原作者：Joe McKendrick
译者：T 客汇 李哲
关键词：云计算，财务
核心提示：云计算究竟是一场变革，还是仅仅止步于对现有系统、应用或流程的技术性替代？本文以企业财务系统为例，介绍如何利用云计算的变革性力量，开启企业的财务转型之路。
近期，云商业峰会在纽约举办，主办方为ISG的子公司Saugatuck Technology。本届峰会提出的议题之一是——云计算带来的究竟是变革性的影响，还是仅仅对现有系统、应用或流程的技术性替代？
其中的一场小组讨论引人注目，财务和IT主管们对“云计算对企业财务系统和流程的影响”这一议题进行了讨论。大家一致认为，财务是一个与行业技术发展不同步的领域。这并不是说财务主管们在云计算的采用上滞后，而是他们对云计算有着不一样的看法。
本次小组讨论的主持人，Saugatuck的Bruce Guptill说：“越来越多的CIO和他们的直接下属采用云计算。无数的案例证明，云计算可以为企业创造更高的价值。但它不是替代品，而是一整套可以创造更多机会的新工具和新视角。而且，可以让我们更清楚地看到它为企业创造的机遇。”
然而，在财务领域，情况就不同了。“一直以来，谨小慎微被视为财务主管们的本职。这一点从来没有变，未来也不会改变。”Guptill继续说道，尽管有越来越多的核心财务进入云端，“仍然会有一些天然的顾虑和谨慎，因为一旦财务乱了，企业也就岌岌可危了。因此，任何新事物的植入都需要经过彻底的审核，还要保证完全兼容。”所以，IT和财务需要以两种不同的速度运行。
正因为如此，许多CIO和财务主管不愿打破现状。这也是为什么对于财务主管来说，主要财务功能的云计算“不是变革性的，而是替代性的”，Workday的企业战略执行副总裁Mark Nittler如是说，“这是不得了的事情，因为这和我们的所见所闻相违背。这不是财务系统的转型，而仅仅是按照企业需求对传统财务系统的替换。”
然而，国际财务执行官组织(Financial Executives International)的首席运营官Bill Sinnett注意到，在保证不扰乱企业其他系统的前提下，哪怕只是将一小部分云计算导入财务系统，都是不容易的。财务系统云计算的导入，不能是渐进式或小步式的。“你怎么可能把核心会计做到一半，然后再转入云端呢？这里没有中间道路可走。”
因此，基本目标可以确定，就是要在财务系统中导入云计算，而由此引发的改变和转型是不可避免的。接下来的关键问题是，这些改变如何改善报表和财务数据的分析？云计算厂商需要给出一个答案，企业财务系统的变革之路才能由此开启。
这个答案的关键之处在于，如何帮助企业财务主管不仅仅把目光局限于总账和报表，还要看到困扰企业的更大的难题。Sinnett说：“当财务系统出现问题的时候，CFO们不去看总账，而是看BI，然后断定问题出在报表。然而，问题不在于报表工具，而在于数据——是因为他们没有捕捉到正确的数据类型。这是整个财务架构的问题，他们必须学会从不同的视角看待问题。”
总之，企业向基于云的财务系统转型，需要在多个层次上做好准备。正如纽约公立图书馆的技术副总裁Jane Aboyoun所说，企业的云转型需要超越技术和单个应用程序的层面。“做拦路虎的不是技术，而是流程、行为方式和企业文化的转变。”
英文原文：
Is the goal of cloud computing to deliver transformative effects to the business, or is it okay to merely replace an existing system, application or process? That’s one of the questions taken up at the recent Cloud Business Summit, held in New York and hosted by Saugatuck Technology, a division of ISG.
In a compelling panel discussion, financial and IT leaders debated the impact of cloud computing on corporate financial systems and processes. The consensus is that finance is an area that is not in sync with technology developments in businesses. It’s not that financial executives are lagging in cloud adoption — it’s just that they have a different view of it.
“After years of cloud denial, were now seeing more CIOs and their direct reports bringing cloud into the enterprise,” said Saugatuck’s Bruce Guptill, who moderated the panel discussion. “There are thousands and thousands of case studies and examples how we can improve our value to our organizations. It’s not replacing us, it’s a new set of tools and a new set of lenses creating more opportunity, and better able to see the opportunities it creates for our organizations.”
However, for the finance side, it’s a different story, Guptill continued. “Finance leaders have been rewarded for thousands of years for being cautious, and that has not changed, and it’s not going to change.” While there is more core finance moving to cloud, he continued, “there still is a natural hesitancy or caution, because if you start messing with finance, you start messing with the lifeblood of company. So anything that comes in has to be thoroughly vetted and compatible.” For that reason, IT and finance tend to be “operating at two different speeds.”
For many CIOs and financial leaders, there’s a reluctance to rock the boat. That’s why, for financial executives, adopting cloud for key functions is often “not about transition, it’s about about replacement,” said Mark Nittler, executive vice president for enterprise strategies at Workday. “That’s huge, it goes against what you see or hear. It’s not about the transformation of finance in our systems, but more about a need to replace them, in order to do what we need to do.”
However, there’s no easy way to introduce cloud — even just a piece of it — to financial systems without disrupting the rest of the enterprise, observed Bill Sinnett, chief operating officer of Financial Executives International. When bringing in cloud for financial systems, there are no incremental or half-steps. “How do you go into a halfway measure around your core accounting and shift it to the cloud? There isn’t a transition path,” he stated.
The bottom line — to bring in cloud and all the changes and transitions that will ripple from the initiatives — cloud proponents will need to discuss how the changes will improve reporting and analysis of financial data. There has to be a driving business reason to get financial executives on board with the cloud, Sinnett stated. This will put enterprises on the transition path.
The key is to help financial executives look beyond general ledger and reporting and understand how cloud can address some of the larger issues that vex their enterprises. “When financial systems aren’t working, CFOs don’t look at general ledger for that, they look at BI, and they think it’s a reporting problem,” says Sinnett. “But the reporting tool is not the problem — it’s a data problem; they haven’t captured the right kind of data. It’s a whole financial architecture problem. They have to start to think about it differently.”
Ultimately, the transition to cloud-based financial system requires the organization be prepared at multiple levels. As Jane Aboyoun, vice president of technology for the New York Public Library, explained, the cloud transformation goes beyond technology and individual applications. “The technology piece really was not the roadblock,” she said. “It required a cultural change, a process change, a behavioral change, and a cultural change.”
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