At DataBlend, we are focused on the office of finance and accounting. Therefore, every day we hear about the challenges CFOs, controllers, and their teams face when it comes to integration. The number one challenge we hear about is centered around ensuring data across applications is up to date.
Limited Access to Real-Time Data
With the adoption of cloud solutions like Sage Intacct, you are assured that all your data and reporting is available in real-time. That is the data created in Sage Intacct. But what about all data from all the other applications you use in support of finance and accounting?
In the absence of a comprehensive integration strategy, keeping data up-to-date and in sync can present a real challenge. That is likely why according to a recent survey, 86% of financial services business leaders lack confidence in using their data to drive decision-making. It also reported that the highest technology priority is gaining access to real-time data from across the business for improved decision making. Another survey said that 88% of respondents say fostering a data-driven culture in the finance function will be critical or very critical to the finance team’s future performance.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Think about what Sage Intacct connects to/from today. Is it enough to give you the full picture of your organization’s financial health? On average, it has been reported that companies have 254 applications and most departments (e.g. accounting and finance) now have 40 to 60 tools at their disposal. That number might be higher than you’d expect, but it might also be lower. Do all the applications that your company or finance department uses connect to Sage Intacct as easily and seamlessly as you would like? Should they? What new real-time data insights would they provide if they did?
Now think about all the other departments in your organization, should they be integrated into Sage Intacct? Think about HR. What if you could integrate headcount in Smartsheet to Workday Adaptive Planning and Sage Intacct.
Unable to Integrate Sage Intacct with Out-of-the-Box Application Integrations?
You’ve been sold on the idea that out-of-the-box integrations will meet your needs. It was part of the package. And many times, they do! But now that you are post-implementation, you realize that some of the off-the-shelf integrations don’t support your unique use case. Maybe you have customized Salesforce or added fields to your AP Automation solution and are being told you need to create custom integrations. What do you do?
You might want to consider a data integration or iPaaS solution to deliver not just the robust integration that you want, but also a common platform for building, managing, and supporting all your integration in one place! Earlier this year we published, Don’t Let Fintech Out-of-the-Box Integrations Hold Your Data Hostage. In the article, we gave four reasons why out-of-the-integrations don’t always work. They are:
- Integrations don’t exist between all your tools – sure you might be able to connect Salesforce to Sage Intacct, however your life is more complicated than that. You’re using two, three, or seven SaaS tools that need to pass data between each other.
- Integrations exist; however, they don’t pass the data you need – the integration works flawlessly, but you need to pass more data than what it is built for. The out-of-the-box integration may only be integrating a portion of your data such as the individual transactions, but you will still need the metadata (Ex: Customers, Products, Projects, etc.,) to flow between your integrated systems.
- Integrations don’t play well together — there’s always one SaaS product that doesn’t play well with others. Do you exclude it? Or find a better way to incorporate it? This shifts your decision-making process away from the core function and purpose of the software to now focus on the technical backend of the tool. Shouldn’t you be choosing a software because of how user-friendly and effective it is at addressing your need?
- Integrations don’t often scale – As your business grows and changes, out-of-the-box integrations often fail to scale due to their rigidity and lack of flexibility.
Don’t let integration challenges get you down. DataBlend integrates nearly 100 of the most used applications in finance and accounting. Our easy-to-use solution enables your finance teams to spend minimal effort integrating their data to get the real-time results that they need when they need it.
Learn more!
Do you want to see DataBlend in action? Watch our Sage Intacct demo. We showed how DataBlend connects Sage Intacct to Salesforce, SAP Concur, and how payroll data can be brought in via a flat file.
