When Family Offices Should Move to the Cloud

Family Offices are key to managing wealth and asset growth for current and future generations of a family. As they grow, the ownership structures become more complex and sophisticated, the diversification of assets widens, and their need for real-time information becomes imminent. With that type of responsibility on a company’s shoulders, the last thing they need is additional stress that comes with being behind in technology advancements including their accounting solution. If a family office is still using an on-premise solution for their accounting department, they are missing out on the elimination of manual work, real-time data, continuous consolidation, and easy access from anywhere. A cloud ERP solution provides all of that and more. Below are the top benefits we have seen family offices gain from switching to the cloud.

Cloud-Based

Being cloud-based is the number one asset we can provide for family offices. This gives the office and family members access anywhere, anytime. The office managers can travel with the family and, with internet access,still have access to all their data. This also means that family members can access their information at home, or on the go. Lastly, the office can be located wherever the best talent is, leaving the family with the flexibility to be where they are happiest.

Multi-Entity

Another top benefit of a cloud-based solution is a multi-entity platform with continuous consolidation. This allows offices to manage each family member individually with the option for a quick total family roll-up. Our recommended cloud-based solution allows users to manage separate entities (aka different family members or businesses) under a single log-in. This provides the capability to produce individual reports at the entity level or consolidate at the family level. The reports require a quick few clicks and are instantly completed. Report templates can be saved which allows users to swiftly access them again. With reports being easy to create and run users can quickly see their consolidation which eliminates the need to combine reports manually.

Dashboards

Custom Investor dashboards are a great asset as they can be the login screen for each user and can be customized to their daily needs. Since family offices typically deal with a large portfolio of investments, having the real-time data displayed immediately upon log-in gives the user an overall view of the financial information that’s important to them. The dashboards can be customized to each user based on their position or to a certain family member that only wants to see their personal information. The dashboards also give the user a quick way to drill down into the details of data if they want to know more about it.

Eliminating Manual Work

Eliminating manual work can save family offices multiple hours of staff work as well as help keep their team lean. An example of this is when a family office has to process dozens of checks each week. When they move to the cloud, they eliminate all of the manual work which can include the opening of the mail/ printing emails, scanning the bills, routing them via email for approval and coding along with tracking where are in the approval process, entering into QuickBooks, printing checks, signing checks, stuffing envelopes, trips to the post office, and filing. On top of eliminating all of these steps, you also get rid of the constant paper waste. This can all be automated using bill.com where the bills get emailed directly to the inbox, coded, routed for approval and paid either electronically or with a check generated by bill.com. The details are then automatically synced with your cloud solution.

Overall, the benefits a family office can gain from moving their accounting ERP to the cloud will transform how they operate. The elimination of manual efforts allows for a better run business, quicker decisions, and growth.

Find out how rinehimerbaker can help your company get results through the cloud by reaching out to accounting@rinehimerbaker.com.