Finance teams often invest in new systems but cling to old habits. They want the speed and insight of Sage Intacct without changing their chart structures, processes, or team behaviours. That mismatch often limits the very benefits they’re chasing.
John, Customer Success Manager of TydeCo™, has worked with dozens of teams navigating this transition. His view is clear: the real value of Intacct only emerges when teams rethink structure, stay involved, and pace change in a way people can actually absorb.
In this interview, John breaks down common misconceptions, shows what separates passive adoption from real transformation, and explains how Intacct can help finance shift from report builders to operational partners.
We Can Keep the Structure, Right?
Question: From your seat in customer success, what’s the most common assumption new finance teams bring into an Intacct implementation—and where does that usually need to shift?
John: I think that the biggest misconception is that they can get the advantage of all the benefits of Sage Intacct without having to change their general ledger structure or their processes necessarily. And so the concept of keeping it as is is something that oftentimes people fight for because they don’t really are looking for the change in those sorts of structures.
But that’s the process where we would try to clean up things. Usually, you’re making a transition because you want to change and that you need things to improve in the way that you report information and such. And so, in order to achieve that change, you’ve got to also make changes in your structure.
I find that if you can show them the benefits of making those changes, how the reports can be more beneficial for them, they will start to buy into it. There also has to be some give and take. You can’t change everything all at once, but you can change little things and then, over time after implementation, probably change more things once they buy into the benefits of what they’re seeing.
You can’t change everything all at once, but you can change little things and then, over time after implementation, probably change more things once they buy into the benefits of what they’re seeing.
Who Gets the Most Out of an Implementation
Question: You’ve worked with finance teams across different sectors. What distinguishes those who really get the most out of Intacct from those who just ‘go live’?
John: I would say those that benefit most are those that want to participate in the process of the transition from their legacy system to Sage Intacct. For example, when I’m doing a design of a new implementation, you get some people that basically want you to do the whole thing and handhold them. Then you get to others that will actually take on the project themselves and help participate in how they want their general ledger structured, how they want to use their dimensions, what dimensions will most benefit them as far as the end reports.
Those that buy into that and use the full benefit of the dimensional structure that exists in Sage Intacct, I think that they get the most benefit and they will learn more about how to process things in a way that can benefit them for the end product and reports that they can get out of Sage Intacct.
It’s a transition because most people are not used to using dimensions for how you can slice and dice and make different reports out of there. But I feel like if you can get them through the beginning of that process and they participate in it, and then in addition to that, they have staff that want to participate in learning how to use the system, then they can benefit the most from that experience.
You’re Not Going to Get Perfection on Day One
Question: Implementation is just the beginning. How do you help teams move from setup into continuous optimisation without falling back into old manual habits?
John: I think the first thing you need to do is set realistic expectations for when they transition from their legacy system because it’s not going to be instantly this wonderful place that you’ve been sold on the sales side of it as far as new reports and how processes are automated. There’s always going to be bumps in the road when you first go live. There’s just no way around it.
Making sure that people understand that those things are part of the process they’re going through and it’s part of how to manage their expectations. Also, understand that this is kind of a staged process. The first thing we’re going to do is replace your legacy system. That’s in and of itself a big task to move into a new system, new coding, possibly new general ledger accounts.
They need to understand that as we move through that and those things are working, then we can add more automation or better reports and dashboards that are specific to people’s needs. So the best way, I think, is to manage expectations for how a process from an implementation and the stages of what they can expect to see from a new system. The more that can be managed like that makes it a smoother process and I think a better experience for the people coming into a new system.
There’s always going to be bumps in the road when you first go live. There’s just no way around it.
Buy-In Starts With Being Part of the Process
Question: How have you seen the best finance leaders use Intacct to get stronger at cross-team collaboration, not just reporting, but influencing decisions beyond finance?
John: The biggest benefit and where I see people move across teams, is that they can have a multitude of users. You have business users that are actually participating in the process, entering data,and processing data. But you might have somebody in AP, somebody in AR, someone that does reports for you.
But you can also have employee users that can do things like make entries of time and expenses, but also approve. You could set up approval processes. I think the benefit from the team working together is, first of all, if you’re trained well and people buy into the situation, you avoid resistance to change, which tends to be at lower staff levels.
The better the person in charge of this group is, wholeheartedly behind the transition, the better. A key component would be to include their team members in part of the decision-making process for how things are moving. That way, you don’t feel like something’s been just given to you that you have to work with; you participate in the process of helping develop what the end product is that you’re going to be working in. You give feedback on things that might work better or worse. I think that you can get more buy-in from your team members by having them participate in the process.
The better the person in charge of this group is wholeheartedly behind the transition, the better.
