Five Days Without Xledger: Part 2 – A CFO Story

Last time on Five Days Without Xledger: Part 1, we saw non-profit CFO Roger Dalton struggling with poor sleep, high stress, and presentation errors as a result of his organization’s cumbersome ERP provider. We join him as he wrestles to a decision point.

Denver, CO. Roger Dalton sighs into his chair, snow flail against his office windows. Four-thirty on a Friday afternoon. The questions loom larger than ever. Which ERP platform? Which provider? Eyes on his paper-strewn desk, Roger’s mind flashes to college, Dr. Marquette’s walrus mustache wriggling out the leadership class mantra: “time frame, magnitude, and probability.” How soon, how much, and how likely are ERP systems to benefit the organization?

Roger has to sell the CEO a profitable system, a system of such massive, imminent, near-certain benefit that it outweighs its own capital investment. Dedicated “nonprofit” answers are mostly owned by giant, on-premise backers. He needs something else.

1. On-Premise

As Roger sees it, on-premise systems are the stuff of fantasy. You pay outsized costs for everything from yearly licensing to installation updates—and that’s if they update at all. When the organization expanded or tried to streamline internal controls, on-premise systems would force them to hire specialists from a dwindling pool. It’s a nightmare: high expenses, obsolete tech, an organization hemorrhaging resources.

2. Cloud Washing and Hybrid

Roger concludes that most so-called ‘cloud solutions’ are actually hybrid systems. Even market leaders price by module and demand clients store many functions on-premise. Roger drums his fingers on the desk. He recalls Ockham’s Razor—all things equal, prefer the most concise answer. Work to straddle two platforms while reaping the worst of both, and for what? Unlikely, minuscule, distant ROI.

Roger has to sell the CEO a profitable system, a system of such massive, imminent, near-certain benefit that it outweighs its own capital investment. Dedicated “non-profit” answers are mostly owned by giant, on-premise backers. He needs something else.

3. True Cloud

Roger passes Xledger on a Google run, stops, starts reading. He gets a surreal feeling. Xledger’s system claims to be the most automated, insightful system on the market. No costly implementation or IT hires—Roger could trim IT spending, redirect staff to more mission-critical areas. Plus, he’d tighten grasp on every year’s 990 and 501(c)3 forms. And, Roger thinks, that doesn’t even include the self-updating slides, the pivot tables, the ready-made presentation tools. He calls Xledger and makes an appointment.

Next time on Five Days Without Xledger: Deeply impressed by the Xledger product, CEO Chip Zello presents it to a change-resistant board.

Go to Part 3 now!