UNIT4 Business Software Reveals Six Best Practices for Insurance Companies

By Shamila Janakiraman
TMCnet Contributor

UNIT4 Business Software a subsidiary of UNIT4 revealed six best practices that are imperative to be followed when implementing finance accounting software to support business growth. This is expected to benefit insurance companies to prosper in a highly competitive and continually changing business environment.

Peter Witham, director and financial services lead at UNIT4 Business Software said, “Evolving regulations, business management changes, and diversification into new product lines or markets are just three of the ongoing change pressures facing insurance companies.” He added that, “Successfully addressing these issues requires a financial management system that empowers insurers with real-time access to data, the ability to report and monitor transparently, and agility to adapt to changing market conditions.” 

By leveraging its industry experience, UNIT4 Business Software has identified six major best practices criteria for implementing finance accounting software for 2013 and in future.

1. Enable true visibility by conducting businesses effectively in a 24/7 world with financial visibility in real-time. Faster closes and balanced ledgers can be ensured with a single ledger system that combines general ledger, accounts payable and accounts receivable.
2. Break down cross-border barriers. Financial visibility across offices and divisions should be emphasized is spite of differing country languages, tax regulations and currencies. This makes financial information easy to share.
3. Obtain additional insights and efficiencies by providing access to relevant financial information. Seamless integration between the accounting system, the ERP system and operational systems becomes imperative. 
4. Make targeted reports that cover varying needs of different departments to improve decision making. Finance accounting software should provide data encompassing profitability for salesperson, different product line and so on in order to summarize root causes, roadblocks and opportunities.
5. Financial systems should be flexible to handle changes due to business change pressures. Loss of time, money and opportunity should be eliminated by companies while upgrading financial systems when making changes. 
6. Cmpanies should be proactive with an eye at the future. Continuous technology upgrade will enhance business effectiveness. Benefits and potential risks have to be evaluated in implementing financial processes on the cloud and how to integrate mobile technologies.

While all software implmentations present their own unique challenges, these tips can relieve many if not most of the headaches that can arise.