Colonial First State moves finance & HR to Oracle cloud

Colonial First State has implemented Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications for its finance and HR operations. The wealth management group manages AUD $181 billion in assets for almost one million Australians.

The move brings together human resources, finance and performance management on a single cloud platform as the business continues a broader technology overhaul. The changes are intended to standardise internal processes and improve how staff work across the organisation.

Founded in 1988, the group has been reshaping its technology infrastructure in recent years to modernise business operations and user experience. The latest rollout includes Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management, Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning and Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management.

In HR, the system has unified operations and created a single view of workforce data for managers. This has reduced onboarding time for new hires, enabled the HR team to generate workforce insights more quickly, and supported learning and development programmes as well as longer-term workforce planning.

On the finance side, the ERP and EPM tools have increased productivity, improved controls and streamlined financial reporting. They have also given finance teams broader visibility into data to support faster decision-making.

The project reflects a wider trend in financial services, where firms are replacing fragmented legacy systems with cloud software that combines operational and data functions. For wealth managers, cost control, governance and staff productivity have become more prominent as competition intensifies and client expectations shift.

Colonial First State says a single integrated platform has improved operational consistency and given it more flexibility in how it runs internal functions. It also highlighted embedded artificial intelligence features within the applications, particularly in HR and finance workflows.

Jeroen Buwalda, chief operating officer at Colonial First State, linked the systems work to the group's broader operating model.

"Helping Australians achieve financial freedom is at the heart of everything we do and that has required us to become a smarter, more agile organisation," Buwalda said. "By modernising our core systems, we are giving our people more time to focus on supporting our members. With Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications, we have enhanced the way we work across the business, strengthened our operations, and lifted the efficiency and insight we need to support informed decisions," Buwalda said.

Oracle said the deployment at Colonial First State showed how finance and HR software is being used by large organisations to bring together data and processes previously managed in separate systems. The supplier has been promoting the Fusion suite as a single platform for functions including finance, HR, supply chain and customer operations.

For Colonial First State, the immediate impact appears concentrated in internal administration rather than front-end customer technology. Even so, the company framed the changes as a way to free up employee time and improve decision-making across the business.

The use of cloud-based HCM systems in wealth management has also grown as firms try to sharpen workforce planning and respond more quickly to changing business needs. A single dataset for employee records, recruitment and learning can help management teams identify hiring needs, reduce administrative duplication and track talent development more consistently.

Similarly, cloud finance systems have become a common focus for companies looking to shorten reporting cycles and tighten oversight. By connecting financial planning with operational data, organisations can often reduce manual processing and improve visibility for senior management.

Stephen Bovis, Regional Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand, Oracle, said pressure on firms in the sector was increasing.

"Wealth management is evolving fast, and firms need to stay ahead of rising client expectations and an increasingly competitive landscape," Bovis said. "With Oracle Fusion Applications, Colonial First State is enhancing operational agility and data-driven insights with embedded AI," Bovis added.

Colonial First State said the system changes had helped standardise processes across the organisation while supporting a more consistent operating model for finance and HR.