The future of finance will see technology continue to improve and support professionals working in the finance sector. Their experience and knowledge, paired with a wealth of data analytics capabilities from all corners of a business and processed by ever-evolving financial management software, will enable better decision making and, ultimately, stronger business performance.
In this article, we’ll explain why it is time for finance and accounting to embrace the digital workplace and why avoiding digital innovation can result in businesses falling behind the competition.
Why is finance transformation so important?
Finance's digital transformation isn’t just a solid step that the industry must go through - it’s the beginning of an ongoing process by which the sector can consistently improve itself.
The way financial operations traditionally handle paperwork and data is a cause for concern. A study by the Tungsten Network revealed that businesses waste an average of 125 weeks through the mismanagement of paperwork. Not only is this low efficiency putting businesses at risk, but this can also lead to an unsteady cash flow. This can hinder an organisation from evolving, as Ashley Finance reports, up to 90% of businesses say that cash flow is the main reason they’re held back from growth.
The term ‘hybrid work’ is hot on the lips of business leaders across all industries. Indeed, for most jobs that aren’t exclusively client-facing, a hybrid workplace has become the rule rather than the exception, according to PwC. In the UK alone, the proportion of adults working from home for at least some of the week has more than tripled.
Finance, as we all know, is a risky business — from the perspectives of both human error and security. By greatly reducing the stages at which human input is required, it is far easier to ensure compliance and reduce the risk of data loss.
With cloud computing, the system is constantly evolving and receiving updates to its security, to keep it one step ahead of hackers. By contrast, a more traditional system is installed and then only updated at specific intervals, leaving security gaps.
What are the advantages of digital transformation in finance?
There are many digital workplace benefits:
- Empowering every employee to connect.
- Providing digital tools, such as financial management software.
- Be more flexible and let your staff work the way they want to
- Maintain control and ensure sensitive personal information and financial data remain secure from cybercriminals.
Digital technologies to improve your finance function
Technology, for its own sake, is rarely useful, and to implement the wrong system is costly for a business in both the direct outlay and in any loss of productive time it creates.
It’s, therefore, crucial for CFOs and finance leaders to understand what systems will improve and streamline your processes and which will duplicate and complicate them.
Strategic analysis
A good software package provides finance professionals with analysis that enables them to understand and use predictive capabilities to assess market trends and map out strategic objectives accordingly.
A solid finance strategy should be as little of a gamble as possible. This is where digital transformation and the finance function can be of most help to businesses.
You should just ensure that the package you look at includes that capability by examining its features.
Robotic process automation (RPA)
RPA has been the victim of a little doom-mongering since the rise of Generative AI, with claims that it’ll take away jobs in financial services.
The purpose of digital solutions with RPA is to take away the mundane, low-value work and liberate finance professionals from it so that they can focus on the more valuable tasks that it can’t do.
List point
The adoption of this tech throughout a whole business, and the visibility that it offers, means that its benefits stretch beyond the core accountancy functionality.
Particularly in terms of staff wellbeing, as it allows HR teams to monitor the working patterns of finance professionals, such as how long projects are taking. In today’s more enlightened workplaces, avoiding employee burnout and creating a positive employee experience is key to keeping a business’ efficiency and productivity at its peak.
The future of finance is here
Marrying processes and technology to eliminate tedious, repetitive, time-consuming and inefficient manual tasks will become more and more essential in the next decade, enabling finance professionals to spend their valuable time and skills on more complex jobs.
The digital world of tomorrow will arm finance teams with the right technologies and tools to perform their tasks on the go. Whether they are at their desk, on the road with mobile devices or working from home, they must have intelligent cloud-based accounting system at their fingertips