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Finance in the cloud

October 2015

When finance moves into the cloud, will CFOs sleep better at night?


Contents Executive summary 2 1

2 Cloudy forecast 3

3 A silver lining 6

4 Ride the lightning, don’t crash like thunder 8

5 Conclusion 13

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© 2015 EYGM Limited. All rights reserved. Finance in the cloud 2

Executive summary What CFOs need to know about cloud computing

1

► A new era of cloud-based technology brings an unprecedented period of disruption and innovation. However, cloud technology is still immature and has many associated risks. Despite this, forward-looking CFOs recognize the shifting dynamics and are increasingly looking to cloud solutions to address a variety of business needs.

► While there are many tangible business benefits to implementing cloud offerings, including flexibility, scalability and enhanced analytics, delivering cloud transformation is extremely challenging. Cloud computing requires a considerable shift from traditional computing methods, roles and business processes. Moreover, there are some key misconceptions surrounding the adoption of cloud services that must be addressed.

► In order to gain optimal benefits from cloud computing technology, organizations must first conduct due diligence based on business needs and required IT functionality in order to determine business readiness for cloud adoption.

► Adopting hybrid cloud solutions uses agile innovation to maximize the benefits of cloud computing while minimizing disruption and maintaining operational excellence.


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Cloudy forecast 2

Stand-alone mainframe

Evolved mainframes with

virtualization

Client-server systems and local

area networks (LANs)

On-premise ERP offerings and early

cloud solutions (i.e., salesforce

CRM)

Cloud solutions (applications, data centers, APIs and

storage)

1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s Today

Is the cloud just smoke and dust?

The landscape for IT-enabled transformation is experiencing another major paradigm shift, and “cloud” is the latest buzzword. Organizations of all sizes are taking flight into the nebula, including governmental bodies such as the UK’s G-Cloud program and the Federal Cloud Computing Initiative in the US.

EY’s Global Technology Center (GTC) has hailed the era of cloud computing as bringing about change faster, more continuously and from more directions than ever as a dizzying array of hardware and software services available over the internet have emerged over the past few years.1 According to EY’s 2014 Global Information Security Survey (GISS), 39% of respondent organizations plan to spend more on cloud computing compared with the previous year.2

Yet, despite the rapid escalation of cloud services use, EY’s Insights on governance, risk and compliance shows many executives remain hesitant to endorse a “cloud-first” approach.3 Moreover, 17% of respondents to EY’s GISS indicated cloud computing to be a first-priority vulnerability and potential source of increased risk.2

As such, finance decision-makers increasingly walk under the shadow of cloud offerings.

The benefits of cloud adoption are highly touted. However, over a decade ago, on-premise enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions made similar promises. Although the trigger for rushed ERP implementations in the 1990s was the much-fretted Y2K calamity. Y2K concerns turned out to be largely unfounded, and many finance executives would now argue that they have yet to reap genuine, tangible benefits from investing in costly ERP systems.

Although a company’s financial management system is critical to success, EY is finding that many organizations have systems averaging from 10 to15 years old, with upgrade cycles ranging from 5 to 10 years. Despite aging legacy systems, many finance decision-makers are hazy on how cloud solutions are really any different from the ERP solutions hyped in the previous decade.

Is cloud computing the answer to disparate systems and unstandardized process woes, or is the cloud just a nebulous solution that will inevitably lead to yet another costly and disruptive IT-enabled transformation?

Spend less 7%

Spend the same 54%

Spend more 39%

First priority

17%

Second priority

22%

Third priority

18%

Fourth priority

18%

Fifth priority

25%

Thirty-nine percent of respondent organizations plan to spend more on cloud computing compared with the previous year.

Seventeen percent of respondents indicated cloud computing as a first-priority vulnerability and as a source of increased risk exposure over the last 12 months.

Source: EY’s GISS, 2014.

1 EY, Top of Mind, Issues facing technology companies: Navigating the four themes of technology, 2015.

http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY-four-themes-describe-historic-change-in-the-technology-sector/$FILE/EY-four-themes-describe-historic-change-in-the-technology-sector.pdf 2 EY, Get ahead of cybercrime: EY’s Global Information Security Survey 2014, 2014.

http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY-global-information-security-survey-2014/$FILE/EY-global-information-security-survey-2014.pdf 3 EY, Building trust in the cloud: Creating confidence in your cloud ecosystem.

http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY_-_Building_trust_in_the_cloud/$FILE/EY-grc-building-trust-in-the-cloud.pdf


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f What does “cloud” mean?

