Oracle has been confirmed as a leader in Gartner’s 2019 Magic Quadrant for Cloud Core Financial Management Suites report. Oracle ERP Cloud gained recognition based on its strengths in executing and completion of its vision. This represents the third year in a row that Oracle ERP Cloud has been selected as a leader in Gartner’s report.
The report suggests that leaders prove a ‘market-defining vision’ of how financial management systems and associated processes can be supported and enhanced by moving to the cloud. Leaders display a clear method of delivering this vision through providing a range of products, services and available market strategies. Gartner explains that leaders show consistent results, securing deals with a range of businesses and display wide functionality across all areas of financial management. Gartner highlight that leaders generally cover a wider market audience, which means they may not meet the requirements of some specialised markets, which may be better suited for niche businesses operating in this sector.

Rondy NG, the senior VP for applications development at Oracle explains that Oracle remains very focused on the success of its customers. Oracle is totally committed to considerable investments into innovation that can support over 6000 ERP cloud customers with their financial operations. Oracle has highlighted how happy to be recognised as a leader by Gartner, stating that the report highlights their strengths, investment focus and customer results.
Oracle ERP Cloud consists of a range of ERP capabilities within Financials, Procurement and Project Portfolio Management (PPM), including Enterprise Performance Management, Governance Risk and Compliance.
Combined with Supply Chain Management and its broader range of Oracle Cloud Application products, Oracle enables its customers to stay ahead of potential changes, develop flexible businesses and understand the real potential of new innovations.

Oracle ERP Cloud was selected as a Leader in Gartner’s 2018 Magic Quadrant for Cloud ERP for product-focused mid-sized enterprises. Oracle was also named the leader in the 2018 Magic Quadrant for Cloud for Financial Planning and Analysis Solutions and for Cloud Financial Close Solutions.

Syncfusion has released its latest product, the Bold BI, a detailed cloud-based business intelligence platform. The enterprise solution will provide companies of all sizes with complete access to new data insights.

Bold BI will enable analysts and other users to generate innovative dashboards and also includes a detailed data integration platform to manage complex data tasks. Bold BI connects the process of raw data and generating actual insights in record time.

Daniel Jebaraj, the VP of Syncfusion explains how excited they are to announce the availability of the Bold BI platform, highlighting that they have been developing leading software systems since 2001. Jebaraj states that their systems are utilised by many business intelligence companies today.

With years of experience in developing business intelligence solutions, Syncfusion was able to deliver a unique system. Jeberaj believes that Syncfusion has created a solution that means companies are no longer required to select a specific employee or team to understand their data. Bold BI will allow most mid-sized companies to access data insights that can really influence their business.

The Bold BI platform will provide integration with over 80 common data systems including Azure AQL Data Warehouse, Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server. Bold BI also includes the following features:

-The ability to collect data from multiple sources generating insights across entire data sets.

-Complete end-to-end support from onboarding to completing the product

-Drag and drop custom features

-Real-time operation via the interactive dashboards

-Complete integration with Office 365 and Active Directory

Jebaraj explains that it is easy to exclude human support as an additional feature, but Syncfusion believes this is what makes Bold BI unique and so useful. Users of Bold BI who experience challenges can utilise the support teams at Syncfusion to assist with their projects. In short, Syncfusion wants their users to succeed and Jebaraj highlights that they are committed to providing both the tools and the experience to achieve this.

Bold BI provides solutions for a number of industries including finance, IT, insurance, healthcare and telecommunications.

About Syncfusion

Syncfusion is a leading enterprise technology provider for software development, providing a range of web, mobile and desktop systems. Over the years Syncfusion has become a trusted global partner for many complex applications. Today, the business has over 12,000 customers, including established financial businesses, large IT consultancies and Fortune 100 companies.

Google has confirmed it will acquire the relatively new business intelligence business, Looker for $2.6 billion and integrate it will its Google Cloud product line which may industry experts believe is a much-needed addition to their portfolio. The new deal represents Google’s third-biggest acquisition in its history.

