How Adobe and Cisco prove the case for indirect tax technology
Overcoming indirect tax compliance challenges with ONESOURCE delivers competitive advantage for FTSE and global technology leaders
The technology sector is celebrated for constant innovation, yet many large tech businesses in the UK and across Europe remain constrained by outdated systems, mounting technology debt, and the rapid evolution of indirect tax regulations. As organisations expand globally and digital business models proliferate, the complexity and risk of indirect tax compliance can threaten even the most robust enterprises. Adobe and Cisco, two industry leaders, provide compelling cases on how the adoption of Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE solutions can break these cycles, mitigate technology debt, and empower both tax and IT teams to focus on strategic value-add work.
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The indirect tax data dilemma: Why the technology sector is exposed
Technology companies often manage indirect tax data spread across disparate platforms, jurisdictions, and business units. The consequence? Siloed information, manual reconciliations, and elevated risk of error. Research indicates that many tech firms automate less than half of their tax processes, leaving themselves open to inefficiency and compliance risk. As HMRC and other tax authorities across Europe increase scrutiny and accelerate the introduction of digital mandates, the cost of failing to modernise is steep: under-resourced tax departments are significantly more likely to face audits and penalties.
Adobe’s journey from fragmented processes to global control
Adobe’s experience serves as a textbook case of how technology debt can stifle operational performance. With millions of transactions across numerous countries, the tax department was mired in spreadsheets and three separate tax platforms (for UK, overseas, and e-commerce operations). Preparing VAT returns took up to a fortnight, and adapting to new regulations—such as the EU VAT reforms—was virtually impossible with a decentralised model.
Recognising the need for fundamental change, Adobe’s director of global indirect tax championed a move to ONESOURCE Determination, consolidating all indirect tax activities onto a unified, global platform:
- Drastic reduction in IT dependencies: The initial remit was a 40% reduction in SAP tax customisation, but Adobe ultimately achieved a 95% decrease, liberating IT from continual support tickets and custom coding.
- Major time savings: Preparation time for VAT returns dropped from two weeks to just 30 minutes, freeing tax professionals to focus on strategic analysis and planning.
- Total compliance and assurance: Adobe was able to comply with new EU VAT regulations from day one, enabling the tax team to confidently present accurate, country-level metrics to senior leadership.
- Elevated role of the tax department: Staff were freed from manual processes and advanced to strategic advisory partners for the wider business.
Cisco’s expansion: Scaling indirect tax compliance for a global enterprise
Cisco’s trajectory echoes the challenges of rapidly growing technology firms entering new markets. Expansion and diversification brought increasingly decentralised tax operations: a patchwork of systems, inconsistent compliance, and poor visibility, hampering quick adaptation to regulatory changes.
Cisco implemented ONESOURCE Indirect Tax to centralise and automate global tax processes, realising a host of benefits:
- Centralised, real-time VAT data: ONESOURCE delivered a unified overview of transaction tax exposures in over 100 countries, streamlining compliance and audit readiness.
- Reduced IT and operational expenditure: Eliminating bespoke regional platforms freed IT resource and cut system maintenance costs.
- Enhanced agility: Cisco could implement VAT updates and regulation changes promptly to support business growth, market entries, and new global mandates.
- Strategic resource allocation: Automation reduced the burden of returns processing, enabling the tax team to dedicate more time to planning and analytics.
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How ONESOURCE relieves IT pressure and diminishes technology debt
Both Adobe and Cisco’s experiences highlight that legacy indirect tax platforms and manual processes drain IT and finance resources, raise the risk of compliance failure, and inhibit business agility. ONESOURCE addresses these barriers through:
- Seamless integration: ONESOURCE connects with leading ERP and financial platforms, minimising the need for custom development and reducing IT overhead.
- End-to-end automation: The platform covers the entire VAT lifecycle—real-time determination, automated compliance, reporting, and audit trails—minimising manual intervention and error risk.
- Cloud-based scalability: As businesses grow or enter new markets, ONESOURCE scales with them, supporting new jurisdictions and regulation with no proportional increase in workload.
- Proactive regulatory updates: Our global tax solution keeps the system current with the latest VAT and indirect tax rules, lowering the compliance burden on in-house IT and tax.
Why digital transformation is imperative for the indirect tax function
Adobe and Cisco illustrate that digital transformation in indirect tax is not merely about ensuring compliance—it is essential for unlocking operational efficiency, reducing costs, and enabling strategic business growth. In today’s evolving regulatory environment, tech businesses stuck with fragmented, manual processes risk falling behind. By embracing ONESOURCE, organisations can:
- Eliminate technology debt and manual inefficiency
- Liberate IT and tax departments to focus on high-value, strategic priorities
- Ensure multi-jurisdictional VAT compliance and reduce the risk of error, penalty, and audit
- Benefit from real-time visibility and centralised control of indirect tax data across every market
The road ahead: Lessons for the technology sector
As global commerce accelerates and indirect tax rules grow more complex, a unified, automated tax solution is vital. Adobe and Cisco’s ONESOURCE journeys are powerful testaments to the transformative benefits of digitalisation: reduced technology debt, significant time and cost savings, and a future-proof tax function aligned with business innovation.
For technology companies seeking to outperform the competition, the message is clear: break free from antiquated systems and manual chaos. ONESOURCE is the holistic tax lifecycle solution that empowers tax and IT teams to drive efficiency, ensure robust compliance, and facilitate the next wave of business growth.
Ready to launch your team’s digital transformation? Download our eBook, Strategic approaches to indirect tax in the technology industry, and discover how ONESOURCE Determination can help your organisation thrive in a complex, dynamic environment.
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