Company insight
CFOs adopting a data-first approach to accelerate transformation How do you plan to invest to address your top priorities for the next 1–3 years?
Investing in AI and machine-learning-based solutions 33%
Reimagining finance operations in the cloud 27%
Investing in robotic process automation (RPA) 16%
Investing in process reengineering and optimisation 15%
Analytics 9% Credit: Workday whitepaper on ‘Frictionless Finance’
informed decisions with accurate, timely data had been hindered. An equal number said data management and analysis was a top priority in the next three years. “The finance function is accelerating a shift that was already underway, with a focus on data – in terms of collection, access and analysis – to provide even greater value to the business,” it says. However, it adds the past year has served to reaffirm the importance of timely, decision-ready data for enterprises to accelerate growth and transform ways of working – citing the pandemic as a key driver.
The need to transform is more pressing than ever before, according to respondents. More than half (52%) said not having the necessary data to make critical business decisions had led to delayed product launches and even missed financial forecasts. In response, nearly two-thirds of CFOs (60%) are investing in reimagining finance operations in the cloud and deploying artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) solutions. It was also found that predictive analytics were the most sought after automation capability for 50% of CFOs. Workday says finance professionals have recognised the need to prioritise internal investments accordingly. “In 2020, half of CFOs reported having invested in an intelligent data foundation and advanced analytics to improve decision-making across the enterprise,” the survey’s report concluded. Adding that the digital transformation of finance departments is largely underway to some extent, in businesses both large and small.
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That transformation involves incorporating day-to-day processes, predicting outcomes and providing real- time insights on-demand. A key piece of the puzzle is a financial management system built on a singular data platform |that facilitates both granular transactional reporting and higher-level business insights. “More than one-quarter of enterprises are near the beginning of their digital transformation journey,” Workday reports. “According to the CFOs in the survey, more than three-quarters of finance teams are undergoing some form of digital transformation.”
Preparing for change
As the use of data and the digitisation of operational functions changes enterprise, shifting too is the role CFOs and their finance teams play. Gone are the days when these individuals alone would be the bastions of spreadsheets and figures, or the go-to colleagues for number crunching. Today, they are key stakeholders in the adoption of digital technologies. Workday says its findings show that CFOs are focused on informed decision-making and providing information to employees, which indicates the expanding role they have in data governance.
It adds that CFOs are prioritising a “change-ready culture” as the second- largest investment area. This, it continues, is a shift that requires an organisation to transform from within. It must be people- centric, and include employee training and upskilling, talent strategies and the modernisation of existing infrastructure to support new ways of working. “Put another
way, a change-ready culture helps ensure that investments in data, technology and processes are fully leveraged.” On the question of whether companies were responsive to this need, the survey found that many were, with a third (32%) saying they are actively investing in it. It’s a figure that Workday says shows businesses understand the value in upskilling teams and deploying modern financial management systems, even when they have already made progress in these areas. “55% of CFOs say their organisations have at least a few departments fully transformed, meaning they have adopted automated processes, AI and ML.” AI and ML fast become investment hot property for the CFO, so too is cloud- based technologies. Of those questioned, a third (33%) said they were making AI and ML-based solutions budgeting priorities. 27%, for their part, said they were funding finance operations in the cloud. “By leveraging cloud technologies,”
Workday says, “businesses can ensure that employees are working with the same data and collaborating in real time.” It adds the cloud provides access anywhere and anytime, the importance of which became “abundantly clear during the pandemic and will remain vital in the new world of work”. On the matter of ML, Workday says frictionless finance – using automation and ML to eliminate what it calls “tedious manual tasks” from core finance processes – is how enterprises will evolve in future, creating data-driven strategies to meet future challenges. Almost three in ten respondents said they believed these technologies could help them better analyse data and report on it – an area that is in need of greater investment. “The pressure on finance to deliver insights to the wider business means there is a greater need for accurate analysis and reporting,” says Workday. Therefore, it is no surprise that 49% of CFOs questioned said they planned to invest in predictive analytics, 45% in ML and 43% in AI, in order to create predictive insights with large data volumes and deliver on the need for real-time analysis and reporting. Summing up on the issue of AI and ML, the report says: “To improve the access to and management of data, CFOs have heavily invested in AI and automation. At the core of this is the need to future-proof finance operations, with AI and ML-based
Finance Director Europe /
www.ns-businesshub.com
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