Digital transformation and the 4th Industrial Revolution are substantially changing the CFO role within an organization. In the past, the key role of a CFO was to be a protector of financial integrity, but today this role is evolving to include driving operational performance and efficiency, actively engaging in internal and external strategy, and more. CFOs know that their enterprises must become digital organizations. The question is not whether, but where and how much their firms should spend to compete in an increasingly complex digitalized marketplace. The backbone of every midsize to large organization in the world is its ERP software solution. As the finance function evolves to take a larger role withing an organization, the CFO’s priorities change too. Here are the top 5 CFO priorities when choosing an ERP solution: 1. Advanced analytics and business intelligence 2. Solve operational problem of finance and accounting users 3. Maximize ROI from ERP investment 4. Shorter implementation time 5. On-premises vs cloud ERP (SaaS) solution

1. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
5 CFO PRIORITIES WHEN
CHOOSING AN ERP SOLUTION
VIENNA Advantage Whitepaper

2. *CFO Research / Grant Thornton study
of CFOs said
that next year
they will manage
substantially more
technology
69%
of CFOs said that
next year they will
invest more in digital
transformation*
66%
The role of
the CFO in the Digital
Transformation Journey
Digital transformation and the 4th Industrial
Revolution are substantially changing the
CFO role within an organization.
In the past, the key role of a CFO was to be a
protector of financial integrity, but today this
role is evolving to include driving operational
performance and efficiency, actively engaging
in internal and external strategy, and more.
CFOs know that their enterprises must
become digital organizations. The question is
not whether, but where and how much their
firms should spend to compete in an
increasingly complex digitalized marketplace.

3. CFO requirements from an
ERP solution in the digital
transformation journey
The backbone of every midsize to large organization in
the world is its ERP software solution. As the finance
function evolves to take a larger role withing an
organization, the CFO’s priorities change too.

4. Advanced analytics and
business intelligence
Today, and in the foreseeable future, the CFOs
and their teams would need to be effectively
augmented by an enterprise resource planning
(ERP) solution that is capable of providing real-
time and in-depth analytics to not only support
the digital transformation journey, but also the
overall decision-making process.
In a recent survey by CFO Research on digital
transformation with 689 senior finance
executives in the United States and Europe,
nearly half (47%) of the surveyed CFOs said it
was important to use data and analytics
collected across a company in strategic ways.
In another study published by CFO Research /
Grant Thornton which included 304 executives,
89% of the surveyed CFOs believe that strong
data analytics is the key for success now and in
the future.
of CFOs believe that strong data
analytics is the key for success
now and in the future
of CFOs said that it was important
to use data and analytics collected
across a company in strategic ways
47%
89%
1

5. Conventional metrics for financial success
are evolving with the use of technology.
Today’s new measurements are providing
greater insight into the health of the
business and support better business
decisions.
The digital transformation of your finance
department as well as your organization
starts with implementing an ERP solution
that comes with an inbuilt Business
Intelligence system capable of providing
analytics to improve the decision-making
process in your company.
1 Advanced analytics and
business intelligence

6. An ERP software solution should be the key tool
to support the transformation of the finance
function into becoming a driving force in the
company’s digital transformation journey.
When it comes to conglomerates and large
multinational corporations, an ideal ERP
solution should be adoptable by the entire
business group. Functions such as group-wide
financial consolidation, that finance users take
weeks to accomplish, could be completed in a
matter of hours with a good ERP solution.
This efficiency could only be achieved if every
subsidiary is able to afford and run on the same
ERP platform, and transactions are recorded at
individual subsidiary level across the entire
group. This solves some of the most significant
challenges of finance and accounting users in
the organization.
*CFO Research survey
of the finance executives said
they will devote at least 20%
of their finance budgets to
digitally transforming the
function*
60%
Solve operational problem of
finance and accounting users
2

7. One of the key roles of every CFO in the company’s
digital transformation journey is to take a call on
the budget for an ERP solution with the best
functionality, lowest implementation time and
reasonable cost of ownership.
The Group CFOs’ unenviable dilemma is to build a
business case of an Oracle or SAP implementation
across the entire group of companies, considering
that these ERP solutions are priced at a premium
and come with complex licensing models.
A few subsidiaries that generate 80% of the group’s
revenue are able to afford SAP or Oracle ERP. The
remaining subsidiaries are forced to go with other,
relatively inexpensive, but deficient ERP solutions.
This approach leads to an extremely heterogeneous
IT landscape across the group of companies and
results in severe inefficiencies as well as jeopardizes
the implementation of the digital transformation
strategy.
Maximize ROI from ERP investment
The right approach to maximize the ROI of
the ERP investment would be to find feature
rich solution that could support your digital
transformation strategy and at the same
time be affordable to all subsidiaries within
a group of companies.
3

