SAN MATEO, CA--(Marketwire - August 10, 2010) - Even as IDC reports that Software-as-a-Service solutions may soon overtake traditional packaged applications in total sales, integration between disparate elements continues to be a top concern among many users. In particular, the majority of recently surveyed Salesforce CRM users are fed up with the lack of integration provided by popular financial and accounting solutions, including QuickBooks and Sage.
Professionals from more than 200 small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in North America described the biggest challenges with their current accounting solution in the survey. Of those who used QuickBooks or Sage and Salesforce CRM, 67% cited lack of CRM integration as their biggest headache.
The survey was conducted by FinancialForce.com, developer of the only cloud accounting application built natively on the Force.com platform from Salesforce.com. Launched in 2009, Salesforce CRM customers including Telegraph Media Group, CyberSafe Limited and the Wi-Fi Alliance have deployed FinancialForce Accounting to replace their legacy accounting systems. FinancialForce Accounting shares Salesforce CRM's simple design and interface and provides a highly sophisticated financial management solution that scales from the smallest to the most complex multinational organization.
Survey participants went one step further to provide color on how the lack of integration impacts their work and their companies, including:
- "We have a double entry problem between Salesforce CRM opportunities and QuickBooks purchase order records and we don't have our finances in the cloud :-("
- "Our accounting app leaves finance very disconnected from business, as opposed to being in the thick of it."
- "Does not integrate with Salesforce CRM, which we are increasingly adopting across the organization. We are faced with a large integration challenge or a change of financial application."
- "Invoicing needs to be integrated into salesforce.com."
- "We had to build our own A/P and A/R in salesforce.com, and it isn't connected with our accounting app."
- "Our accounting app cannot track sending and receipt of invoices without manual entry in salesforce.com."
Other frustrations cited by respondents included a lack of multicompany functionality, an unwieldy amount of manual data entry, incompatibility with Macs and an inability to scale:
- "[QuickBooks] doesn't do multi-user gracefully."
- "I have a multi-product, multi-sector, i.e., multi-revenue stream business. QuickBooks cannot handle it without excessive data input."
- "We use Macs and PCs and even the online version does not work on both."
- "[The program] generally feels like 1999."
"Our sales team loves using Salesforce CRM, but we were frustrated by the lack of a direct link of what was quoted to customers and what they actually bought and were billed for. Managing invoices was a full time task," said Tim Alsop, Technical Director of CyberSafe Limited. "Since the finance team got on board with FinancialForce Accounting, there's a new love affair that's been struck. The sales and accounting teams are now on the same page. We've replaced inefficient manual processes with better customer service, faster turnaround on key cash flow reports and a complete view of all customer accounts for the first time."
"Communication breakdowns between sales and finance are a major cause of invoicing mistakes, impaired cash flow and damage to the bottom line," said Jeremy Roche, President and CEO, FinancialForce.com. "The tight connection between sales and accounting reduces the chance of user error, which, in turn, promotes better customer service. Our recent integration with salesforce.com's Chatter platform makes collaboration around sales opportunities even more effective. Based on the responses to this survey, customers who use desktop accounting systems that don't properly integrate with Salesforce CRM are missing a trick."
To learn more about the FinancialForce Accounting solution, visit the new FinancialForce demo center at: http://www.financialforce.com/online-accounting-solutions/information/demo-center.
About the Survey
The survey, recently conducted by FinancialForce.com, took place over a two week period in the second quarter of 2010. The results are based on input from over 200 finance, accounting, sales and IT professionals from small-to-medium-sized businesses in the U.S. using Salesforce CRM.
About FinancialForce.com
FinancialForce Accounting is the only online cloud accounting solution built natively on the Force.com platform from salesforce.com. Based on 30 years of financial application development, it allows finance teams of organizations using Salesforce CRM to truly 'Speak Salesforce,' dramatically simplifying processes like invoicing, cash collection and customer service. And FinancialForce.com's real-time, international financials solution fully leverages the native integration with Salesforce CRM, providing up to the minute market knowledge and collaboration at the speed of social networking.
To learn more about FinancialForce Accounting, please visit www.financialforce.com.
Contact Information:
Media Contact:
Maria Krinsky
Reidy Communications for FinancialForce.com
maria@reidycommunications.com
(415) 704-5012