Eaton automates its financial close with Oracle Cloud EPM
Moving finance processes to the cloud helps the power management company gain visibility, improve compliance, and stay current with new capabilities.
“Oracle had the best well-rounded, holistic solution. We felt it was very important to move forward with a partner that could support all aspects. And not just bits and pieces.”
Business challenges
Eaton, a power management company with 92,000-plus employees doing business in more than 175 countries, wanted to update its aging, legacy financial planning and tax systems as well as its Hyperion Financial Management on-premises close and consolidation system.
The company also required an account reconciliation solution instead of using manual account reconciliation done using SharePoint and Excel.
Eaton had an environment that executives described as a “spaghetti architecture” of disparate systems and applications that were not working well together from a data standpoint.
Why Eaton Chose Oracle
Eaton chose Oracle because it wanted a partner that would provide a well-rounded and holistic EPM solution, whereas competing solutions were incomplete, lacking in areas such as planning and/or account reconciliation. Eaton understood that an integrated, complete cloud EPM solution would provide the most value to its organization.
Results
Eaton moved 100% of a well-ironed close process that was previously a highly customized, on-premises HFM system to Oracle Cloud EPM. Eaton now meets every requirement and deadline that it met previously, but with even more ease and with drill-back capabilities to levels of detail that did not exist before.
Eaton reimagined its financial processes as opposed to simply replicating it with an on-premises implementation. Oracle Cloud EPM has enabled Eaton to stay current on new capabilities, to continually evolve, and to take advantage of shared best practices.
By using account reconciliation in Oracle Cloud EPM, Eaton has streamlined and deployed a risk-based, more automated account reconciliation process.
In addition, Eaton now has much better visibility, and as a result, improved compliance. The company can take real-time actions to address the areas where follow-up is needed.
Partners
PWC was Eaton’s integration partner. “They did a fantastic job from start to finish. They were absolutely instrumental and a critical part of the team,” said Dan Hopgood, senior vice president for Eaton’s global financial services and system.