Industry experts believe it is a very smart move for Google, suggesting that the deal represents a sign of the value of technology moving towards a cloud-focused future. The founders of Looker developed the business in 2011 with one particular objective, to support businesses with high volumes of data and provide real-time insights. Many companies were struggling to manage data from a range of business apps and social networks spread across multiple systems. Looker delivered an innovative Business Intelligence platform with a core connected to data warehouses such as Microsoft SQL, enabling no transferring of information into the vendor’s hub.

Looker also designed its own language, called LookML, meaning there was no requirement to understand complicated SQL statements. This product alone enabled Looker to quickly establish itself within the marketplace and gain the interest of over 1,000 customers.

The Deal With Google

Industry analysts are quick to point out the similarities between Looker and Google. Both are cloud-focused operators and have over 300 customers in common. Moving forward, there is huge potential for further expansion of the Looker platform. This could include integrating Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning systems from Google.

Adam Wilson, the CEO of Trifacta explains that the rate and scale of which analytics is shifting to the cloud has been unremarkable and the acquisition of Looker is a fine example of further market movements. Wilson believes that growth opportunities today within the cloud are dominated by analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Industry experts believe the Google Looker acquisition will spark further developments within the industry, highlighting that companies need further flexibility to be capable of competing in the digital scene today and many traditional systems may be hindering their progress.

One factor that will result from the acquisition with Looker is that it will open Google to other leading cloud companies. Most of Google Cloud is focused on a series of specific products but the Looker BI platform will connect with a range of other vendors. Looker works with Salesforce, Marketo and Zendesk but it also integrates with Amazon Redshift, Azure SQL, Oracle, Snowflake and more. This integration with other vendors will help Google work within the enterprise market.

Many experts believe this was a deal that Google needed to make. Looker is a younger business that was developed on a cloud system and is a perfect addition to Google Cloud. Not only does it offer innovative technology but it also provides the experience to enable Google to improve its process of positioning its product offerings to other businesses.

Leading provider of connected financial planning and close solutions strengthened its plans on company expansion to other global markets with the confirmation of a series of new partnerships in the UK, Australia and South Africa. The announcement included new agreements with leading EPM solution providers within each region, including RSM in the UK, Satori Group in Australia and Altron Karabina in South Africa.

Host Analytics has stated that they forecast a considerable rise in worldwide sales in the coming year due to their recent expansion into key global markets. The leading provider highlighted that these partnerships are the first in a series of planned developments and will further solidify their dedication to expanding their business worldwide via agreements with leading businesses.

The new partnerships will focus on reselling a range of Host Analytics products and supply implementation services and general support to current and new customers. Host Analytics confirmed that each partner had been selected based on overall brand strength in the region, company culture and their proven commitment to customer results and potential to offer Host Analytics to an increasing number of customers.

John Head, the VP of enterprise sales and global channels at Host Analytics explains that they are excited to have RSM, Satori Group and Altron Karabina representing Host Analytics and expanding sales potential across key markets worldwide. Head explains that with their knowledge and success in the finance market, these businesses are partnering with Host Analytics to support customers worldwide with their managing and transforming their finance operations. Head highlights that their innovative EPM platform, combined with their success in delivering and implementing new services will generate huge benefits to existing and potential customers.

Ron Baden, the CEO of Host Analytics points out that in today’s world, the planning budgeting and forecasting demands are bigger than ever and require innovative and flexible solutions. Baden explains that they have selected three significant partners within key global markets to strengthen their global sales development whilst maintaining their overall customer experience. Baden emphasises that the new partnerships will deliver more options for businesses with the tools and skills they require to really transform their finance operations.

About Host Analytics

Host Analytics is a leading provider of cloud-connected financial planning and closed solutions. The platform is developed with financial focus and a commitment to delivering customer success. Over 800 customers utilise the services of Host Analytics for their planning, budgeting, consolidation and reporting functions. Host Analytics is a private company, supported by Vector Capital, a leading private equity firm that specialises in investments into reputed technology firms.

