Recent years have brought about cries of Excel's demise, but they couldn't be more unfounded. Indeed, more than 90 percent of enterprise finance departments in 2017 will rely heavily on Excel for mission-critical functions, from automated budgeting to account reconciliations. Even vendors who have spent the last decade disparaging Excel are reversing course to embrace the world's most intuitive, powerful and popular spreadsheet software. Long live Excel!

During the past decade, cloud computing has gone from promising disrupter to essential tool for worldwide organizations – both large and small. Cloud technologies today know no barriers – supporting and powering countless applications and data, from ERP systems to customer-facing mobile apps. In 2017, we will see the influence and value of the cloud continue to grow, with far-reaching impacts on the enterprise software market.

Today, benefits of cloud computing (security, scalability, accessibility, and more) are proven and validated beyond a reasonable doubt. It’s not surprising that the cloud has become a mainstay in finance, IT and operational departments worldwide. In fact, 93 percent of businesses are already using cloud technology in some form today. While Oracle (News - Alert), SAP and other mega-vendors continue their slow migration to cloud software delivery, their customers remain months or quarters away from being able to implement or migrate to cloud solutions. This year, forward-thinking finance departments will increasingly look to more nimble technology innovators to replace or complement their mega-vendor solutions.

Until recently, finance leaders from enterprise organizations have long had to rely on IT personnel and teams to assist with even simple financial queries or reporting projects. This year will see finance leaders worldwide getting empowered and seeking to own their software completely, no longer relying on IT for everything from initial installation to customization. Given the ease in deploying cloud solutions that work today, it’s easier than ever to circumvent IT in picking the right software solutions for your business. Going forward, finance enterprise applications will be increasingly built for business users; not IT administrators.

More and more CFOs are recognizing finance’s value in providing performance transformation. This means going beyond producing fancy charts and graphs on trends, to actually analyzing and using data to derive actionable business insights that will benefit the company. In 2017, we will see this trend continue, as the CFO becomes an even greater player in the C-Suite. Consequently, finance teams will choose flexible corporate performance management solutions over the traditional out-of-the-box options.