Following the implementation: Nimbus and FinancialForce.com

There are so many myths and legends around SaaS and cloud computing it is refreshing to see one company prepared to publicly document its implementation. Nimbus is doing that, talking to the issues that matter to them. Right now, they’re concentrating on using their FinancialForce.com implementation as a way of re-visiting business processes to see where they can get quick wins:

By mapping your existing processes, the issues and simple fixes can fall thick and fast whilst still keeping in scope of your existing processes and applications.

“It is a complete nightmare when we don’t have a PO from the client, I can take twice as long to collect payment” said Max, the credit controller, while mapping her processes. “Why don’t we just issue a copy quote and request the procurer to sign and return, thus providing agreement for invoice?” was one of the suggestions. “Brilliant!” was the answer.

Pulling out these wins is incredibly important because it allows the team to discover hidden value. This would be true in any software change situation but it seems that in this implementation, the team is discovering quick wins directly from the SaaS platform. In comments I suggested they might consider implementing EchoSign as a way of offering authenticated document signing. It works with Salesforce.com so should work natively with FinancialForce. I’m a big fan of EchoSign and see it having broad application with professional systems.

Coincidentally, Ray Wang has set out a number of other hidden value ideas that can be derived from SaaS deployments.

I’m looking forward to seeing more from Nimbus. It will be instructive for those considering SaaS as well as providing learnings from which all can benefit. Bookmarked.

Tagged as: Cloud computing, Ray Wang, SAAS, Software as a service