CBR talks to Jeremy Roche, President and CEO of FinancialForce, an accounting software provider built on the salesforce.com platform.
CBR talks to Jeremy Roche, President and CEO of FinancialForce, an accounting software provider built on the salesforce.com platform.
Q. Tell us about the firm – what is the relationship with accounting firm Coda?
A. FinancialForce is a joint venture between Coda, where I was from 2002 to 2008 the CEO, and UNIT4, the Netherlands-quoted company that bought Coda. So I sit on the main board in Holland but I am also leading Financial Force, which after just nine months in the market already has customers in 19 countries. That is my primary role now.
Q. Presumably just UNIT4 users?
A. No – we are actually built on Salesforce’s technology and platform, so at the moment the majority of our customers are Salesforce users. A way to think about this is that two firms with 30 years experience in building core accounting have come together to use the newest technology from the most trusted enterprise Cloud supplier. In fact, we are the first and only accounting package on that platform. We have also created vertical extensions for various industries on top of our horizontal system, by the way.
We have companies like Telegraph Media Group in London, for example, that use us to automate all billing and account processes for all the print and online advertising sales it makes using their main sales tool, Salesforce, and we help the Wi-Fi Alliance track all funding from members right through to business and sales and marketing. We do have some non Salesforce users too, but it is all a Cloud/SaaS based offering.
Q. What features do you have that are different?
A. We see this as customer-driven accounting, from General Ledger to Accounts Receivable and Payable – whatever Ledger you need to work with.
Q. Well… ok, but what makes you so sure there is scope for a Cloud based accounting package? Who’d need a new one?
A. Because business has changed and it isn’t going to go back to what it was. It isn’t just Microsoft saying that – everyone is starting to realise that.
Q. That’s a bit off-message, isn’t it? Isn’t the economy improving daily?
A. I’m in San Francisco today and the local people are telling me tourism is dead – no-one’s spending the money any more. The US thought it was out of recession but it just isn’t. A new economy is taking shape, a new business culture. Firms have stopped investing purely in the front office, growth – now cash is king and they want to track and control its use much, much better than ever before. CFOs want not just monthly visibility of all the cash and numbers, but daily.
The business needs to know not just revenue but cost detail, not just size of sale but its profitability. People will be much more focused on saving and efficiency, I think they will be embedded into all business decision making from now in a way we’ve not seen before.
Q. What has this to do with accounting software, if true?
A. The Cloud is about moving from fixed to operational cost, allowing much greater flexibility for up- and down-scaling. So now is the time to stop accountants in darkened rooms re-keying numbers and making spreadsheets cross the gaps between incompatible systems. So we think a Cloud based accounting system is the best way that level of metrics can be gathered. We’ve had a lot of nasty surprises in the last 18 months but it’s time to stop feeling the pain and do something about it, in other words.
Q. And you think that’s the CIO’s problem?
A. Yes, because he is best placed to offer the whole business the information everyone needs. It’s IT’s job – and opportunity – to bridge the gap between Sales and Accounting at last; to provide not just line of business but true enterprise-wide trending and financial analysis.
For more info visit www.FinancialForce.com.
