A cover story on data privacy appearing in the latest issue of Wired magazine has a two-fold message for corporate executives-both within the finance function and outside the finance department.

Not only does it remind us that it is critical to always keep an eye on corporate and customer data security, but it also demonstrates the power of readily-available online information and how it can be harnessed to more effectively market products to customers and consequently build revenue.

E-invoicing can often seem to be the bane of an SME’s existence. As more large companies begin to demand that their SME suppliers use this or that platform to deliver electronic invoices, the hassle can easily seem much greater than the potential value for the supplier. Even as access becomes simpler, the need to manage various solutions for various buyers can be onerous.

Small companies are starting to have access to solutions geared specifically to their needs, which does add to the value proposition somewhat. A number of new vendors are focusing specifically on the SME space to help make it a little bit easier for small companies to migrate to e-invoicing. American Express, for example, offers AcceptPay—a dedicated SME e-invoicing solution.

As banks gear up for increased technology investment in the coming year, the questions is whether small businesses—who now suffer with systems and services that are far from ideal—will see any benefit.

According to a recent report by consultancy Celent, banks have a long way to go in providing technology solutions and services that best cater to the SME market. But with many banks looking to make big investments in corporate services and solutions—especially in the cash management and trade spaces—the hope is that at least some of this spend will be on solutions for the smaller company segment.

As companies start to look at their next round of cost-cutting and efficiency measures, with much of the low-hanging fruit already harvested, next-generation business intelligence and data analytics technology-integrated with a raft of other technology solutions--will provide the backbone to dig more deeply into processes and send and receive information in near-real-time for swift decision-making.

As the crisis progressed, many companies turned to internal cost cutting measures to reduce working capital expenditures and save cash.

SAP is about to enter another protracted stage in its ongoing battle with Oracle for dominance of the ERP and business software space.

Oracle laid down the gauntlet with the launch this week of Oracle Financial Analytics for SAP—a suite of business intelligence tools specifically designed to pull data from SAP systems and provide analytics around that.

Transaction banks hold the keys to moving purchase-to-pay (P2P) automation to the next phase of development, according to some market participants. And the developments that are now in the works (some of which you can find more information on in previous blogs here and here ) could radically alter the landscape for corporate P2P management.

As companies come to terms with new 1099 reporting requirements, software firms are starting to build new solutions-or update their existing ones--to help make finance executives' lives a little easier.

The new 1099 reporting requirement that all vendors who supply more than $600 worth of goods or services within the tax year be sent a form 1099, which takes effect in 2012, could cause untold headaches for small, medium, and even large companies, given the vastly-increased reporting burden that it is likely to create.

Many companies have considered, and rejected, the use of data analytics tools in their efforts to improve efficiency and reduce process costs. Often, CFOS and their CIOs may feel that the need for better data quality is too big of a hurdle to overcome. As the saying goes: garbage in, garbage out.

But John Lucker, Principal at Deloitte Consulting, says that CFOs should stop getting hung up on data quality. "All too often, CFOs and their CIO colleagues think that the quality of their data has to be perfect to be used for business analytics, and it does not."

Venture capital investment may be declining, but not for start-ups. Early stage financings continue to hold the imagination of VC investors, according to a new report out by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA).

The report provides an update on venture capital investing in the third quarter of the year, and put investment activity at $4.8 billion in VC dollars spent on 780 deals over the quarter. This is a pretty significant decline from the previous quarter, which saw $6.9 billion spent on 962 deals.

Small business CFOs and finance executives are often stuck using retail online banking solutions to run their businesses and manage finance, as banks and solution vendors badly miss the mark in offering the functionality that companies of this size need. Such is the finding of a new report out by consultancy Celent.

The report says that current solutions for small businesses are often a mishmash of consumer products with bolted-on cash management features. Many of the systems on offer in this space have decades-old navigation and layout, and have a lot of catching up to do in order to come close to satisfying this unique group of customers.