This report reviews the latest offering in financial management applications in the cloud and related Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) trends. Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and finance leaders seeking advice about the cloud can take advantage of Constellation’s ERP user survey and cloud adoption trends to understand how peer organizations have advanced their usage of ERP and financial management applications.

On March 13, 2016, Workday announced the 26th release of its product, which included significant upgrades to the financial application. The new release improves global capabilities, reporting, analytics, and industry-specific capabilities. Key highlights include packaged dashboards, core improvements, industry specific functions, and a new journal connector for linking third-party financial and operational systems with Workday.

Constellation’s series on innovation in financial management applications in the cloud identifies finance leaders and technology providers seeking to transform the current legacy on-premises market. As finance leaders venture into the cloud for innovation and renewal of mission-critical financial management applications, they must shatter myths about security, customization and regulatory compliance.

Nine benefits of the cloud continue to outweigh the risks, including potential vendor lock-in. Those who make the shift to the cloud boost innovation in reducing the cost of ownership, cost of maintenance and complexity as well as in gaining mobile access, increased value, integration, and self-service business intelligence.