The finance function: the team in every company above a certain size that deals with money and numbers.
The modern financial function is in a state of transition. Top performers are paying attention to past finance standards and processes to succeed in shaping a successful future for their organizations.
If you understand where you need to be (no longer having others deal with the budget bad-guy), you will realize that you need to shift toward becoming a valued collaborator with other departments like sales, marketing, and operations.
Forward-thinking companies are engaged with automated technology that works to lower risks and empower teams. Organizations that use technology can react to threats and opportunities in a shorter time. And, this is an important asset in the finance function.
Let’s look at today’s evolution in the finance landscape.
Frequency change
Change is happening faster than ever. There is a high-frequency transition of a big enough scale that threatens many companies with the potential to cause significant discomfort to those slow to adapt. Teams need to learn faster and become more “athletic” in this changing environment.
What drives this change is technology. It works to lower friction in commerce and innovation and ultimately creates a competitive urgency to move forward.
Technology touches any company in several ways:
- It accelerates change.
- It reduces the friction of commerce and innovation.
- It accelerates the flow of data and analyzes how to act quickly.
The day of data
In the past, big data was about technical superiority with large-scale analytics and commercial applications. Today it’s made its impact in the domain of finance. Marketing, sales, manufacturing, and customer services are utilizing their systems for data: CRM, analytics, and marketing automation.
Finance professionals need to be business partners with other departments in the organization and work closely to enhance decision-making based on data and metrics.
The Role of CapEx in a changing environment
The manual approach to CapEx creates serious challenges. In a more complex organization, the CapEx process is long and inefficient, resulting in possible lapses that can impede productivity and bottom-line results.
With sketchy data when it comes to digging through emails, memos, and project notes, processes become inefficient. Performing internal audits for CapEx projects like planning phase, tendering, and execution, accurate and complete information is required to have successful workflows.
The future of Capital Expenditure (CapEx)
The processes of documenting policies and standardizing processes for companies that handle frequent planned or unplanned CapEx need to be automated to reduce errors, improve transparency, reduce delays, and get rid of sketchy data.
Automation is on its way towards eliminating much of the mechanical aspects of the financial function. Technology is eliminating barriers between departments as a result of the ease of data movement that contributes to improved collaboration. It can do it at a more consistent pace – and faster, which adds to the accuracy and real-time analysis of performance while reducing approval time.
Embracing change
Rather than rejecting the threat of technology, finance needs to embrace it. Automation has the power to handle necessary work freeing resources to focus on strategy and growth. There shouldn’t be a battle between departments but a collaboration based on practical models that adapt to the future. And all this is possible with process automation.
How effective are you at solving the CapEx workflow challenges? The right technology may just be the gateway to future financial success.