Cloud computing

Cloud computing allows users to rent access to a variety of virtual computing options, conveniently, ranging from network-accessible data storage and software development environments to fully featured applications.1 As such, the data and applications are not required to be stored on local servers or “on-premise”; rather, they are hosted and managed by third-party cloud service providers (CSPs).

Enterprises essentially outsource varying levels of IT functionality to CSPs, and users only need an internet connection to access the data and applications via virtual servers. By moving into the cloud, organizations have the potential to reduce greatly, or even eliminate, the total cost of ownership (TCO) of the IT function, thereby forever altering their business model.2

Cloud models

The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a definition of cloud computing that includes two key cloud models: Cloud Service and Cloud Deployment.1

The primary Cloud Service models or ‘stacks’ are Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS); each with increased levels of IT functionality outsourced to CSPs.

As the level of functionality increases, transparency into data processing decreases.

SaaS is the model used for cloud ERP systems, thus cloud accounting systems are often referred to as SaaS solutions.

These primary Cloud Service models can be implemented via four Cloud Deployment models: public, private, community or hybrid; each with decreasing data control and privacy.

Cloud decisions

In order to truly comprehend and realize the benefits that cloud computing brings, finance decision-makers must understand the implications of deploying different permutations of the cloud models. The appropriate combination of the two cloud models will vary based on an organization's requirements, as different models of configuration will be appropriate for different organizations.

In EY’s experience, CFOs who lack a solid understanding of cloud configuration models are increasingly at risk of missing key potential business benefits that more informed competitors may well seize, putting them at a competitive disadvantage.3

Environment for customers to use to build and operate their own software

Network access to traditional computing resources such as processing power and storage

Access to software applications such as email or office productivity tools

Hybrid cloud Community

cloud Public cloud

Private cloud

Increasing functionality

1. Cloud Service model (aka stacks)

SaaS PaaS IaaS

Cloud adoption configurations

Decreasing control

2. Cloud Deployment model

► Supports a specific community of organizations that have shared concerns via a private network

► May be managed by internal or external IT and may be on or off premise

► Two or more clouds (public or private, community) bound by standardized proprietary technology for data and application portability

► Operated solely for a single organization

► May be managed by internal or external IT

► May be on or off premise

► Available via the internet to the general public or a large industry group with third-party ownership

Note: illustration based on the US NIST cloud models.1

1 The definitions of cloud computing and service models and deployment models excerpted from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (Cloud Computing Synopsis and Recommendations

Special Publication 800-146).

http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-146/sp800-146.pdf 2 EY, Into the cloud and out of the fog: EY’s Global Information Security Survey, 2011.

http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY-global-information-security-survey-2014/$FILE/EY-global-information-security-survey-2014.pdf 3 EY, Insights on governance, risk and compliance, Ready for takeoff: Preparing for your journey into the cloud, 2012.

http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY_Preparing_for_the_cloud/$FILE/EY_Preparing_for_the_cloud.pdf


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In order to truly comprehend and realize the benefits that cloud computing brings, finance decision-makers must understand and determine the right blend of cloud models.

Christian Mertin, Advisory Partner (Ernst & Young, GmbH)


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A silver lining 3

Lean

According to the Cloud Accounting Institute’s 2014 Cloud Accounting Solutions Best Practices Benchmark Study, respondents’ finance teams indicated that wasted effort represents a major drawback of current systems, with as much as 70% of time spent on manual or suboptimal efforts.1 Outsourcing computing capabilities to CSPs enables an organization's resources to focus on more strategic activities.

Furthermore, traditional IT models demand massive infrastructure investments with complex architectures. Adopting a cloud model means organizations no longer need to build and maintain complex internal IT infrastructures, thus enabling cost efficiencies through overhead reduction and reduced costs of the IT function. This also increases time savings while decreasing energy costs.

Standardization

As most cloud ERPs are out of the box, a baseline level of standardization is built into most cloud services. This forces a certain level of data and process standardization upon cloud migration.

