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Financial Digitisation: Relieving the Pressure Off Modern CFOs
The world is changing rapidly. Businesses need to make decisions at a faster and faster pace. And the job of gathering the required data to make these decisions usually lands at the feet of the CFO.
“With nearly half (45%) of CFOs identifying themselves as their organizations’ chief data officers, the CFO sits squarely at the controls for managing this growing mountain of data. And putting their organizations on a path to better, faster decision making.”
CFO Indicator Q3 2016 report
The only way to keep pace is to digitize and automate much of the data gathering and reporting processes.
But most financial departments are slow on the uptake of digital technology. Gartner states that two-thirds of financial organisations must become significantly more digitised just to keep up to date with today’s demands. Let alone those demands of the future!
This lag is showing. A recent survey of 578 leaders found 67% believe their organization needs to become ‘significantly more’ digitized[1]. And 77% of CFOs admit that major business decisions have been delayed due to stakeholders not having access to data promptly.
Here’s the problem: without an accurate financial picture, key decision-making, business development, and organisational growth become difficult.
The obvious answer is to invest in digital technology, but leaders are cautious. Historically, they haven’t seen the return on investment (ROI) they were promised. Gartner reports that 76% of CFOs have experienced failed return on investment in the area of information technology[1].
What should be done?
How do you plan for a faster, more agile finance organisation that gives you a measurable return?
The first step is to find an experienced technology partner with a proven track record in digital transformation. If you are going to invest in transformative and intelligent technologies – such as in-memory processing, machine learning, and predictive analytics – then you want a technology partner that has a track record of delivering this. Any solution should be measurable by how much of financial professional’s time is freed up to do more strategic work.
The digitisation of your financial processes should result in all your financial, managerial, and operational data visible in one unified in-memory system. You should receive the insight you require in real-time, visible in a customised dashboard. Financial modelling should take a much, much less time than it used to.
Through automating many manual tasks, cash flow reports should be generated securely and accurately, with little end-user time required. Budgeting should become easy and less time-consuming.
Through centralising data collection, you should spend far less time on report preparation. And more time on forecasting and scenario analysis.
All this is can be achieved quickly and reliably with the correct technology partner. Have a look at Decision Inc.’s financial case studies to get an idea of the businesses that have already benefited from financial digitisation. Each case study has a measurable return on their initial technology investment:
- Decision Inc. transforms global planning and reporting processes at international services group, Serco
“We found the Decision Inc. team to have excellent knowledge of finance processes and activities. They clearly demonstrated their expertise in SAP BPC with the ability to build a fit-for-purpose solution on time, to budget, and importantly, with quality.”
- Decision Inc. helps redefine planning & reporting processes at London transport authority
“The Solution bought all planning and consolidation into a single system with standardised end to end processes. This has enabled greater transparency and efficiency in the planning process.”
- Ireland Energy Supplier undertakes a significant finance transformation programme to improve its operations and become more efficient
“Decision Inc. UK not only completed the project on time and within budget, but also met the desired scope of the ESB. It achieved all the expected benefits with the solution supporting a more transparent, integrated, and streamlined PBF process.”