Don’t Try to Do Everything at Once
Question: For teams dealing with fragmented legacy systems, what’s the right way to think about sequencing a move into Intacct without overwhelming operations?
John: Again, I would first want to set expectations so that you’re not trying to accomplish everything all at once because that’s an impossibility. Set expectations for how things are staged in. First, we transition from your legacy system to Sage Intacct. That in and of itself is a big task because we’re going to be looking at the general ledger for designs. We’re going to be looking at integrations for automations. We’re going to examine different structures for vendors and customers, setting up bank accounts, setting up bank feeds.
So all of these are involved in this initial implementation, which is a big lift in and of itself. From then, it’s about staging other important things to them. I try to get to the point of figuring out what are the priorities, what things you want prioritized. Once we get you up and running, we can then map out the process that will most benefit you guys.
From there, I think you won’t overwhelm them. Also, it’s beneficial if we stay in touch with them. We try to stay involved for the first forty-five days after an implementation because just questions come up with a new system—questions on how to do things. The more you can make people comfortable by walking them through a simple process like the first bank reconciliation, how to cut a check, or how to enter certain data in the simplest form, how to create import files in the system that streamline manual entry of data dramatically—the more you can show them that benefit. I recently showed a staff person how they could take an import file for payroll they were manually entering over an hour or so and simply do it in about five minutes. The more they realize the benefits of using the system itself, the less overwhelmed they are and the more they have an opportunity to buy into what can be a really nice process change.
Let’s Start with One Spreadsheet
Question: A lot of finance teams say they want automation, but they still rely heavily on spreadsheets. What’s your approach when helping a team start letting go?
John: I ask them first to send me the spreadsheets that they currently use. Let’s see if we can actually develop reports and processes within Sage Intacct that can replace the spreadsheet. Again, let’s not try to do it all at once. Let’s maybe pick one that’s important to them or pick a simple one. So we kind of take baby steps, not trying to replace everything at once.
If I can show them that suddenly I can create a report that saves them a great deal of time at month-end, for example, of analyzing systems and developing numbers for reports and such, I feel like they get a buy-in there as to how they can really make use of the system in the most efficient way.
The spreadsheet thing—what they need to also understand, and this is a bit of a transition to flip it, is that it’s not like you stop using Excel spreadsheets. Excel spreadsheets are not your source of the data. Intacct is your source data. You can then extract things from there and still use Excel to manipulate things in a way that works best for you. But it’s not that you have all these multitudes of spreadsheets that are the source of all your data that go into reports. It’s the flip. You get Sage as the source. This is a tool to make use of that. I feel like the more you show them that they can generate a report that matches what they’ve been trying to do out of spreadsheets, they usually buy in.
Real-Time Access Changes the Role of Finance
Question: Looking ahead, what role do you see Intacct playing as finance shifts from a reporting function to more of a strategic systems role inside organisations?
John: I think that the ability to generate real-time information that’s accessible to a multitude of people is key. For example, we can create a dashboard that’s specific to what a CFO, the controller, or the CEO wants to see so that they can simply click onto the system, go to a dashboard, and see the reports that are most important to them.
The fact that you have accessibility for a multitude of people for all this information and it can be done in real-time—I think the real-time thing is becoming more important. You hear all the discussions about AI and how that’s helping automate things. I think that will then create more real-time information that people can make more educated decisions.
I worked recently with a company, and they’re seven months behind trying to get closings done in their legacy system before we can transition. I think that all gets eliminated if you make use of the technology and the automation that comes with Sage Intacct. You get those things eliminated, and you get more real-time information that can make more strategic and better business decisions with a multitude of people having access to that information.
The ability to generate real-time information that’s accessible to a multitude of people is key.
The Only Way to Learn It Is to Use It
Question: How do you get people to learn the system, or what’s the best way for people to understand because I think that they struggle with it being overwhelming?
John: When the new product is brought into the staff that’s been used to working with the legacy system, it’s kind of overwhelming for them to understand all this. I try to explain that most things are similar in nature. If you work in accounts payable, it’s pretty similar to accounts receivable in terms of structure and data entry.
But what I also tell them is you can learn all you want by watching videos or going to help screens, which are beneficial. But ultimately, the way that you learn to work in Sage Intacct is to work in it. That’s how I learned. You’re going to make a mistake, and you’re going to learn more correcting that mistake than from any training video or script. It’s OK because that’s part of the learning process.
So, I try to explain to people that it’s okay to forge forward in a process they might not be a hundred percent confident in. But that’s how you learn to use the entirety of the system. That’s how you learn to understand how you can change things or reformat things in a way that’s going to give you a better end product.
The more I get the staff, especially, to buy into that process early on, the better it is in the long run. It becomes more rewarding for them to understand the processes, understand the system, and become more comfortable with it.
The way that you learn to work in Sage Intacct is to work in it.