8. VIENNA Advantage ERP comes with very simplified
licensing model. We charge on a per named user
basis for both perpetual and SaaS models. This
means that there is no surcharge that customers
need to pay per legal entity, or per ERP module.
This has very fundamental implication!
Firstly, the cost of ownership compared to popular
solutions such as SAP or Oracle is significantly lower,
without sacrificing on the core ERP functionality. This
means, customers can replace their existing ERP
solution with VIENNA Advantage at a lower price.
More importantly, it allows all subsidiaries in a group,
regardless of their individual revenue, to be able to
afford VIENNA Advantage and achieve a
homogeneous IT landscape across the entire group
of companies. This forms the very core of your digital
transformation initiatives, with the ERP solution
being the backbone of your organization.
Benefits of implementing
VIENNA Advantage ERP
Lower cost of ownership
Simplified licensing model
Homogeneous IT landscape across
the entire group of companies
3 Maximize ROI from ERP investment

9. The median shelf life of an ERP solution is
about 10 years. Traditional ERP solutions, like
SAP or Oracle ERP, take anywhere between
3-4 years to implement, depending on the
complexity involved. This leaves the company
only 6-7 years to productively use the ERP to
support its digital transformation journey and
realize the returns from the ERP investment.
VIENNA Advantage ERP has dramatically
shorter implementation timeframes (around
2 years), leaving customers with 8 years of
productive usage of the ERP.
In this way customers have 10-15% of additional
productive usage of the ERP and therefore a
higher return on their investment. This is
because of the inherent architecture of the
VIENNA Advantage ERP that allows for rapid
configuration, customization and deployment.
Traditional ERP solutions, like SAP or
Oracle ERP, take anywhere between
3-4 years to implement.
VIENNA Advantage ERP has
dramatically shorter implementation
timeframes, around 2 years.
2
YRS
3-4
YRS
This means that the implementation cost, often
the largest component of an ERP investment, is
reduced by a significant factor, allowing VIENNA
Advantage customers to realize cost savings.
Shorter implementation time4

10. On-premises vs cloud ERP
(SaaS) solution
According to recent Gartner’s research,
companies around the world spent $227.8
billion last year on public cloud services, and
they’re projected to spend 17% more ($266.4
billion) this year.
With that in mind, it’s not a surprise that 4 in
10 (39%) surveyed CFOs, in the CFO Research,
said that leveraging cloud computing is a
major challenge for them.
The critical question that many CFOs could
help their companies’ CIOs answer is: What is
our financial justification for shifting from on-
premises ERP to a cloud ERP solution?
5
2020 projected global spend on public
cloud services around the world.
CFOs said that leveraging cloud
computing is a major challenge for them.
39%
$266.4
BILLION

11. Why choose
VIENNA Advantage ERP?
VIENNA Advantage is the first enterprise-level open
source ERP and CRM solution with inbuilt document
management and business intelligence system,
available on the cloud and on-premises.
Realize strategic goals with one enterprise application
across the corporation. Hundreds of features within
the tightly integrated ERP and CRM solution.

12. Comprehensive
solution at a fraction
of the cost
Global, integrated,
enterprise-ready
functionality.
No up-front license fee,
lower deployment and
maintenance costs.
“Dynamic
Applications” adapt
to your business
Revolutionary
design enables rapid
customization without
coding.
Automated upgrades
keep solution up to
date over time.
Modern, web-based
technology
Freedom and
control
Interactive web user
interface accessible from
any web browser.
Standards-based, service
oriented architecture
enables integration.
Access to application
source code.
Manage as much
or as little of the
implementation
as you choose.
Choice of operating
system, database, web
browser, and service
provider.

13. VIENNA Advantage
FREE PERSONALIZED DEMO
Experience the award-winning enterprise
level ERP/CRM software. Schedule your
personalized demonstration today.
SCHEDULE DEMO

14. Corporate Contacts
info@viennaadvantage.com
Germany
A Bohlenskamp 21,
26340 Zetel, Germany
P +49-621-307-80370
www.viennaadvantage.com
United States
A 2372 Morse Avenue,
Suite #418, Irvine, CA 92614
P 1-949-325-0615
India
A #493 Phase-9, Industrial Area,
Mohali, PB 160062
P +49-621-307-80370