Make Smart Choices when Automating your Close

⇨ In a new research initiative, Amalgam Insights interviewed four companies to find out the following:

⇨ To gain an understanding of the challenges their finance departments faced and their SAP systems.

⇨ And the reasons they chose BlackLine Smart Close as a multinational and enterprise-grade close and process automation solution.

SAP users will know that a reliable SAP system makes their businesses run smoother. When it comes to a successful SAP financial close, , processes need to be managed efficiently and effectively to benefit both employee and customer.

In a new research initiative, Amalgam Insights interviewed four companies using BlackLine Smart Close to gain an understanding of the challenges their finance departments faced, their use of SAP, the reasons Smart Close was chosen, and the measurable benefits attained after implementing the enterprise-grade close automation solution. The business value assessment dives into value propositions associated with the software from a productivity, value creation, and strategic perspective.

The organizations interviewed highlighted the need to manage and accelerate monthly and quarterly close as SAP customers seek to optimize close and other financial activities globally. As a compliment to SAP’s close capabilities, BlackLine Smart Close delivers quick process wins as it can be implemented and administered without dedicated Information Technology resources.

The initial implementation takes around 2-3 months, with prioritization on harmonizing the initial process across entities, training users to manually support process scenarios, and training users to build scenarios for automating close and other financial processes

On average, each of these companies saved around two thousand hours of work in the first phase of their Smart Close implementation over the first year. These time savings came from a combination of shifting time-intensive queries off-hours and automating the delivery of standard finance reports. Overall, BlackLine Smart Close can lead to a savings of over 10,000, an estimated 300-500% return on investment, which can result in an annual productivity increase of over $1,000,000.

“After implementing Smart Close, we realized savings equivalent to approximately 6 full-time equivalents (FTE), simplifying processes, reducing clicks for users compared to navigating sap and downloading via excel. Additionally, it incorporates a checklist feature for enhanced governance.” Said a Finance Digitization Expert from a Multinational Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Company.

Link to Business Value Assessment: https://www.blackline.com/resources/blackline-smart-close-maximizes-financial-productivity-for-sap-close-process-automation/

Link to Webinar: https://www.blackline.com/resources/sap-customers-highlight-the-value-of-automating-the-close/