The ERP industry is evolving fast. Technical innovations and the transformation of uses profoundly change how this tool, so central for the company, is being designed. It is now equipped with hyper-automation functions allowing it to drastically reduce fixed costs linked to the trades, while the technological evolutions impact the profile of the CFO. Jonathan Lascaux, CEO of FiveForty°, a Business and Technology consultant specialized in finance, and an ERP integrator for Microsoft Dynamics 365 For Finance & AX, gives us his insights

Forbes TV: What is the influence of the development of cloud services on the ERP offer?

Jonathan Lascaux: Just like for Microsoft solutions, the rise in power of the cloud brings all the flexibility of a digital platform that can be compared, all things being equal, to an Apple Store. It offers many applications that one must know how to interconnect. One of the challenges of the cloud is therefore mastery of the currently available technologies. Previously, installing an ERP for a customer required knowledge of two to three technologies. Today, we are talking about several dozen or more which, moreover, are evolving or changing at a sustained pace. It is therefore an issue of importance for both customers and providers who must possess the appropriate knowledge. However, thanks to the flexibility offered by the cloud, it is possible to carry out IT projects much faster.

And thus accelerate the digital transformation of companies? 

JL: Undoubtedly. At the same time, one must keep in mind that the challenge of digital transformation and the possible obstacles that can be seen are less about the technology itself than about the ability of the trades to adopt it. It is therefore more of a human than a technical issue.

Deployment of an ERP has sometimes turned into a real headache for some companies, especially SMEs, without delivering the expected results. How to successfully carry out, in concrete terms, a winning ERP project?

JL: FiveForty°s name comes from the vision we are developing and we offer to our customers. A vision not only at 360°, but at 540°. These additional 180° embody our listening and sharing qualities, representative of our firm’s values. The success of an ERP project, its implementation by general management, requires to refocus on the human aspect. The ERP will allow the compartments to be taken down. The various teams will have to talk to each other. If they cannot succeed, the project will be bound for failure. 

What consequences are to be expected from task automation, especially by the wide-scale adoption of RPA (Robotic process automation solutions), on companies’ finance departments?

JL: This is an essential question and one of the current challenges of financial managers. It is, btw, the subject of an article we did with a former financial director of the Geodis group. Today, in countries with a developed economy such as France, it’s about managing the services, that is, the teams implementing and managing processes. Therefore, the encompassing importance of step automation with RPA. If nothing in this respect is done, those departments will be unable to keep up, both in terms of scalability and flexibility. In the end, it’s the matter of costs being raised here. The use of RPA, of task automation, will enable drastic reductions in fixed costs related to activity to the benefit of variable costs which must be elastic and adjustable to demand. That has been the entire problem with banks. The latter have suffered from Covid because their architecture is such that the cost is the same whether they have to process one transaction or tens of millions. 

And what about the profile of the CFOs themselves? Isn’t their profession changing due to technological advances?

JL: The part that is not changing has to do with management of taxation matters, audits to set up, accounting to be kept current… Where it changes, it’s in the knowledge of technologies. Today, a CFO must have in his/her palette a “touch” of techie and a mindset open to change to ensure the performance of his/her department. 

Post Covid, what are companies looking for in terms of consulting?

JL: Companies wish to be counting on simple, efficient teams who progress fast and offer clarity on what is going to be set up for them. What organizations want is a minimum of administrative procedures and the upfront knowledge of how much they’ll have to pay. For instance: pre-Covid we were hired for 400 service days without really being asked how these workdays were to be actually used. Today, customers want precise answers to all of their requests, whatever the size of the project may be. At FiveForty, this is how we operate. With concrete results. If, at the height of the crisis, our turnover was almost –60%, we’re currently at +30%. Proof that this works.

Interview conducted for Forbes TV.