{"id":13426,"date":"2021-11-30T14:27:51","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T14:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cofficient.co.uk\/?p=13426"},"modified":"2021-11-30T14:27:51","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T14:27:51","slug":"is-finance-transformation-in-your-strategy-for-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cofficient.co.uk\/is-finance-transformation-in-your-strategy-for-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Finance Transformation in Your Strategy for 2022?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The past two years have been transformative – and certainly not always in ways that we might welcome.\u00a0 Nevertheless, change gives rise to adaptation and innovation; it brings opportunity.\u00a0 As businesses struggle to keep up with the pace of change, finance teams have an opportunity to play a leading role in developing and maintaining a positive trajectory for their businesses.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finance transformation is ultimately about competitive advantage.\u00a0 It’s about adapting to a rapidly changing world, using data-driven insights to assess the situation, understand the alternatives in front of you, and take the action necessary to win in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What Exactly Is “Finance Transformation” Anyway?<\/h4>\n

Technology analyst firm Gartner<\/a> describes finance transformation as a process of “re-envisioning the finance function to align with the overall company strategy”.\u00a0 Gone are the days when accounting and finance were primarily responsible for recordkeeping functions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today, finance is more strategic than ever.\u00a0 Unfortunately, though, not all finance and accounting (F&A) teams are embracing that role to the extent that they could or should.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Going forward, finance must adapt to the new reality; finance transformation will no longer be optional.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For Finance Directors, it’s an imperative; they must fully embrace their roles as transformational leaders, or someone else will do so in their stead.\u00a0 For the businesses in which they work, finance transformation is equally vital.\u00a0 It will mean the difference between winning and losing in the global marketplace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Deloitte released a report entitledFinance 2025 Revisited<\/a> in which analysts reviewed their predictions from 2018, assessed progress to date, and outlined their new predictions as they look ahead to the year 2025.\u00a0 Their comments on the role of finance are particularly noteable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Agility and adaptability separated the winners from the losers…\u00a0 Faced with the pandemic’s enormous challenges, some finance teams stepped up and others did not, but either way, business leaders going forward will expect Finance to be ready for multiple future scenarios.\u00a0 It won’t have the luxury of setting a single strategy and following a linear path irrespective of the world at large.”<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finance teams must proactively prepare to take the reins and lead.\u00a0 They cannot merely tabulate and report on past performance; they must foresee potential changes on the road ahead, evaluate multiple potential paths, and set a course for business success.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They must seek out and identify value-creating activities, align financial realities with business strategy, and guide effective business execution.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Many finance directors are already well aware of this.\u00a0 As technology-enabled automation and analytics have become more powerful and affordable than ever before, necessity meets opportunity.\u00a0 Looking ahead to 2022, finance leaders must seize that opportunity and build a strong foundation for finance transformation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Building a Strong Technology Foundation<\/h4>\n

Naturally, finance teams play a lead role in planning and budgeting, setting meaningful targets for the organisation, and in forecasting likely outcomes based on current conditions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They also own the means of tracking and monitoring performance against budgetary targets, and ensuring that the company has the resources on hand to operate effectively.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yet many still fall short when it comes to their strategic role within their organisations.\u00a0 To operate strategically, finance teams must step beyond the realm of data and into the world of insights.\u00a0 Raw data and reports are still important, but extracting actionable meaning from them provides value of a higher order.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unfortunately, though, finance teams are bogged down with manual processes.\u00a0 They’re often stuck with the task of managing the mechanics of reporting and analysis, rather than focusing their energy on activities of strategic importance.\u00a0 To make that transition, finance teams need automation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In 2020, many organisations implemented automation as a matter of necessity.\u00a0 As Deloitte notes in its Finance 2025 Revisited report<\/a>:\u00a0“Automation gains… generally helped a remote workforce keep the lights on, not produce predictive analytics (though that capability readily exists)”.\u00a0 <\/em>The authors of the report went on to say that\u00a0“technology will….. help Finance handle uncertainty and execute on its value proposition, as real-time information moves closer to reality and business analyses are generated on autopilot.”<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Enhancing the Value of the Finance Team<\/h4>\n

Much of this problem stems from the fact that out of date cumbersome enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have been poorly integrated with external applications and analytics tools.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Their budgeting and planning capabilities are often very rudimentary, and the built-in reporting tools that come with most ERP systems are poorly suited to the kind of advanced analysis and real-time business intelligence that delivers strategic value.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As a result, most finance teams have come to rely upon a hodgepodge of manual processes, exporting information from the ERP system (and often from CRM or other software that houses important business data), importing it into a spreadsheet, reformatting it and building out formulas, and producing reports that confirm to their exact formatting requirements.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unfortunately, this comes with a lot of problems.\u00a0 It’s extraordinarily tedious and time-consuming.\u00a0 It’s not a task that can easily be offloaded to less skilled personnel, so it consumes a great deal of very high-value time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It also tends to introduce errors into the resulting reports and analyses.\u00a0 Even the most careful users will eventually miss a formatting error or will forget to adjust a formula somewhere along the way.\u00a0 When executives are using the resulting information to drive important business decisions, that can be catastrophic.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finally, the manual spreadsheet-based approach makes it impossible to see what is happening in the business real time.\u00a0 To update a report with current information, most of the manual processes need to be repeated all over again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finance transformation is impossible when members of the finance team are spending a great deal of their time performing tasks that could easily be automated.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As the authors of the Deloitte report noted, the technology is readily available; and automation and predictive analytics are keys to finance transformation, elevating finance to a role in which they can routinely and consistently deliver strategic value.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If your organisation is posed for finance transformation in 2022, Cofficient can help.\u00a0 We provide leading ERP and financial intelligence tools.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We can help your business focus on comprehensive reporting, business intelligence, planning and budgeting, and predictive analytics tools aimed at finance users.\u00a0 Contact us today for a demo.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The past two years have been transformative – and certainly not always in ways that we might welcome.\u00a0 Nevertheless, change gives rise to adaptation and innovation; it brings opportunity.\u00a0 As businesses struggle to keep up with the pace of change, finance teams have an opportunity to play a leading role in developing and maintaining a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[171,104],"tags":[315,1008],"yoast_head":"\nIs Finance Transformation in Your Strategy for 2022? - Cofficient<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Are you preparing for finance transformation in 2022? 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