Moreover, system upgrades in the cloud ensure all users of the financial management system have access to the most up-to-date version. This also helps to improve collaboration across different entities and regions.

Flexible

Cloud models generally enable companies to pay only for cloud resources based on measured service or on a ‘per usage’ basis. This flexibility allows them to remain a cloud customer and pay only for access to the infrastructure and applications they need. Instead of paying for it all up-front, including more capacity than they may need right away, cloud customers pay only for what they use – and only when they use it.1 Thus, cloud services shift upfront capital expenditures to operating expenditures, which can ultimately result in large cost savings to the organization.

Scalable

Scalability or “elasticity” is inherent to any cloud model, thus businesses have the ability to scale back-office functions rapidly in response to business growth or reduce the size of the business during a downturn or recovery.

The pace and ease with which cloud systems can be deployed allow organizations to test new markets more easily. This scalability allows for a truly agile approach, to support organizational structure changes as well as the ability to absorb acquired entities quickly into the financial management system.

1 Cloud Accounting Institute: Cloud Accounting Solutions Best Practices Benchmark Survey, 2014.

http://cloudaccountinginstitute.org/2014-benchmark-study-best-practices 2 EYInsights on governance, risk and compliance, Ready for takeoff: Preparing for your journey into the cloud, 2012.


As many organizations continue to face challenges with existing ERP solutions, they are looking to cloud offerings as an improvement over existing on-premise systems. CFOs looking to optimize and streamline their finance functions for cost reduction and efficiency will find cloud solutions attractive. Cloud services have much to offer the finance function, as there are several tangible benefits that don’t exist or cannot easily be gained within on-premise financial systems. The cloud can also assist in distributed environments, such as across local finance and shared services, to ease end-to-end processes. Moreover, as cloud solutions continue to mature, offerings supporting core financial management applications are becoming more commonplace.


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© 2015 EYGM Limited. All rights reserved.

Finance in the cloud 7

Analytics

The role of finance has traditionally been as a record keeper to the business. However, enhanced analytics enable the CFO to become a strategic partner within the enterprise. Whereas previously, analytics and business intelligence capabilities resided in separate applications, these capabilities are now embedded within cloud-based applications.

Cloud models which employ ‘in-memory’ computing provide the ability to access real-time data on demand, allowing organizations to identify issues within the business quickly and respond more efficiently.

Moreover, whereas on-premise solutions can only provide analytics based on an organization's own data, CSPs can now consolidate anonymized data across cloud tenants, thus providing a much broader range of business intelligence that could not otherwise be accessed from an on-premise solution.

The enhanced analytic capabilities that cloud offerings bring also help organizations to develop more robust KPIs by which to measure their business performance.

“Close optimization” not “fast-close”

To become world-class, finance must evolve from a traditional close process that follows sequential steps and is riddled with the potential for errors. Instead, savvy finance executives know that it’s not just about a “fast-close” process, it’s about “close optimization.”

The availability of real-time data on demand enables finance to manage financial information continuously, right up to the start of the close process. This ability not only allows for a much more rapid close cycle, it also increases the accuracy of reported data.

Moreover, cloud computing can also automate the close process, allowing key functions to run in parallel during the close, thus optimizing the overall close process.

EY case study – creating a new finance and IT function in 90 days

Client: publicly held European technology company | Engagement: day-one readiness

► The company announced that it was selling its core operating division and engaged EY to support divestiture.

► The transaction, subject to intense anti-trust review prior to regulatory approvals, was set to be completed within 90 days and at year-end. The ERP system, finance shared services and the majority of employees would be transferred to the acquiring firm on the deal date along with the back-office structure.

► The company needed to create a finance function to ensure operational readiness within 90 days, with no transitional service agreement for functions or systems.

► EY assisted with a number of workstreams across the day-one readiness program to implement SAP’s Business ByDesign (BYD), a cloud-based SaaS solution.

► EY’s involvement included building the client’s IT structure; planning and creating business critical communications processes; and designing and building their finance and controls capability.

► EY had to be innovative and create approaches that would suit the future business, including building smart mobility into the cloud solution and, enabling access to applications using smartphones and a 4G connection.


