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Cloud Watch: FinancialForce reveals billing solution

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28th Sep 2016
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Following a collection of Xerocon announcements at the start of the month, September comes to an end with a new FinancialForce billing solution and Oracle Cloud helping GT tap workforce insights.

 

FinancialForce reveals billing solution

28 Sep – Cloud ERP provider FinancialForce has revealed FinancialForce Billing Central – the only cloud application that unifies billing, revenue management, and accounting operations on one single platform.

According to FinancialForce, Billing Central builds seamless processes and provides end-to-end visibility across the customer lifecycle, as well as bringing organisations closer to customers in an era of changing business models and customer relationships.  

A recent survey from CFO Magazine revealed that 70% of CFOs said more than half of their revenue now comes from services, which includes professional services, subscription-based services, service-level agreements, managed services and usage-based contract. Almost a third indicated all of their companies’ revenues were services-related.

Despite this shift, most ERP and billing systems haven’t kept pace.

FinancialForce Billing Central is a direct response to these changing business models and takes control of multiple sources of revenue streams to help organisations manage it in one closed-looped billing process.

FinancialForce customers will now be able to consolidate billing sources across multiple customer contract types, support tier and volume-based pricing , and seamlessly integrate with Salesforce CRM for 360 degree customer visibility.

Jeremy Roche, FinancialForce chief executive, said: “The new services economy has been growing at an astounding rate, and Everything as a Service (XaaS) is disrupting countless industries – from technology and applications, to goods and healthcare.

“Yet, many cloud business systems don’t reflect this emerging business model, and require costly integrations with third party subscription billing apps and accounting solutions. The end result is complex web of disconnected systems that replicate data and create additional headaches for the CFO,” he said.

* * *

Oracle Cloud helps GT tap workforce insights

21 Sep - Oracle has revealed that its cloud infrastructure solutions are helping accounting firm Grant Thornton match its professionals to its clients’ needs by providing a platform to tap large volumes of in-house workforce data. 

To accomplish this GT and Oracle have deployed an analytics solution on Oracle Public Cloud – an effort that has unified the firm’s data sources, increased its data confidence and reduced data bottlenecks.   

Grant Thornton chief people and culture officer Pamela Harless, said: “We turned to Oracle because we wanted to tap big data to more effectively get the right client-service professionals in the right roles.

“The ability to pair the correct people with carefully aligned projects is critical in the highly competitive world of professional services – and it’s why we chose an integrated Oracle Cloud infrastructure and analytics environment,” she said.

According to Harless, Oracle Cloud maximised value and accelerated adoption through the Oracle Accelerated Buying Experience, which enabled GT to procure cloud services quickly and easily – keeping the firm on track to meet its aggressive deployment timeline. 

Don Johnson, vice president of product development at Oracle, added: “This partnership is an example of the modern investments we are making in building the next generation storage platform.”

* * *

Cloud Watch: Xerocon South edition

This month it was Australia’s turn to host its Xerocon. As the “home” market for the Kiwi developer, this tends to be the biggest event in Xero’s calendar, so this month’s Cloud Watch kicks off with a collection of Xerocon announcements.

Xero expands accounting programme with new HQ platform

8 Sept - Every other month, it seems, there’s a Xerocon taking place somewhere around the globe. But the company often saves the biggest announcements for its home market.

For Xerocon South, the developer’s unveiled an expanded global partner programme, accompanied by Xero HQ, its new practice platform. The two intiatives are part of a multimillion dollar investment to revamp the company’s relationship with its accountant “partners”. 

The new variant of Xero HQ will be available as a free opt-in for all Xero partners. The new interface includes an activity feed and enhanced client listing and reporting tools, plus menu options to access your report templates. There is also an advisor director section, where the firm can update its listing on Xero’s directory of accredited partners.

The latter feature connects back to one of the features of the wider partner programme - exposure to existing and prospective Xero users. This follows in the wake of improvements to Xero’s app marketplace, and should reach 20,000 global users every month.

The other benefits of the expanded partner programme include additional training and certification tools, and a points-based system to unlock extra benefits as a reward for bringing new clients to the accounting system.

Some AccountingWEB members were not so impressed when the company advised them of the new programme. Xero UK managing director Gary Turner responded: “If you want to be listed on the Advisor Directory… you'll need to have at least refreshed your knowledge of Xero in the prior 12 months. Which, if we're introducing you to Xero users looking for someone qualified to help them with Xero, doesn't seem unreasonable.”

* * *

Surprise! Xero has a chatbot too

8 Sept - The Americans saw it first, but the Xero Facebook chatbot is now an official product after being announced at Xerocon South.

Hey Xero, the company’s text-message interface, featured prominently in Xero CEO Rod Drury’s keynote at Xerocon - just as it had at Xerocon USA last month.

Describing the experience of using a bot can be a bit daunting - what else is there to say but, “You type your queries and requests in, and the bot replies and carries out your wishes.” But more detail was forthcoming on the Xero blog.

The current version has been designed to work with Facebook Messenger and will enable businesses to query their financial data, including who owes them money, when their next bill is due or how much money is in their bank account. It also connects to the Xero Advisor Directory and can recommend a suitable accountant or bookkeeper in their area.

* * *

Xero upgrades global partnership with Receipt Bank

8 Sept - Yet more partnership news from Xerocon…

On the first day of the Brisbane event, Xero announced a strategic global partnership with Receipt Bank. The two have already been working extensively together for more than five years, so the significance of the announcement may be a bit lost on outsiders.

Perhaps the best way to explain it is present the announcement as confirmation that Receipt Bank is the bestest of Xero’s best friends in the add-on world. Having renewed their vows so publicly, the two cloud accounting developers will continue working hand-in-hand across all three of Xero’s main markets: Australia, the UK and USA.

Receipt Bank CEO Alexis Prenn was proud to receive the accolade and commented, “Our mission is to make bookkeeping effortless for accountants and bookkeepers. Being part of an ecosystem like Xero’s and using the wealth of information we can harness from the Xero API helps us do just that.”

* * *

Spotlight named app partner of the year

8 Sept - With so much partnership love flowing around Brisbane, Spotlight Reporting was keen to point out that it was anointed as App Partner of the Year at Xerocon South.

CEO Richard Francis commented, “This App Partner of the Year award is a wonderful endorsement for our business, particularly as the Xero app community is now truly global, spanning a huge range of industries and vendors.  Following on from our 2015 Award, this is a testimony to the great work of our team and the huge support from our customers and Xero too.”

Francis also announced that the company had successfully raised $5m in additional capital last month from a consortium that included ex-Xero director and Spotlight chairman Graham Shaw, Vend director David Wilson, and MYOB co-founder and Xero director Craig Winkler.

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FT
By FirstTab
15th Sep 2016 12:13

Thank you John.

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