Honeywell has recently confirmed the release of new software – Enterprise Performance Management for Operations Technology. Created as an effective and affordable solution to integrate, EPM will allow businesses from multiple industries to enhance the process of gathering and measuring data from their operational activity and act on the findings.

Named Honeywell Forge, the new software will combine with the business’s leading asset and process control system to support owners and operators of industrial and building facilities and airlines to improve overall operational efficiency.

Honeywell Forge will be capable of using large volumes of data from various equipment, processes and people and converting this information into valuable insights that can ultimately improve the overall operational monitoring system. Honeywell believes the system will enhance resource management and the general safety of businesses.

By utilising predictive analytics, Honeywell Forge will allow clients to detect maintenance faults, reduce business costs and enhance worker efficiency levels. Honeywell is also researching additional areas such as implementing the latest cybersecurity protection into the new software.

Honeywell confirmed the recent release and availability of Honeywell Forge for Buildings. The Forge solution was created to ensure downtime is kept to a minimum and to generate advanced predictive information to ensure building facilities are more efficient, safer and secure. Furthermore, Honeywell Forge will support a reduction in operational expenses, improve overall energy consumption levels and optimise space management within building plans.

Honeywell intends to expand the software solution and add further products across a range of markets including Honeywell Forge for Industrials, Airlines, Inspection Round and Cybersecurity. Honeywell believes that strong demand for its warehouse automation, IoT and Sensing products will strengthen its safety and productivity product solutions.

Robotic Process Automation is believed to be a valuable asset to finance businesses, automating laborious and manual jobs that many professionals believe is hindering progress in the market. Many finance-focused businesses involve manual and time-consuming activities, such as data extraction, report development and process execution and fixing errors that have developed from manual activity. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) offers a service that can transform these activities by allowing businesses to automate manual and repetitive jobs. Through this process, RPA is supporting the streamlining of many activities and transforming progress for finance companies.

RPA in the finance industry

RPA is particularly well suited for basic processes that operate frequently and at relatively high volumes, and in finance and accounting, there are many jobs that meet these criteria. Forrester research highlight that in one particular report they found 1,400 individuals were involved in the closing of their books on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis and believed that a lot of this work could be automated with RPA, reducing the number of employees required by approximately a third. RPA has the capability to improve the end-of-year stage for businesses, which is commonly viewed as a challenging time of year for finance teams. Financial closing and reporting can involve multiple tasks, various systems and a number of employees from different teams. Reporting is another area where RPA can support finance teams. Manual reporting involves data collection, filtering, extraction and data cleaning. Automated reports can save a significant amount of time and effort for a finance team. Intelligent bots can be utilised to gather insightful details such as automatically generating credit scores and tax details or vetting new clients and updating their details.  

Commencing with RPA involves utilising structured data and as the bulk of data in a finance team is unstructured means it needs into transformed into a structured format. Fortunately, there are innovative automated systems to capture this unstructured data and convert it into a structured format, ready for an RPA bot to analyse.

There are multiple systems that are involved within a finance department and what RPA can provide is the application of machine learning technology to understand what employees do on their screens.

The key benefits of RPA for CFOs

RPA involves a process known as device mining which enables CFOs to research screens, forms, applications and websites to get a clearer understanding of how employees are performing their work and what system is working effectively. This technology provides a clear trend of the tasks performed by workers and once recognised as patterns they can measure results and be automated by applying a software bot. Software bots operating together provide a set of skills for finance teams. Skills can be applied within the auditing process, strategic sourcing or used to gather specific supplier details to understand whether the business meets criteria for advanced payment or qualifies as a preferred supplier.

The key parts of RPA in finance enable CFOs to focus more attention on performing vital business tasks. One of the main advantages of utilising bots is applying them to complex areas of a business, such as finance, operations and supply chains. These sectors are well regarded for high levels of manual activity. Automating certain processes can result in thousands of work hours being saved and company efficiency rates improving dramatically, resulting in a more positive experience for the business and customer.

With a complete autonomous cloud database and other cloud services, Oracle is intending to support customers with new activities, improving operations and at the same time reducing costs and risk to a business.

