The entertainment industry moves quickly. In just the last decade, it has seen the rise of new multi-billion dollar properties such as the "Iron Man" films, the reemergence of both the "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" franchises on the silver screen and a broad shift in how video, audio, books and games are consumed. High-speed Internet connections in tandem with devices such as smartphones and set top streaming boxes have made entertainment consumption into an increasingly on-demand activity:
- A 2015 survey of traditional pay TV subscribers by Digitalsmiths discovered that more than 8 percent of them had discontinued their services in 2014, an increase of 1.3 percent from the previous year.
- Meanwhile, through July 2015, Netflix had more than 65 million subscribers and was aiming to expand its presence into 200 total countries by 2016, according to a Trefis Team-contributed article in Forbes.
- With the launch of the new Apple TV in the fall of 2015, the app-ification of TV appears set to accelerate, meaning that the familiar grid of cable channels may give way to rows of app icons that represent different services for watching TV and film.
In response to these changes, firms throughout the entertainment industry have shaken up their own organizational structures and business models. These fresh approaches may involve working with affiliates in cities all over the country, or setting up shop in new field offices outside of the long-time home base of entertainment in Los Angeles. Such a geographically distributed approach to everyday operations can help companies keep their fingers on the pulse of an evolving industry and also move more quickly in rolling out new products and services.
"Spreadsheets and older programs don't deliver the speed and scalability that entertainment firms need."
This is what Regent Entertainment did a few years ago, as it ramped up its digital television network from its then-recently opened New York City office. But the shift to a new way of doing things often requires not just a change in location but also an overhaul of business tools, most notably financial software. Success in today's entertainment industry requires speed as well as scalability, two traits that spreadsheets and applications such as QuickBooks cannot easily provide.
What the entertainment industry loses by sticking with legacy financial tools
Company growth, along with the dispersion of its key accounting and reporting responsibilities across teams, quickly puts pressure on old-fashioned manual processes. The repetitive data entry, siloed information sources and poor visibility that come from working with Excel and/or QuickBooks, while less than ideal, can maybe pass muster if you only have a single office and very simple finances. However, it can be difficult to scale them to larger operations.
Shortcomings in the traditional approach to entertainment accounting include:
- Lack of a unified view of all data from affiliates and partners.
- Limited collaboration opportunities for users on the Web and different types of devices.
- Absence of real-time metrics about how the business is doing financially.
- Relatively high error rates due to manual data duplication and emailing.
- No granular permission controls to easily share critical info with auditors and board members.
Some of these issues aren't exclusive to the entertainment realm, but the industry's particular practices can amplify their impact. For example, incorrect and/or opaque accounting can greatly affect the level of royalties paid out for a project. The large budgets of many films and TV shows also mean that companies need to avoid the incidental costs and delays of inefficient financial processes, in order to end up in the black rather than the red.
Why switching to cloud software is the right decision for entertainment firms
Cloud accounting software is not as widely used or as familiar in entertainment as spreadsheets or other desktop tools. All the same, its distinctive technology can provide unique advantages to companies throughout the industry.
Let's start with its basis in redundant IT infrastructure (e.g., servers managed by the cloud service provider) and reliable Internet connectivity. As a result, entertainment organizations can avoid the technical hassles of having to wrangle with complex software licensing schemes and security updates, as well as forego time-consuming infrastructure maintenance.
Accounting software underpins the entire entertainment industry.
The rock-solid technical foundation of cloud budgeting and accounting software makes it a superior solution for handling the finances of today's entertainment firms. Real-time visibility into financial data, precise permission controls, automated processes and a comprehensive view of data across all offices: All of these features are built right into an application such as Intacct, which helped Regent Entertainment make the move to sustainable, scalable accounting.
"Intacct gives us an advantage by streamlining business processes, providing up-to-the-minute business intelligence and minimizing operational deficiencies across all our businesses," explained Stephen Jarchow, President at Regent Entertainment.
In everyday practice, the switch to a cloud-based solution helped Regent's stakeholders collaborate across the Web and take on project responsibilities without the risks of error that come with manual processes and older tools. Its finance department became an asset rather than a liability for the organization as a whole.
Cloud software provides a broad range of benefits, beyond even what Regent experienced in its deployment. Other features such as straightforward integration with popular applications such as Salesforce, an intuitive user interface and easy access from any device (i.e., PC, phone or tablet) make it an increasingly smart, economical choice for entertainment companies looking to move from on-premises IT and outdated applications.
