Warwick Haycock, Accounting Software Specialist at The Access Group
Since March 2020, many organisations have dramatically changed the way they get business done.
At the pandemic’s peak, there was no choice but to send staff home and rely on newly acquired technology and working processes. But with the option to move back into offices in the long term – and often, legacy ways of working – many business leaders are calling for a return to ‘normal’. While high profile leaders such as Spotify have announced plans to let staff work remotely “forever”, others – notably in the world of finance – are calling for a full-time return to their offices as and when is possible.
The CEOs of Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan both expressed their views in this light, with David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs stating how, “for a business like ours, which is an innovative, collaborative apprenticeship culture, this is not ideal for us.”
He also called remote working an “aberration” rather than the ‘new normal’. The exacting needs of every business will differ, of course. But with or without remote working, reverting back to pre-pandemic processes could in fact hinder the progress that many businesses have made due to new technological solutions. Instead of blocking collaboration, automation and insights, keeping these new changes for good is likely to be the best investment.
When we surveyed over 1,000 finance professionals on ‘Overcoming Challenges and Pain Points’ at the end of 2020, 64 per cent stated that they expected their employers to invest in new technologies in 2021, most likely due to Covid-19. A year later and many will have transformed their working practices for the better, with efficient processes and flexibility in how and where people work.
Streamlining processes
Many leaders were concerned that productivity may dip during the pandemic. However, when comparing standard in-office processes – often including separate spreadsheets or paperwork – to automated online alternatives, mass investment into cloud based, automated software to keep remote teams together could actually have the opposite effect.
Our own ‘Overcoming Challenges and Pain Points for Finance Professionals’ survey highlighted just how much time could be saved by exploring new ways to complete numerous daily tasks. A quarter of respondents thought payments were the least efficient area of their department, while 21 per cent told us it was budgeting and forecasting. Comparing separate streams of information and inputting data manually is needed to complete each of these duties, much like many other financial processes such as reporting, structuring deals and financial modelling.
Saving employees time and automating mundane, repetitive tasks is also a fantastic way to invest in people’s experiences. As well as reducing daily frustrations, doing so could contribute more widely to the overall success of a business by empowering employees with more time to spend on strategies for growth, rather than filing routine paperwork.
Looking ahead
A recent report by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Generation CFO highlighted just how critical this could be in the future. In Transformational journeys: finance and the agile organisation, experts predict how the sector – and the skills within it – could be set to see finance leaders play a more central role in organisational transformation.
With responsibilities already widening, and the need for delivering insights based on data becoming abundantly clear during the pandemic, we could be set for a transformation within the industry – and the leaders within it should be poised to facilitate the change, rather than holding teams back with legacy practices.