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© 2015 EYGM Limited. All rights reserved. 8

1 EY, Insights on IT risk Business Briefing: Ready for takeoff, preparing for your journey into the cloud, 2012.


Despite the many benefits of cloud solutions, cloud offerings are still immature, and there is a lack of authoritative literature and standards governing cloud computing. As such, misconceptions regarding cloud migration and adoption abound. It’s important that finance decision-makers seek a greater understanding of the deeper and often lesser-known challenges and risks of cloud adoption.

EY has noted that, like most technological evolutions, the cloud presents its share of risks and challenges, which are often overlooked or not fully understood by businesses quick to embrace it.1

Right cloud model

The most critical decision an organization must make is to determine the right blend of cloud models; specifically which service and deployment models are best suited for the organization in the long term. This will determine the level of functionality, control and privacy necessary for cloud adoption and sustainability. It is critical to get this right pre-migration.

EY have noted that organizations that adopt a public cloud strategy for cost reasons often later discover that they are essentially subsidizing the costs of cloud upgrades for joint tenants. Within a public cloud, there is no pre-established standard to share costs with other tenants, let alone find out easily who they share joint tenancy with.

Furthermore, private clouds must also be approached with caution, as customization can be costly and there is limited interoperability with on-premise systems.

Cloud security

Third-party data management and storage open up new areas of risk that did not previously exist. Processing data over the internet, as opposed to processing it internally on a company’s network, massively increases data vulnerability. The cloud also brings new challenges when it comes to identity and access management as well as authentication and encryption. Moreover, backup of data may not be entirely transparent in a cloud solution.

CSPs often claim that cloud security is more robust than on-premise solutions; however, on-premise security can vary by organization and across industries. As cloud computing is still an emerging technology, the full risks of adoption and long term tenancy remain an unknown.

Before organizations hand over the keys to the enterprise kingdom to a CSP, EY recommends rigorous review of cloud-based SLAs. CSPs often offer standard SLAs that generally limit liability of the CSP. For some organizations, there may be a need for increased SLA negotiation in order to mitigate increased security concerns.

Cautious cloud computing 4 Ride the

lightning, don’t crash like thunder



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Cloud compliance challenges

CFOs are also concerned when it comes to compliance issues within the cloud. It is often not clear where the data actually resides, creating real challenges for legal compliance and privacy. This is particularly true within the banking and insurance industries. As such, cloud adoption within the financial services industry lags far behind other industries.

While cloud computing is largely considered borderless, compliance is not, and organizations must be aware of where a CSP’s servers are physically located. US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) listed companies with overseas operations, such as in Europe, must take into account the risks of using an overseas public cloud, whereby resources are shared among entities on the same cloud server. Furthermore, many organizations must comply with laws that restrict transborder information flow.

For many publicly listed US companies, cloud adoption may not be an option if the servers are based overseas.

Cloud integration isn’t a breeze

Many CFOs may have the preconceived notion that they hand over the data and CSPs will take care of everything. However, cloud adoption is much more involved. Cloud migration, especially for large multinational organizations, can often be highly complex, with an enormous amount of systems integration activity. Much planning is required in order to get to data portability and interoperability with the cloud. Moreover, the deployment stages can be very costly and resource intensive.

Furthermore, implementing cloud computing requires a considerable shift from traditional computing methods and business processes. The key is determining what tasks need to be accomplished, and whether the enterprise is more concerned with the time taken to complete the project or with the ongoing costs once it’s completed.

Genuinely reduced TCO?

There is also a common belief that cloud migration has the potential to reduce internal IT operations significantly or eliminate them altogether. Ideally, the cost reduction should enable the business to free up IT resources to engage in technology-led innovations. But there is a question about whether IT resources that have traditionally maintained systems have the innovative skillsets to truly contribute toward corporate strategy.

Organizations must also consider the skillsets of existing IT and finance staff and determine what skills will be needed, not just for cloud migration but also for ongoing cloud residency. CSPs generally only offer tiered support within cloud solutions. Moreover, required training for ongoing cloud usage is largely self-service, and organizations must allot adequate time to accommodate a learning curve before reducing IT resources.

Furthermore, cloud solutions rarely result in a complete elimination of IT resources. Rather, a specialized knowledge of managing complex service level agreements is required to manage the complexity of cloud migration and sustainability successfully. EY recommends that organizations consider appointing a cloud finance subject matter professional who not only understands the total cost of cloud services ownership, but can also track service consumption along with cost transparency.

