DataBlend Blog

DataBlend Enables Sage Intacct Users to Gain Efficiencies Through Integration and Automation - DataBlend

Written by Laura Merola | Nov 14, 2022 5:00:00 AM

Finance and Accounting professionals know all too well that time is money.

Every department within every business understands the importance of meeting deadlines but no one quite understands that better than CFOs, controllers, and every other member of the office of finance and accounting who work tirelessly to finalize month-end close outs and reconcile the GL. Historically, the entire month-end close out process has been plagued with:

  • manual spreadsheet work
  • errors upon errors
  • slow data exports
  • even slower data uploads
  • headaches, frustration, and a plethora of caffeinated beverages

When processes are slow, redundant, manual and time consuming, it all leads to a loss of time for those who have to deal with them to get the job done. And loss of time means less time spent on high value activities. So, what’s the solution?

Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS)

Sage Intacct users may have heard about iPaaS or Integration as a way to solve for manual workflow challenges. Unfortunately, there’s a misconception about ALL integration solutions being expensive, complicated, not working as described and hard to adopt. DataBlend is actively changing the narrative about integration in the iPaaS market. Working alongside our ecosystem of partners including RKL, BlackLine and many others, our team of integration experts have proven that DataBlend allows Sage Intacct users to effectively eliminate the slow, redundant, manual, time consuming processes without the massive price tag that usually comes with implementing an iPaaS solution. We do this by:

  • investing our own funds into developing the types of integrations Sage Intacct users need most
  • passing the savings down to the client
  • ensuring the cost of implementing integrations is as close to zero as possible

Even DataBlend CEO David Furth has changed his perception of integration since joining DataBlend in 2021. “When I first joined DataBlend a little over a year ago, I knew very little about iPaaS (integration Platform as a Service.)  In fact, after spending nearly 15 years reselling Sage Intacct, I wondered why a company would need to purchase specialty integration software.  Given my familiarity with Sage Intacct and their API-first development strategy, I just figured every other software publisher followed suit, and integration should not be much to think about.  I also believed that with the hundreds of applications on the Sage Intacct Marketplace, each touting their integration, who would need integration software?

Now I know the answer to that question - Everyone.  Every organization that subscribes to the best-in-class approach for acquiring software could benefit from integration software.  And when you consider five key questions, you start to understand why.

  1. Does the integration of the product on the Sage Intacct Marketplace support your use case?
  2. Does the integration promoted still work if you have configured in a certain way or even customized the application?
  3. If the integration does not support your use case and you need to customize it, do you have access to technical resources? How much will it cost if you need to hire someone to do it and how long will it take?  How will these custom integrations be supported?
  4. How will all the different integration you end up using over time be supported?
  5. And the all-important question, what do we do when no pre-built integrations exist?

Depending on the answers to these questions, you might determine that the out-of-the-box integrations will be just fine, or you might determine that other options need to be considered. Regardless, don’t forget that before asking a vendor any questions about integration, the most important step you can take is documenting how you want the data to flow across your applications to drive the most efficiency in your business processes, leading to improved data quality, faster turnaround times, and less stressed out employees.  Make sure you understand this first.”

How do Sage Intacct users benefit from iPaaS?

It feels appropriate to throw in the quote “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…”

Sage Intacct has a good API that allows iPaaS solutions a pathway to moving data between applications easily. Once DataBlend integrates Sage Intacct with any CPM, CRM, FP&A, HR/Payroll, Financial Close, Expense Management, BI/Reporting or Visualization applications, that is when the magic happens.

Here are three sample use cases and a variety of workflows a Sage Intacct user can do with a DataBlend integration:

  • Employee Reimbursements

You can substitute Intacct’s Employee Reimbursement module for a solution such as Concur which has a more robust approval engine. DataBlend will allow you to use the expense management solution of your choosing and take all the desired information from that system and put into Intacct exactly where you need it to complete your business processes.

  • Balance Sheet and Income statement data

Leveraging DataBlend’s setup wizard, integrating Sage Intacct and Workday Adaptive Planning, key stakeholders can have access to live projections any time they need them without the wait. Projections are in real-time.

  • Financial Close

Many of our clients have taken advantage of our BlackLine wizard to establish an integration with their market leading financial close software.

  • Create invoices
  • Create payments
  • Create contracts
  • Load general ledger details
  • Bulk imports on schedule or on demand
  • Full account lists, opportunities, or products can be loaded at one time
  • Load invoices back to Salesforce
  • Use custom fields and options
  • Observe % complete for revenue recognition
  • Update project status in Intacct based on Salesforce objects
  • Fulfilling orders or time and materials
  • Integrating Sage Intacct Grants with Salesforce Opportunities (non-profit)

 

Want to learn more?

Read a case study from a current client who integrated Sage Intacct using DataBlend.

Watch this demo to see how easy it is to setup a Sage Intacct integration.

If you’re ready to explore how DataBlend can drive greater efficiencies within your finance and accounting efforts, reach out to RKL or your current partner rep to discuss.