In an age where cloud computing is fast becoming the standard approach to data management, many companies still work in silos, each division having their own ERP system or cloud platform to work from. This presents a risk as it can lead to having duplicated data, which is not only inefficient but can lead to bad decision-making, advised Sarah George, ERP strategy leader for Africa at Oracle and Ronnie Toerien, HR strategy leader for Africa at Oracle, during their session on 13 October 2017 at Finance Indaba Africa.
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According to the pair, the finance and HR functions are particularly strong in terms of providing opportunities to improve efficiency through collaboration because such platforms improve creativity by allowing different subject matter experts to be able to collaborate and get things done much quicker than before.
Ronnie said:
"MIT did a survey a while ago and said that there was a 79 percent improvement in collaboration where organisations' finance, HR, and IT functions moved to a cloud environment that is central and through which everybody in the organisation has access to the information that they need."
When companies have a multi-vendor system, as is the case in many organisations, there are many challenges to continuity. And it can also be a great source of frustration for anyone that was to be able to access data from various areas of the business and thus have to jump between different interfaces.
When you have a unified cloud system, you can monitor high-performing staff on the basis of factors like leave taken and performance, as well as the financial elements. It is beneficial to the leadership of the company because they can have access to any part or person in the business at the click of a button, and is particularly convenient for employees themselves who can log their claims for reimbursements and apply for training, for example, without having to switch between systems.
