shaking hand partner image credit pixabay/geraltHost Analytics and FloQast have announced a strategic partnership. There is both a technical integration and a sales and marketing element to the agreement. It brings together two applications that compliment each other. Host Analytics will provide the Enterprise Performance Management solution, including planning and consolidation, while FloQast the month end close processes. This should mean that once fully integrated the process of end to end close process including account reconciliation, consolidation and reporting is even more streamlined.

MIke Whitmire, CPA, CEO and Co-Founder FloQast
MIke Whitmire, CPA, CEO and Co-Founder FloQast

Mike Whitmire, CPA, CEO and co-founder of FloQast commented: “You can’t start analysis until the books are closed and consolidated. By reducing close time and ensuring greater accuracy, we’re able to help finance teams focus on what’s most important–time to analyze their business and its results and determine how they can best improve it.”

The technology integration will see finance teams using both solutions and have the ability to integrate reconciled account data from FloQast direct with Host Analytics. This should improve the quality and trust in the consolidated accounts as it keeps a continuous auditable workflow throughout the process. It should also help to speed up the process, further reducing the time it takes to produce reports. Together, the two companies may start to compete better. However, this depends upon the success of the technical integration and how well the two companies cross sell.

Dave Kellogg, CEO of Host Analytics commented: “By uniting Host Analytics and FloQast’s best-of-breed technologies, we further automate the financial close process for our customers, which dramatically increases team efficiency, improves accuracy and allows accounting teams to be more strategic.”

Is this just talk?

The press release also details that there will be joint go-to-market events. These will include webinars, trade show participation and in-field events. However, with the announcement only just made, there were no events planned on either the Host Analytics website or the FloQast one. This is slightly disappointing but hopefully not a sign of the future alliance.

It may be too early however and there is no indication when the technical integration will be completed. This is slightly disappointing as some customers will be interested in seeing how the integration will benefit them, especially if they are using both products already.

Enterprise Times: What does this mean

This alliance offers several benefits to companies looking to automate their close process. Robert Kugel, Senior Vice President and Research Director at Ventana Research coemmnted: “Finance and accounting departments have access to applications that provide pragmatic, affordable solutions that can boost their efficiency. The alliance between Host Analytics and FloQast is an example of how the integration of two cloud applications can enable departments to accelerate their close through close automation. Our research has found that 71 percent of companies that substantially automate are able to close their books within six business days, compared to 23 percent that have little or no automation.

This is a combination of vendors that has great promise. If the integration delivers the promised benefits and the two companies work together well, one wonders if they might combine. Host Analytics have to date raised $91.8 million in funding against $32.9 million raised by FloQast (Source Crunchbase). In terms of the number of employees according to LinkedIn, Host Analytics has around twice as many. If they did combine it could become an interesting proposition in the market.

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