The Gartner CFO & Finance Executive Conference convened this week in National Harbor, Maryland, attracting finance leaders from around the world. The conference, renowned for its expertise and actionable insights, offered attendees a platform to delve into critical topics shaping today’s finance scenario.

Gartner experts explored the theme “Autonomous Finance: Driving Transformation to Unlock Enterprise Value” and executives were able to engage in discussions on navigating AI challenges, optimizing productivity through digital innovation, and driving successful finance transformations.

Over the course of the two-day event, ITCROSS showcased its expertise in global projects, particularly focusing on Oracle ERP implementations in Latin America and Europe. In addition to its exhibition presence, ITCROSS hosted a session titled “International Finance: How to Achieve Successful ERP Global Projects.” The presentation attracted a full auditorium of finance executives in attendance.

During the session, the company CEO, Cecilia Suarez, shared key insights and the ITCROSS model for navigating the complexities of international finance and achieving successful ERP implementations across global organizations. Below you will find an overview of the session content:

International Finance: How to achieve successful ERP Global Projects

Global ERP implementations face particular challenges in Latin America and Europe, and the Finance area is the main one affected by them. But how can organizations achieve successful ERP deployments in these regions?

Starting Point: Assuming the Challenges and Setting a Rollout Strategy

Accepting the complexities of Latin America and/or Europe is the first step in dealing with them effectively.

If we assume that things will be the same as at headquarters, we won’t probably make any effort to identify those differences, and as a consequence, our plan and project will not include the tasks, time and money needed to address them.

In my experience, this is the main reason for projects being delayed: typical challenges are missing from the project plan.

Issues such as inflation, local compliance, fiscal integration with tax authorities, global reporting, multicurrency, language barriers, culture, and local ways of working have a direct effect on the rollout plan. Gathering information about these issues in each country means identifying the main “elephants” we will have to deal with during the implementations. This will allow us to think in advance about the best ways to solve them.

This initial phase, “Phase Zero” as we call it at ITCROSS, is extremely important for designing the rollout strategy because we do need a rollout strategy and the opportunity to consider rollout project challenges with a global view.

Phase Zero is the moment to better understand the importance of each country for the business, the many legal requirements that need to be complied with, and whether we have a knowledgeable local team available to support the implementation. This way, we can draw a roadmap led by the organization’s needs, not by the software or tool we decided to use.

Next step: Planning

Once the main finance requirements in all countries have been gathered and a Rollout Strategy is in place, we proceed with planning for each country.

The duration and resources needed will vary by location, as each will have different legal requirements. Some significant fiscal integrations should be identified at this point, and this is the opportunity to request estimates and plan a more global approach to solving them, ensuring that this time is included in the plan.

Partnering with a vendor with global knowledge and local experience, like ITCROSS, from the planning stage is ideal, as we can assist in gathering the necessary information and designing a solid plan.

The Key for Successful Finance ERP Deployments: Automation and Pragmatism

Future maintenance costs are always a looming concern in ERP implementations, and we believe automation and standardization are the best ways to control them.

The opportunity to think about global solutions, global integrations, global tax and reporting automation is before the first rollout project. We will save precious time and money by taking advantage of the solutions that can be replicated or reused in multiple rollouts, even if they are small tasks.

Dozens of tasks in finance can be automated, avoiding manual intervention and human errors. Electronic invoice automation, voucher entry automation, payments automation, and fiscal reporting are just a few examples of what we can accomplish during the rollout project. These automations will save users time and reduce ERP maintenance costs.

Having a world-class ERP, built on the Oracle Cloud Platform with AI and Machine Learning capabilities, and with embedded localization and integration features, is a great tool when thinking of Digital Transformation in Finance.

The Support Strategy and Its impact on Future Maintenance Costs

Support after go-live discussion is often left until the end… and if it’s too late, some options may no longer be available. I like to say there’s not right or wrong when it comes to support. It will always depend on the organization’s capabilities, resources and plans.

The truth is that there’s a correct support model for each company – you have choices. You can outsource everything, build an in-house team, create a mixed team of internal and external resources, use dedicated consultants or a helpdesk, outsource certain regions while keeping internal resources at headquarters, and more…

Again, this conversation should start at the very beginning, in Phase Zero. The implementation and rollout project time can be valuable for training the internal team and looking for resources in the market… This is precious time that can be used to reduce the future maintenance costs of the implementation. However, if you do not set a support strategy, you will be wasting this time.

Author: Cecilia Suarez, CEO at ITCROSS
cecilia.suarez@it-cross.com
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