Bedford, N.H. — May 21, 2003 — Financial solutions provider CODA Financials Inc. this week has announced that Pan-American Life, an international insurance and financial services company, has rolled-out CODA e-Finance to standardize its financial and accounting planning processes across North and South America.
The Web-based solution, according to the provider, integrates with Pan-American Life's industry-specific operating systems to ensure its chief financial officer and chief information officer have real-time financial and business performance information from across the regions. CODA added that its solution has already reduced the time at Pan-American Life taken to complete period close from months to days.
Pan-American Life said it selected CODA because of its ability to handle multiple currencies and because it offers a modularized and open solution that integrates easily with Pan-American Life's data warehouse and cost accounting systems. This has enabled the company to combine analytic data on customers, products and sales with core financial information. Pan-American Life has also tailored the CODA solution to produce specific report templates for its statutory, GAAP and Bluebook reporting to make the entire reporting process quicker.
Ob Soonthornsima, chief information officer at Pan-American Life, noted that there are thousands of medium to large corporations around the world in the insurance sector and elsewhere that need a world class financial software solution without the burden of expensive consultancy. "From our experience, the risk of cost and time overruns with ERP systems is great, and one size doesn't necessarily fit all," explained Soonthornsima. "What companies really need is better financial transparency through instant visibility of the company's financials — locally, by country, globally, by product or operating division. CODA ensures we get a complete financial view of our operations."
He added that CODA's Web front end is easy to use, and its XML Link provides flexibility to link the financials with any other system, irrespective of platform, to provide real-time information from across the enterprise. "The solution fits well with our strategy of integrating business information from multiple business lines domestically
and internationally," he said. "By standardizing our financial and planning processes on CODA e-Finance, we have streamlined processes, improved environment and version control, and benefited from reduced cost of ownership."
