Financially secured

With BlackLine, SAP has a congenial partner in the area of finance. The US company specializes in Enhanced Finance Controls and Automation (EFCA) and Financial Corporate Performance Management (FCPM).

Numerous European customers use this important addition to SAP.

On the occasion of the office opening in Frankfurt/M, Mario Spanicciati, Chief Strategy Officer at BlackLine, and Petra Ellmerich, BlackLine Regional Vice President DACH, were available to E-3 Magazine for an exclusive interview.

What software category does BlackLine's offer represent?

Petra Ellmerich: BlackLine is a provider of cloud-based software for automating accounting and financial close processes. We specialize in Enhanced Finance Controls and Automation and Financial Corporate Performance Management.

Where and when was BlackLine founded?

Mario Spanicciati: BlackLine was founded in 2001 in Los Angeles. Its first product was wealth management software. In 2004, there was a change in strategy to account reconciliation.

The step into the cloud was taken in 2008. Since 2015, we have been offering a platform for financial statements, account reconciliation, group accounting and analytics.

What was the idea at the beginning?

Spanicciati: BlackLine CEO and founder Therese Tucker originally had a plan to develop wealth management software for First National Bank of Nebraska. At the time, a contact expressed frustration with the manual processes involved in financial closing. That conversation in 2004 sparked the BlackLine solution of today. Then in 2008, the move to the cloud.

How has this concept changed?

Spanicciati: Gradually, the platform was expanded to reflect a wider range of financial and accounting processes. Today, our solution automates traditional record-to-report processes and thus enables so-called continuous accounting, i.e. continuous closings, postings reconciliations, analyses and controls. This significantly minimizes the effort required for financial closing.

Who is this solution for?

Spanicciati: The solution is aimed at finance and accounting teams or shared services centers across all industries in companies with more than €100 million in annual revenue.

A classic SAP existing customer assumes that the software from Walldorf is complete, especially in the FI area for Financial Corporate Performance Management. Is this not the case?

Ellmerich: The BlackLine Financial Close Suite for SAP Solutions, an SAP-endorsed solution since 2013, complements the functionality provided in SAP ERP Finance and S/4 Hana Finance and enables our users to bridge a gap in the traditional financial close process between ERP or S/4 Hana Finance and CPM/EPM solutions that otherwise requires manual effort and spreadsheets.

It replaces outdated, labor-intensive and risky processes with technology that enables accountants to better deploy their skills and resources and focus on their essential tasks.

For missing functions in the SAP FI area, there are numerous Excel add-ons from the SAP partner community. What is wrong with this system?

Ellmerich: Manual processes are prone to errors and therefore risky. Apart from that, automated processes are significantly faster and save resources.

Are you for or against Excel?

Ellmerich: Basically, you should work with Excel in the SAP environment where it makes sense. In accounting, this is not necessarily the case. Here, we want to automate as many manual processes as possible in the financial statements.

Extracting data from a system and processing it manually is simply no longer up to date and is also extremely error-prone.

What is your unique selling proposition?

Ellmerich: Our solution enables fast, accurate financial closings and provides visibility across all accounting processes. Continuous Accounting prevents workload peaks that otherwise regularly occur during the financial close.

Moreover, with real-time information on the financial situation, business decisions can be made on a solid data basis and operations management is always "in line" with finances.

What can SAP users save themselves with BlackLine?

Ellmerich: SAP users save themselves labor-intensive processes in the financial close as well as time-consuming manual list management. In addition, the high workload for the financial close can already be cushioned in the current period. You gain time, transparency and security.

What are the requirements for the use of BlackLine?

Spanicciati: Our solution is compatible with all major ERP systems as well as SAP versions - from R3 to S/4 Hana. The BlackLine Connector has been certified for NetWeaver on Hana and enables real-time integration of SAP ERP and BlackLine Financial Close Management.

The SAP/BlackLine solution on Hana is a hybrid cloud solution and works with any SAP ERP solution that customers are using today or will use in the future - whether on premise or from the cloud. It is even possible to integrate data from other ERP systems in the company.

Why an insecure cloud solution for FI?

Spanicciati: Hosting the data at BlackLine may be more secure than doing it internally. We invest heavily in data security. BlackLine undergoes regular security audits.

We guarantee our customers that our solution always meets the highest standards and takes into account the latest security trends, such as encryption, penetration and vulnerability prevention, secure software development, access control and the implementation of best practices.

You work with SAP data, import and export: Is the topic of indirect use relevant? Which SAP licenses are needed to use BlackLine?

Ellmerich: No additional SAP licenses are required to use BlackLine.

How much training is required and how many man-days does customizing take?

Spanicciati: The connection is made via the SAP Connector within a few hours. The handling is very intuitive. Of course, we support our customers with training where necessary. With the Custom Learning Management System, a training function is also integrated into the solution.

Can the BlackLine system also be monitored and controlled from the SolMan?

Ellmerich: No, our solution is a SaaS cloud solution and therefore cannot be monitored or controlled from SAP SolMan.

Are the FI business processes with BlackLine stored in SolMan? How is compliance and governance ensured?

Spanicciati: Governance and compliance requirements can be defined in the solution by the customer's own IT department.

Obviously, for the CFO, the BlackLine solution is an important addition to the SAP FI system: Couldn't SAP one day fill this "gap"?

Ellmerich: BlackLine is an add-on for SAP systems to automate and modernize the financial close process. SAP would not have labeled our solution as "Endorsed" if there were plans to close this gap itself.

What is your relationship with SAP? How and where do you work together?

Ellmerich: We have had a very close and good partnership with SAP for five years. Only 40 vendors worldwide have endorsed status. And we offer the only endorsed solution for the financial sector.

As a Preferred Partner for SAP Financials and S/4 Hana Finance, we support more than 400 joint customers worldwide together with SAP.

Can you find BlackLine on the SAP price list?

Spanicciati: No, BlackLine Financial Close Suite for SAP Solutions is an Endorsed Business Solution and these are generally not on the SAP price list. However, the solution is recommended as a complement by SAP sales teams.

What do analysts say about your SAP addition?

Ellmerich: Recently, Gartner named BlackLine a Leader in its Magic Quadrant for Financial Corporate Performance Management.

Is that positive or negative for SAP?

Spanicciati: This is positive for SAP and for BlackLine. Our customers benefit from the combination of two leading solutions.

Why have you now opened an office in Germany?

Ellmerich: The location in Frankfurt/M is part of our global growth strategy. From here, we want to drive our expansion in Europe. The expansion of the German-speaking market is an important goal.

What are your goals for the remainder of the year and 2017?

Ellmerich: We want to establish BlackLine as a global player and market leader in the DACH region and, with the German location, build a hub with strategic proximity to SAP.

The strong on-site presence also allows us to deepen our partnerships and existing customer relationships and expand business in the region, as well as meet the increasing requests from new customers.

Ms. Ellmerich, Mr. Spanicciati, thank you for the interview.