EY

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What are the change drivers?

Change imperative

How can the cloud help? What are the transactional

benefits in the cloud?

General and transactional benefits

What is the business and IT maturity, complexity and regulatory environment?

Key considerations

How much cloud use?

Cloud service model

How much data control and privacy is required?

Cloud deployment model


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Cleanse your data to a single version of truth

A single version of the truth is often cited as a top benefit of cloud adoption. Despite the prior ERP revolution over a decade ago, many companies still struggle with a tangle of inconsistently defined data residing within disparate systems.

Organizations looking to adopt cloud technology must first lay the groundwork by cleansing their data and standardizing processes across the enterprise as much as possible prior to cloud migration. It’s a mistake to rely on the cloud to standardize an organization's processes automatically and immediately. Mapping to a cloud solution can aid an organization to get to a single chart of accounts, but that’s an undertaking that can be time-consuming and resource intensive.

CFOs must recognize that – much like on-premise solutions – what goes into the cloud is largely what you’ll get out of the cloud.

Organizations must also consider the complexity of the existing processes and functions. As many cloud solutions are out of the box, organizations must consider if the same level of complexity should be maintained in the cloud. It’s important to recognize that automation isn’t useful if the business process being automated is already fragmented.

Getting to a single version of the truth is often a difficult journey, with or without cloud migration. The key to a successful transformation lies in adopting a systematic approach with simplicity and interoperability as the focus.

Cloud enhancement

It’s also important to look to the cloud for enhanced capabilities and not just a transfer of what currently exists on-premise.

Organizations with complex functions and processes often believe they can translate the business as is, and the cloud will sort everything out. While this may be true to a certain extent, as cloud offerings enforce a certain level of standardization, the cloud does not discern between simple and complex processes.

It’s important that a pre-migration simplification endeavour is undertaken in order to obtain optimal enhanced functionality from cloud solutions.

Embrace hybrid solutions

Although one of the major benefits of cloud solutions is flexibility, it’s important to recognize that, due to the inherent nature of existing cloud models, cloud offerings are largely out of the box. Thus cloud computing is not one size fits all.

As such, organizations must often conform their business processes to the technology. This has its benefits, as it forces organizations to standardize their functions and processes. However, depending on the maturity and inherent complexity of a business, out-of-the-box solutions may not provide much needed functionality.

CFOs must also be aware that customizing cloud technology to conform to the business can be an exceedingly costly and resource-heavy undertaking that can often be just as costly as customizing an on-premise solution.

As such, mapping an entire organization's business to a cloud solution may not always make sense. Thus, a hybrid approach allows businesses to take advantage of the cloud in an agile fashion by enabling migration of certain applications to the cloud, while simultaneously winding down existing on-premise systems.

Finance decision-makers must look at the enterprise as a whole to determine which areas of the business it makes the most functional and financial sense to deploy as a cloud service, and which business functions can and should be continued to be maintained on-premise.

EY

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nd a

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What are the change drivers?

Change imperative

How can the cloud help? What are the transactional

benefits in the cloud?

General and transactional benefits

What is the business and IT maturity, complexity and regulatory environment?

Key considerations

How much cloud use?

Cloud service model

How much data control and privacy is required?

Cloud deployment model


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With the hybrid deployment models available with SAP Simple Finance, customers can choose their own blend of cloud solutions and on-premise capabilities, providing organizations with ease of use and ease of deployment, without limiting their access to SAP’s deep Finance functionality.

Thack Brown, GM,

Global Head LoB Finance,

SAP


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Any decision to adopt cloud services should ultimately be driven by business needs and goals alongside enterprise-wide strategy. Global CFOs and finance decision-makers at leading organizations are transforming their internal structures and processes to ensure they are well positioned to optimize strategic opportunities.

The starting point of any transformation, regardless of scale, entails deploying the right enterprise operating model.

While the cloud service and deployment models are key components of any cloud adoption approach, the operating model encompasses an organization's wider strategy.

The enterprise operating model encapsulates the financial, operational and technology environments that provide an organization structure, along with the most effective and efficient processes.

The operating model enables an organization to align its business with its strategic vision. Finance can continue to provide traditional roles; however, the optimal operating model will empower finance to become a strategic partner with the ability to help the organization realize value-added, tangible business benefits.