Oracle cloud senior vice president Steve Daheb recently stated that Oracle is starting to see things at a tipping point stage, a point after which unstoppable changes will happen. Daheb believes businesses are integrating with new emerging technologies at the fastest rate we have ever experienced.

Daheb explains that these new technologies, whether it be AI or blockchain are enabling us to continue innovating in methods that were previously not even considered. This ultimately is the main strategy of the Oracle cloud and its future development plans.

Oracle Autonomous Databases

Oracle offers a mix of leading cloud services, high potential extensions and further long term plan to develop innovative ways to compete with the big players, Amazon and Microsoft. One particular service is the Oracle Autonomous Database which launches, manages and upgrades itself with no human activity required, covering tasks that are generally done by skill data professionals.

Daheb believes that businesses are actively looking for new technologies to support business development, how they can innovate and create varied experiences for employees and customers. Daheb refers to their customer Hertz and how their process of creating a provision for a database would generally take them up to ten weeks to complete. The Autonomous Database, however, allows Hertz to complete the same process in under ten minutes, freeing up significant time and resources.

Daheb also refers to another client call QMP that specialises in laboratory management and we’re looking to improve the response in getting lab results more efficiently. With the Autonomous Database, an average two-week wait for blood results now takes under 40 minutes. This time reduction creates multiple benefits to prescribing quicker, reacting to problems faster and most importantly improving the service for patients.

According to Oracle, Autonomous Databases are saving nearly 80% of the time a business would spend on provisioning a database. The time saved from using this service is then applied to more meaningful and insightful actions and fine-tuning certain parts of the business. Innovation is sparking significant changes in the business in terms of speed and response and providing quicker access to insights.

Host Analytics, a leading provider of connected financial planning and close solutions has confirmed the release of a new solution system in coordination with Blackline, a supplier of automated financial close software, enhancing and automating the end to end financial consolidation and reporting processes for many businesses.

The partnership will enable finance and accounting teams to improve and simplify the period-end close by eradicating manual, time-consuming jobs from the entire process. Over 70 clients are already utilising the features of Host Analytics and BlackLine solutions, automating close and consolidation processes and at the same time enhancing the organisational and overall focus of finance and accounting teams. The innovative solution is generating quicker results, reducing overall compliance costs and providing businesses with more awareness of their close and consolidation activities. Furthermore, finance and accounting teams are provided with more valuable data, giving teams confidence in using data for the close process and the overall quality of financial deliverables.

Ron Baden, the CEO of Host Analytics explains that companies are actively seeking ways to transform Finance and remove any potential inaccuracies in inefficient systems. According to Baden, integrating Host Analytics and Blackline solutions provides the finance industry with an alternative to the conventional time consuming manual and inefficient close processes. Baden states how excited they are to offer this solution for the finance industry and allow finance teams to focus more on strategic opportunities for development.

Host Analytics is a global leader in financial planning and close solutions and was recently named a leader in the 2018 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud Financial Planning and Close Solutions for the second time in a row. BlackLine is a market leader in automation and streamlining financial close processes and other important financial accounting processes for medium and large businesses. BlackLine was also recognised by Gartner as a leader in 2018 for Cloud Financial Close Solutions and an innovative leader in the cloud market for financial control and automation.

Michael Otto, the VP of Global Strategic Alliances explains that traditionally, accounting teams have been forced to choose between disconnected solutions or settle for a lesser alternative solution to control their financial close operations. Otto highlights that by offering a pre-integrated solution between BlackLine and Host Analytics, it will provide accounting teams with the potential to reduce their reliance on common errors found on spreadsheets and utilise automated processes to improve financial close.

The combination of BlackLine and Host Analytics offers a seamless connection between solutions that enhance and automate end-to-end financial consolidation, reporting and close. Customers can simply compare financial data, enabling teams to confirm the validity of consolidated account balances and perform a quicker and more effective financial close. This provides finance with a more effective date and greater confidence in data sets and improved trust in consolidated financial results.