How Controllers Can Get Familiar with the Cloud

For the last decade, the cloud has been presented itself as a viable option for businesses across the nation. Promising cost effectiveness, security, and accessibility from any location, many departments have found themselves benefiting from these solutions. While many in the finance organization have embraced the cloud, many are still on the fence.

But after the year that was 2020, even the most hesitant leaders are starting to get a clear view of the delivery model. Work from home initiatives, decentralized spending, and more have all pushed CFOs and controllers to seek out information about the benefits and potential risks of the cloud.

Over the past year, we’ve stuck to the financial news and insights, briefly touching on the technology in our articles on cloud migration and the technologies going beyond the cloud, but would today like to announce an event designed to put you on a path for success.

How Does a Cloud Move Affect the Controller?

From software delivered on the cloud to using the cloud to host your business, there are many different ways to look at the cloud. SaaS represents the software itself, IaaS covers the infrastructure and processing, while PaaS refers to the underlying platform. According to MIBAR, these are defined as the following:

Cloud Business Process Services (BPaaS): Considered one of the newer entries into the cloud market, BPaaS stands for ‘Business Process as a Service’ and it’s a cloud version of business process automation. The goal of this is to use the cloud to reduce costs by automating a business process (e.g. running payroll).
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): The fastest growing of the cloud services, IaaS in its most simple term is a way to provide on-demand access to physical computing resources. When using IaaS, you are essentially using a virtual machine that connects to a cloud.
Platform as a Service (PaaS): The most likely to become all-cloud (nearly half of all offerings are cloud-only), PaaS represents the location where applications are run.
Software as a Service (SaaS): The thing you may think of when you think cloud, SaaS represents your ability to access a service in the internet. Gmail is SaaS. Dropbox is SaaS. Many ERP options are SaaS. In ERP, you pay a monthly subscription and can access your software via a browser.

As controllers become more technologically savvy and finance takes on more of a role in empowering an organization, it’s going to be critical to hold your own in a room in which you discuss technology. Additionally, As the controller, you’re probably the one who’s most impacted when a project runs long or a visionary project gets lost in the weeds.

Join Controllers Council and VAST for an Introduction to Cloud Management Platforms

No matter where you are on your cloud journey, understanding the basics of AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud can go a long way towards ensuring you understand what software and technology uses it.

Cloud Management Platforms including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud are changing the way corporate America manages computing and data storage. This is why we’re excited to announce a new event with our friends at VAST, an IT Services and technology consulting firm who specializes in securely deploying the cloud, to discuss what everything means.

If you’re looking to get the most out of a cloud investment, watch our on-demand webinar, What Finance Executives Need to Know About Cloud Management Platforms.

This event will highlight the ways the cloud works and the ways you can learn about cloud financial applications, cloud cost optimization and management techniques. Panelists include Sam Petras, Controller at VAST IT Services, and Troy Schildan, Cloud Platform Technical Manager for the VAST Cloud Platform who will share insights and answer audience questions.

Click here to watch now and for even more, download the whitepaper titled The Ultimate Guide to Cloud Migration here.