Going global with IT systems can help FDs to remain tight financial control

With the economic situation continuing to deteriorate, especially in Europe, international companies have a sustained focus on cost containment and minimising capital expenditure (CapEx). It is therefore somewhat baffling that Financial Directors(FDs) of global organisations are failing to take full cost advantage of the latest technology to drive down costs and, critically, attain the agility required to maximise international opportunities, argues Gary Waylett, CEO of Eclipse Group.

Traditionally, the FD has trailed behind the rest of the business in championing the introduction of new technology. It is perhaps not a great surprise, then, that they are now failing to take full advantage of the evolution towards cloud computing, many citing security risks and a loss of information control as key considerations. 

But in this global economy, successful business demands the ability to rapidly exploit international opportunities. Today's CFO is playing an ever more strategic role in driving business performance rather than simply measuring it and embracing technology is key to maintaining a competitive advantage. Yet many international companies are still failing to get their IT strategy right. For too many businesses, IT strategy is not consistent across international offices.

Leveraging Communications

With broadband now available on every continent, international organisations have the chance to achieve huge cost efficiencies by changing the way in which business systems are deployed globally.

Adopting a centralised infrastructure and creating a private cloud will deliver rapid business benefits. Why continue the expense of multiple local offices each using a dedicated local server, when a single server holding information about every country can be accessed securely via the web at any time?

Configuring and servicing a single server takes around half as long as rolling out 12 local servers; whilst the fact that there is only one complex server in a single location also eliminates some of the support requirements – one technical support team in one location instead of 12 - or one team on an aeroplane for hundreds of non-productive hours!

Servicing international companies with individual servers in each territory also provides highly complex upgrade issues. For example, if there are 27 servers in 27 countries and the organisation needs to move to a new version of a shared application then that's 27 upgrades! That's not so bad as long as it all goes faultlessly and you don't end up with 27 sets of troubleshooting issues. A single, cloud based solution can be upgraded in a controlled environment and ensures that every part of the company is using the same version of key systems at all times. Software licensing issues are far simpler to manage, further driving down the on going IT management costs.

Effective Global Operations

Of course creating a consolidated global IT infrastructure does not stop each country or any other business division continuing to operate independently of each other – the application and data are centralised but the operation and reporting remains localised.

Furthermore, the cloud model will enable the Chief Executive or FD to log onto the company's system from any location, anywhere in the world, generate summaries and reports on demand, and send business alerts to international managers and directors in real time, on a 24 x 7 basis. All of this is now achievable anywhere that there is a high-speed Internet connection.

So, why are international businesses still resisting what would appear to be an inexorable shift towards the cloud for these core financial applications? The answer is that getting it right takes careful planning. As with any upgrade and particularly in any instance that involves concurrent licensing, the business owner will need an up-to-date audit on exactly who has which system, what the 'spec' is and when they will be working on a given application. Network administrators need to be aware not only of language issues when ordering licenses but also of how to operate across multiple time-zones from a central location. It's not impossible, but it is a serious undertaking. And if any business operations are in territories in which the communications infrastructure is under par, then centralisation just won't work.

The benefits to a business are numerous, though – ease of access to business-critical data whenever, wherever; and the ability to rapidly set up in new locations to exploit new business opportunities.

Organisations may be considering the use of the cloud for document back up and email archiving, but for any global business there are so many more benefits that can be gained by consolidating the IT infrastructure. From improving business agility to driving down costs and improving productivity, the FD that pushes for the adoption of a cloud computing model for an international IT deployment will achieve rapid bottom line benefits and attain the required cost containment.