UNIT4 CODA Inc., a financial software specialist, has announced the availability of a white paper to help organizations evaluate ERP and accounting systems. The Technology Evaluation Center (TEC) paper, sponsored by UNIT4 CODA, is titled  “The Best-of-Class Financial Systems Strategy: An Alternative to ERP Platforms.” It is available for download from the MC White Paper Center. 

The white paper offers clear guidance to CIOs and CFOs deciding on an accounting and financials package. It lists the types of organizations that often benefit more from an adaptable financial system than a full-blown enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. These include:

• Companies that develop custom or company-specific applications.
• Companies with mixed application and system environments, including legacy systems.
• Companies using agile software development methodologies.

The white paper also includes a full set of selection criteria to help executives assess their need for best-of-class software and evaluate competing solutions’ ability to accommodate change.  Criteria that suggest the need for a best-of-class alternative include:

• When massive software and hardware upgrades are unacceptable, but a company needs to enhance its financial and accounting capabilities.
• When a company uses unique custom-made ERP, manufacturing execution, or supply chain applications, and considers them important elements of its competitive advantage, while still needing to upgrade its financial and accounting systems.
• When it is unworkable for the company to be aligned with a single technology platform, and when technology diversification is required.

Noting the high overall cost associated with ERP, the authors conclude that many companies will find best-of-class a more viable option: “Implementations are faster, ongoing changes occur rapidly and the TCO can be dramatically lower.”

TEC published the white paper in partnership with UNIT4 CODA, which provides finance and accounting software to more than 2,600 public and private organizations in 22 countries. CODA’s Link architecture supports an integrated and open technological approach that accommodates data feeds from multiple sources. Known by many global technology analysts as one of the most adaptable, best-in-class financial solutions on the market, CODA helps companies adapt to constant business changes and mitigates the potential impact that change can have on reporting, processes, controls and systems.