Whoever coined the term “back office” to describe integral business functions such accounting, supply chain management and payroll probably had good intentions.
The result has been less than ideal, often shutting these teams off from useful insights and creating many, slightly different views of the same customer. Six-year-old FinancialForce.com aims to unify that data, regardless of which side of that virtual door an employee sits. At least that it’s long-term pitch.
On Wednesday, the cloud business software company disclosed another $110 million funding round to accelerate product development and to hire for customer support, consulting, sales, marketing, and other functions. (It currently employs roughly 450 people.)
“The back office actually has to become part of the front office,” said Jeremy Roche, CEO and founder of FinancialForce.com. “It has to be part of the fundamental engagement with the customer.”
If the company’s name sounds familiar, it should. Salesforce.com CEO and founder Marc Benioff once owned the domain but offered it to the startup after hearing the business plan. His company also became one of two founding investors, along with Dutch enterprise resourcing planning software company Unit4.
The $110 million infusion this week was led by Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), and it also includes more money from Salesforce Ventures.FinancialForce.com closed a $50 million investment from Advent International in April 2014.
TCV general partner Tim McAdam, who joined the FinancialForce.com board, likened the company to an early-stage Salesforce.com or ExactTarget. (TCV was a late-stage investor in the email marketing company, now part of Salesforce.)
“Businesses are realizing that its not just about interacting with the customer on the Web or in email or in chat, it’s about the context,” McAdam said. “They need to have insight into the entire customer journey at every touch point, from quote to cash.” And everywhere in between.
High-profile customers listed by FinancialForce.com include Akamai and Hewlett-Packard. Most of its publicly declared accounts are midsize businesses scaling their accounting software or other systems of record that want their new software to link with the Salesforce platform.
Their goal, Roche said, is to help all employees regardless of role better answer questions from clients and prospects. “The worst thing a customer can experience is silence,” he said.
FinancialForce.com is tightlipped about most of its own financial metrics, although the company reported a $50 million revenue run rate for 2014, with about 80% of that business from North America. It also recorded 91% growth for its “annual subscription run rate.”
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