February 20, 2019
4 min read
Global market intelligence firm IDC named Sage Intacct a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Cloud and SaaS ERP Accounts Receivables and Accounts Payables Applications 2018-2019 Vendor Assessment (doc #US43263618, December 2018). The report focuses on how digital transformation is fundamentally changing financial applications and allowing businesses to transform their decision making. Download an excerpt of the IDC MarketScape report with analysis on Sage Intacct.
IDC MarketScape vendor analysis model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of ICT suppliers in a given market. The research methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each vendor’s position within a given market. The Capabilities score measures vendor product, go-to-market and business execution in the short-term. The Strategy score measures alignment of vendor strategies with customer requirements in a 3-5-year timeframe. Vendor market share is represented by the size of the icons.
Being recognized as a Leader stems from our goal to help finance leaders improve financial operations, manage cash flow and grow the business quickly.
“Sage Intacct has aggressively leveraged cloud technology advancements that have reshaped and realigned the AR and AP functions for growing companies through new and innovative features.” - IDC MarketScape
The IDC MarketScape highlights several strengths of our cloud financial management software, including our micro-vertical focus and having a solution built by for finance professionals by finance experts.
Strength in micro-vertical focus
Being acknowledged for a micro-vertical focus reaffirms that our technology foundation matters. Since our company’s inception (nearly 20 years ago), Sage Intacct has given accountants a flexible, multi-dimensional chart of accounts to store financial transactions based on the way information had to be tracked (e.g. by entity, location, by department, by project, etc.). Companies can track cash receipts from customers by region, by project, or by any dimension needed for the business. Companies can also manage their spend by vendor, by department, or by any dimension that matters.
In a sector like nonprofit that includes multiple micro-verticals, a philanthropic association can have a multi-dimensional chart of accounts that tracks activity by grant, by field office, and by program. With this same system, a diocese can also have a multi-dimensional chart of accounts that tracks activity by a different set of dimensions such as by parish and by school. With a multi-dimensional chart of accounts, any company from any industry can do all their accounting and produce month-end reporting that’s already formatted to look the way the finance team manages the business.
Our micro-vertical focus shows in the way we deliver industry-specific capabilities to our customers. Since Sage Intacct is true cloudtechnology, our platform allows us to release new features quickly and seamlessly to all our customers without disrupting their daily operations.
For example, when ASC 606 was first announced in 2014, companies that sold subscriptions suddenly felt a vital need to satisfy the new revenue recognition requirements and still streamline order-to-cash processes. We released the industry’s first automated solution to satisfy ASC 606 requirements so that any finance team could do revenue recognition and reduce days sales outstanding by up to 50%.
Last year when ASU 2018-08 was issued regarding revenue accounting for nonprofit grants and contributions, we delivered the only automated revenue recognition solution to comply with the new standards without causing a disruption to our nonprofit customers. Upgrades are always seamless with our true cloud offering, enabling us to deliver both general accounting and industry-specific features to any customer when they need it.
Using both a multi-dimensional chart of accounts and industry-specific capabilities in our platform, our customers realize quantifiable value from improving their AR and AP processes. A software customer, whose previous financial system couldn’t handle subscription-based contracts and revenue recognition, was suffering from cash flow shortage and had 59 DSO (days sales outstanding). After switching to Sage Intacct, the company automated their billing and revenue recognition and saw their DSO improve to just 29 days. Faster customer collections yielded an additional $7 million in operating cash flow, which the company used to invest in headcount for product development and salesforce expansion.
Another customer, a family office in the financial services sector, previously used a financial system that couldn’t track approvals for the 8,000 vendor bills handled annually across 80 separate entities. Without audit capabilities to track approvals for vendor payments, the finance team couldn’t detect and prevent unauthorized spending. After switching to Sage Intacct, the finance team inserted spend management controls to ensure that bills were only paid after proper approval. We helped the family office save $2 million in spending after improving their AP process.
With a micro-vertical focus, our platform can meet specific business requirements so that our customers can have a deep connection with the software. Having helped thousands of CFOs across verticals improve their operations, it’s no surprise to us that we’ve been rated #1 in customer satisfaction since 2015 based on independent user reviews.
Strength in being built for finance professionals by finance experts
The IDC MarketScape highlights our cloud financial management software as being a solution built for finance professionals by finance experts as another strength. This financial expertise is not only embedded in our software development but also in our professional services. Being acknowledged for our financial expertise underscores the value that Sage Intacct brings to customers.
Our professional services team are finance experts who also know how to use the product. A conversation with a member of our team feels like you’re talking to another accountant who understands your business. They speak the language of accountants, not programmers. Our professional services team members started their careers in finance before they became product experts. As of this publication, 70% of the team are CPAs or former CFOs. Since they practiced finance and accounting in the US and worked for accounting firms and finance departments, they thoroughly understand financial processes. Accounting backgrounds enable our team to help CFOs adopt their new financial system to the point of self-sufficiency and not having to require additional services to use the solution.
Sage Intacct also has the distinction of being the only preferred provider by the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants). The AICPA wrote ‘the book’ on accounting and publishes standards that every US-based company follows. As of this publication, the AICPA has over 431,000 members who’ve seen and used nearly every accounting system in existence. Yet of all the accounting systems out there, ours is the only one they prefer.
We help fast-growing companies succeed
Our goal is to make every customer a customer for life and ensure their success with the solution forever. We believe successful customers not only need to, first, have the right product, but also, second, work with the right experts and, third, have access to ongoing support. For years, we’ve had a process to deliver all three to thousands of CFOs.
Based on feedback from our customers, five reasons influenced their decision to choose us:
- We have proven industry best practices built by and tailored for finance professionals
- We speak CPA, not code
- We make finance professionals self-sufficient, without forcing them to become coders or dependent on IT
- Our platform speaks CPA, not code
- We’re the customer satisfaction leader
See for yourself why Sage Intacct is a Leader in cloud financial management and accounting software by downloading an excerpt of the IDC MarketScape report with analysis on Sage Intacct.
