noted that finance and accounting organizations need collaborative capabilities although they might not realize it. At the same time, finance departments have their own requirements for these systems that reflect the character and constraints of the work they do. This means narrowcast, not broadcast, feeds (Finance doesn’t want a Facebook or Twitter experience because it considers much of what it does to be confidential) and in-context collaborative capabilities to simplify the working environment.

Intacct Collaborate can address these needs. Built on Salesforce Chatter, it enables a company to connect finance, accounting, sales, customer support and other functions across all financial processes on a variety of devices, including mobile ones, allowing anywhere, anytime conversations to speed approvals. Collaborate eliminates the need to leave the Intacct environment to send email or instant messages. Instead, the discussion takes place in context, for example, while resolving a customer billing or credit issue, a project time card or a purchase order, or in handling a journal entry. These discussions remain part of the invoice, purchase order, journal entry and can be referenced at any later date if questions arise or to inform internal or external auditors about the context of some action. The addition of collaborative capabilities is an important step for Intacct. Having collaborative capabilities in a financial application is rapidly evolving from “Why do I need this?” to a must-have capability because of its impact on productivity, organizational effectiveness and financial and operational controls. Companies that already license Chatter will be able to use it as their work environment, meaning that, for example, sales and customer service representatives who are working in Salesforce do not have to move to Intacct to facilitate the resolution of an invoice issue. The user company is not charging an additional fee for Collaborate: It’s part of the service. However, individual employees who do not already have a Chatter license must acquire a nominal Intacct license to be able to work with other Intacct users.

Intacct also announced that it is partnering with American Express Global Corporate Payments to offer an automated check payment service. After establishing the service, the customer clicks on a button on the invoice screen that sends the payment information to American Express, which creates the check and mails it to the recipient, while the invoice is closed and posted. The main attraction for Intacct customers is that the nominal charge per check is likely less than their fully loaded cost of producing and mailing one themselves; there is the added benefit of reducing the risk of having check stock on hand in a company. Moreover, creating and mailing checks is one of those chores that soak up far more time than companies realize. Intacct cited an average of two to four hours per week that a midsize company spends on printing and sending checks. Other than saving time and money, the payment process for Intacct customers will be unchanged because it doesn’t require any relationship with American Express. The funds come directly out of the company’s bank account, and all of the company’s existing fraud controls and payment processes remain in place. The service is limited to the United States, but this is where the bulk of Intacct’s customers currently are located and have business relationships. It’s not clear what the economic benefits are for American Express, but this is just the first step in a strategy that would enable that company to develop higher value (and more lucrative) payment and cash management services for the Intacct customer base. American Express intends to develop working capital management services, add international payments (that might offer better foreign exchange rates than most companies can get with their local bank) and ultimately offer a range of treasury management services, including analytics, forecasting and cash management.

Analytics, reporting and data visualization have long been weak spots in cloud ERP systems designed for midsize companies. Intacct recognized this and has been making improvements in this area. For example, its latest release enables users to drill down into the underlying details of the performance cards on its dashboards. The company plans to make a stream of these sorts of improvements next year in its quarterly releases.

More Read

cybersecurity experts
How to Recruit Cybersecurity Experts You Can Trust
What Is Network Virtualization?
Six Steps to Transition to the Private Cloud
How to Increase Your Privacy Online
Risk and Five Sigma Events – Can They Happen to You?

One of Intacct’s objectives is to change the design of reporting from serving accountants pushing numbers to giving decision-makers ready access to the information they need through dashboards that support management by exception and self-service reporting. Self-service reporting is designed to eliminate the time spent by analysts and others in finance organization on repetitive work with limited value so they can focus on more valuable tasks. In many midsize companies, it’s not uncommon for even a finance executive to spend time creating periodic reports, which is certainly not the best use of that individual’s time. As I’ve noted, self-service reporting starts with the basic assumption that individuals in organizations must be able to retrieve information they need from the systems they use and take responsibility for doing so. This supplements but does not replace periodic enterprise reporting, dashboards, scorecards and other such “push” communication methods.

vr_bti_br_widespread_use_of_cloud_computingAll of Intacct’s advances come in the context of cloud computing. Our benchmark research shows that more than half (55%) of companies are using cloud computing, and one-third (34%) more intend to. Cloud deployment has come to dominate many business application categories such as HR, marketing, sales, and travel and entertainment expense reporting, displacing on-premises deployments On the other hand, ERP is still firmly based on-premises, providing ongoing license revenue for software vendors, although revenue for cloud ERP vendors has been growing faster than on-premises in the past few years. Until now, many companies have been reluctant to embrace the cloud for ERP. That is likely to change over the coming decade as security issues diminish and companies decide to take advantage of the cloud’s benefits. Automated payments and better collaborative capabilities can make a cloud-based system such as Intacct’s more attractive. I recommend that companies replace entry-level accounting packages that no longer support their ability to grow. Many of these companies will find that a cloud-based offering is the most practical option. Likewise midsize companies that need to replace their existing on-premises financial management system also should weigh the pros and cons of a cloud-based package. Both these types of companies should evaluate Intacct as an option.

Share This Article
Facebook Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

accountant using ai
AI Improves Integrity in Corporate Accounting
Exclusive
ai and law enforcement
Forensic AI Technology is Doing Wonders for Law Enforcement
Artificial Intelligence Exclusive
langgraph and genai
LangGraph Orchestrator Agents: Streamlining AI Workflow Automation
Artificial Intelligence Exclusive
ai fitness app
Will AI Replace Personal Trainers? A Data-Driven Look at the Future of Fitness Careers
Artificial Intelligence Big Data Exclusive

Stay Connected

1.2kFollowersLike
33.7kFollowersFollow
222FollowersPin

You Might also Like

Big Data Is More Valuable with Kapow

6 Min Read
Image
Data Management

Compliance Could Be Your Selling Point

5 Min Read

Managing Details in Long-Range Planning

7 Min Read
gamification in healthcare
Best PracticesExclusiveIT

A Closer Look at Gamification in Healthcare

5 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

ai in ecommerce
Artificial Intelligence for eCommerce: A Closer Look
Artificial Intelligence
ai chatbot
The Art of Conversation: Enhancing Chatbots with Advanced AI Prompts
Chatbots

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-25 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?