Advice and Information for Finance Professionals
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Finance Topics & Trends
January 6, 2017
Top 3 Finance Predictions for EMEA in 2017
by Arun Khehar, SVP Applications ECEMEA, Oracle
As we start this new year, it has become a tradition to drive predictions on future business outlook. I felt I could share with you my top 3 predictions for the year to come as our region continues to rapidly change with major transformation programs touching all—governments and citizens, businesses and employees—driven by a huge appetite for technology-led innovations or simply new legal requirements.
So here are my top 3:
1. VAT: Must-Do for All Finance Leaders Across GCC
As you may know, VAT will be incrementally deployed across Gulf countries in the short future. So all Finance departments from large, midsize to small organizations will have to ensure that starting 2018 they have an up-and-running system that fully complies with VAT requirements.
We will see traditional scenarios such as updating existing systems by activating the VAT function of ERPs or simply taking the opportunity to replace old systems by next gen apps as we saw in Europe in the 2000s.
I believe a third scenario will dominate with the emergence of pure cloud VAT services that will allow quicker deployments while ensuring the company is always compliant with any legal change.
2. Artificial Intelligence: Intelligence in the Context of Business Decisions
We’ve used technology successfully to simplify the creation of information and access of that information. And now we turn to technology to democratize access to intelligence.
During Oracle OpenWorld last September, Oracle unveiled intelligent cloud applications that automatically offer individualized recommended actions and streamline the tasks of business users such as human resource or finance professionals. When activated, these new Adaptive Intelligent Applications apply advanced data science to learn and ingest data about an organization’s users and their behaviors to deliver targeted information to customers and employees. The insights from these deep analytics build a knowledge base that helps improve business results across organizations.
I believe the next big revolution in the world of enterprise applications will come from Artificial Intelligence.
3.Cloud Adoption: The Road to Mass ERP Adoption
This is probably my favorite topic. When you look back at Software as a Service (SaaS) adoption it has been predominately driven by lines of business and solutions in HR, Marketing or Service. Very good examples of how companies across industries have digitized their enterprise in the cloud can be found in the new digibooks that we have just released compiling our best stories in the EMEA region: Digibook 1 and Digibook 2.
I believe the next massive wave of adoption will be ERP in the cloud as Finance and Supply Chain lines of business start to not only see the immediate value of the cloud—such as faster innovation—but also that cloud offers a truly secure business environment. I actually see 3 key steps in the road to digital business value:
- Digitize core business processes and operations with the simplicity of the cloud
- Deploy latest cloud innovations to establish new business models, processes and decisions
- Adopt a customer experience (CX) platform for personalized marketing and best customer omni-channel service
The more I think about it, the more I believe on-premises software worked very well for a stable world; but I believe even more strongly that cloud is the perfect fit for a fast-changing world. It is the only consumption model that offers such a level of flexibility combined with quick innovation cycles.
Do you agree? And what are your top 3 predictions? I would love to know them.
Arun
Join the discussion
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Interoperability between SAAS providers. Flexibility to choose best of the breed in ERP space. Security for Financial data of the clients.
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Good information and importance of VAT in the region and the future with artificial intelligence. Though VAT may be new to the region, west is moving towards artificial intelligence in most of the areas, being Oracle Customers, we need to get ready to face the challenges in the coming two years.