For CFOs, cloud-based solutions are not just about streamlining the finance function and reducing IT costs, they are about enabling finance to become a strategic partner and a catalyst in driving the business forward; the operating model is the starting point.

It’s about the operating model

As CFOs devote more time to strategic issues that affect the business, the focus should be on getting the right operating model in place.

James Meader, Advisory Partner (Ernst & Young, LLP)


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Conclusion 5 Cloud computing is rapidly evolving and finance executives, more than ever, are finding they must navigate an unprecedented period of disruption and innovation.

CFOs who truly understand cloud technology, as well as the associated challenges and risks, are better placed to manage the impact of cloud computing on the finance function and potentially gain a competitive advantage over less informed competitors.

Moreover, CFOs must engage an agile innovation strategy focused on deploying the right operating model in order to realize fully the benefits of cloud computing.

In EY’s experience, organizations that fail to make a robust cloud risk assessment often need to make subsequent, costly changes to the cloud model, thereby negating any savings gained from cloud migration.

EY recommends that organizations develop a clear, attainable cloud strategy, including an appropriate operating model accompanied with a cloud risk management approach to mitigate risks and avoid a premature move to the cloud.

EY has a proven framework for cloud models, along with risk assessments and broad-based diagnostics to evaluate and optimize a cloud strategy that enables minimal disruption while accelerating an organization's evolution.

The author of this report and key contacts for more information are listed below:

Christian Mertin Partner

+49 89 14331 13590 [email protected]

Tony Klimas Partner

+1 212 773 5949 [email protected]

Nisha Buckingham Manager


James Meader Partner



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Why EY?

► EY Advisory: at EY, our purpose is to build a better working world for our clients, our people and our communities.

For Advisory, a better working world means solving big, complex industry issues and capitalizing on opportunities to help deliver outcomes that grow, optimize and protect our clients’ businesses. The unique and ongoing collaboration between EY consultants and our clients results in better working businesses.

► Outcomes and results: we are driven by answers and outcomes, and measure success by the results we deliver. Our clients face a world of constant change and unpredictability, which requires new ways of thinking. A successful project leads to sustainable growth, knowledge sharing and a legacy of a better working client organization.

► Collaboration: collaboration is at the heart of our culture and who we are. With every client, we work relentlessly to listen, challenge and refine the thinking to arrive at a truly co-created outcome and valued client experience.

► Cloud computing knowledge: EY has proven frameworks and technology assessments based on leading practices and standards. We combine thought leadership with real-life implementation experience to help clients manage risk.

► Agile Business Finance: EY has a holistic approach to address the impact on the entire finance organization, including finance process innovation/flexibility, IT simplification and Implementation of SAP Simple Finance.

► Breadth of capabilities: our breadth of capabilities in growth, risk, strategy and execution services enables us to become a trusted collaborator, no matter where our clients are in their life cycle or what market issues they face.

► Global footprint: our ecosystem is a globally connected, fluid and adaptive network of talent that spans the breadth of the whole Advisory practice, our sector centers of excellence and all other service lines, as well as relevant external third parties. It ensures we approach our projects in unexpected ways to deliver better working businesses.

EY | Assurance | Tax | Transactions | Advisory

About EY

EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities. EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

About EY Advisory

In a world of unprecedented change, EY Advisory believes a better working world means solving big, complex industry issues and capitalizing on opportunities to help deliver outcomes that grow, optimize and protect clients’ businesses. From C-suite and functional leaders of Fortune 100 multinationals to disruptive innovators and emerging market small and medium-sized enterprises, EY Advisory teams with clients - from strategy through execution - to help them design better outcomes and deliver long-lasting results. A global mindset, diversity and collaborative culture inspires EY consultants to ask better questions. They work with the client, as well as an ecosystem of internal and external experts, to co-create more innovative answers. Together, EY helps clients’ businesses work better. The better the question. The better the answer. The better the world works.

© 2015 EYGM Limited. All Rights Reserved.

EYG/FEA/OC no. AU3452

ED None

This material has been prepared for general information purposes only and is not intended to be relied upon as accounting, tax, or other professional advice. Please refer to your advisors for specific advice.

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when finance moves into the cloud, will cfos sleep better ...file/ey... · the better the question....

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