There comes a time when a company is faced with what's called a burning platform, when a critical piece of software reaches the end of its life and needs to be replaced. In 2019, Direct Line Group (DLG), a leading, U.K. based insurance company was dealing with just that - a soon to be out of support ledger system that involved too many manual processes, too few system upgrades and had no good way to connect with newer and better financial technology platforms. "Spreadsheets were holding the whole thing together," says Neil Manser, DLG's acting CFO.

DLG knew it needed to move to the cloud, which would make it much easier to increase automation, improve efficiency and put the onus on the software provider to regularly update its software as a service (SaaS). The fact that its previous programmes needed to be replaced also allowed the company to put new, bolder plans into action, says Manser.