Finance Digital Transformation
Need for Digital Transformation in Finance
According to the Future Of Jobs Report by the World Economic Forum, Finance roles feature prominently within the top 20 roles to be disrupted by digital transformation and automation. This includes roles such as data entry clerks, accounting and payroll clerks, accountants, auditors and Business Services Managers which have been identified as job roles which are decreasing in demand across industries.
2024 SKILLS OUTLOOK
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Analytical thinking & innovation
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Active learning & learning strategies
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Creativity, originality & initiative
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Technology design & programming
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Critical thinking & analysis
6. Complex problem-solving
7. Leadership & social influence
8. Emotional intelligence
9. Reasoning, problem solving & ideation
10. System analysis & evaluation
Accounting, bookkeeping
& payroll clerks
Data entry clerks
DECLINING ROLES
75
MILLION
Assembly and
factory workers
Client information &
customers service workers
Administrative &
executive secretaries
Business services &
administration managers
Why is this the case and does this apply to all activities within Finance processes?
Top Priorities in Transforming Finance Functions
Finance activities can be compartmentalised into low complexity, voluminous and repetitive and higher in complexity and stakeholder engagement required. The activities which are typically called Transactional Finance such as invoice processing, payment, receipts allocation and month end reporting is most susceptible to automation as rules and scenarios can be applied in managing them. It is important to evaluate your Finance function – locally, regionally and globally and understand what activities exist before categorising them in the respective buckets.
Key Success Factors
1
Understanding how effective and efficient your Finance function is via a Benchmarking study, with clarity on gaps and action plans
2
Transparent, Up-to-date Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) documentation
3
Availability of process experts who understands the current processes with the ability to propose future processes, enabled by technology solutions
4
Effective change management which is able to successfully communicate the case for change and in embedding the new ways of working
5
Understanding the competency gap, doing a Training Need Analysis within the Finance team is critical to ensure success in understanding and embedding new digital practices
Technology Components to Leverage On
ERP
Enterprise Resource Planning is a suite of integrated applications across various functions such as Sales, Supply Chain, Finance and Human Resources. And ERP system allows an organization to collect, store, manage, and interpret data from many business activities. The current trend with ERP is a move towards cloud based instead of on-premise. Global Finance Shared Services Centres a key partner for organisations to be successful in implementation of either a cloud base or a single instance ERP platform.
Business Intelligence and data visualization (data analytics)
A critical technology to be mastered by Finance professionals as Finance Data Analytics helps organizations to gain insights into their financial data and implement indicative action to improve performance. Financial Analytics elevate Finance Shared Services professionals to be a valued business partner if the insights are able to drive value such as productivity and cash flow savings.
Robotics Process Automation and Artificial Intelligence
A software which automate the activities or tasks which are rule based and repetitive, offering a virtual workforce to organisations. The talent can be freed up of manual activities and allowed to focus on higher value add activities, make judgmental calls, handle exceptions and provide oversight. Transactional Finance processes are good candidates for RPA.
Process Mining
Process mining is a technique designed to discover, monitor and improve real processes by extracting event logs of ERP, with a choice of either real time or otherwise. Benefits of process mining include a factual discovery of process non compliance and financial implication, as well as control gaps. Process mining is now increasing applied within Procure To Pay , Record To Report activities of Global Finance Shared Services and is used to identify bottlenecks, action items and inefficiencies within the process in a tangible way.
Blockchain
A blockchain is a distributed database which is shared among the nodes of a computer network. This is a newer area for Finance processes application but some Global Finance Shared Services have explore applications within Order To Cash, trade finance, intercompany transactions, and reconciliation. A space to watch in the future.
The AGOS Advantage for Digital Transformation
We are a group of Shared Services Practitioners with > 15 years of Finance Shared Services and Shared Services experience. We have been Senior Finance Leadership Team members and have the experience in driving implementation of large scale technology projects such as single instance ERP implementation, finance automation and RPA for Finance for organisations within FMCG, Fintech, pharmaceutical, public sector, shipping, retail clothing and automative
Our Finance Domain Expertise
We help Finance Shared Services and Chief Finance Officers in readiness activities, blueprinting, implementation and change management for ERP Implementation, Robotics Process Automation (RPA), Automation of Finance Processes and Automation of global Finance consolidation and Finance Analytics.
Our Finance Automation Implementation
Thus far, we have implemented 60+ Finance related RPA processes, ERP ( Oracle, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, SAGE) , procure to pay solutions ( Esker, Ariba), visualisation tools, finance consolidation tools.
Our Superuser Business Knowledge
We have in dept business user knowledge for key ERP systems, procure to pay solutions, finance consolidation and visualisation tools.
Our Change Agent Role
We are effective change agents for your team in undergoing finance digital transformation. With our experience in managing 300 to 600 staff strength within Global FSS, we are able to bring out the best in the teams we work with.
