The Ledger

How To Stop Manual Processes From Draining Your Profits

Organizations look to finance leaders to support strategic initiatives by providing actionable information about the business. Ultimately, they can only be successful business partners when reliable financial data is available and when compliance is consistently achieved. When accounting and finance teams rely on manual processes, they struggle to focus on higher-risk areas and analyze trends – especially at peak times during the month. A 2016 Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) study found that 61% of finance teams still rely on spreadsheets for business analytics. As a result, companies have limited real-time data, and little time (if any) is left for analytics that can help identify errors or required adjustments. In today’s world of finance innovation and rapid advancements, businesses that continue to rely mainly on spreadsheets and manual business processes will not be in the race much longer. Digitizing and automating these processes will not only reduce costs and increase efficiencies; it will also free up valuable employees to perform more strategic tasks.

Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >

The Art of War: How Successful Manufacturers Arm Their Business with Analytics

Similar to martial arts, business success is all about perspective. Instead of focusing on the capabilities their organization lacks, business leaders should understand what they can do with what they have. First, they must find the tools that best-fit their business. Smart leaders arm their company with analytics and machine learning that provide critical insights that protect their margins and business. Martial arts and an analytics platform share the common thread of awareness. This allows business leaders to not only report on what is happening, but also predict what is likely to happen and plan accordingly. This prevents rash decisions that will negatively impact the business. Modern analytics platforms enable businesses to respond rather than react to anything that comes their way.

Read More at Industry Week >

“Quick-Fix” Cost Management Is Risky Business

In financially unclear times, it is easy for businesses to attempt cost cutting methods that are risky, impulsive and have major potential to reduce capabilities necessary to fuel digital transformation. Instead, companies must consider value and risk when making cost-management decisions, taking a cost optimization approach that aims to deliver long-term value and immediate spend efficiency. Cost optimization often starts as an exercise in cost reduction, and cost pressures endure. When business leaders make uninformed cost management decisions, the business impacts can be negative, and sometimes difficult to recover from.

Read More at Smarter with Gartner >

CFOs Can Work Smarter, Not Harder with Intelligent Technologies

“To achieve better collaboration across the business, financial leaders acknowledge the value of new technologies such as cloud-based applications, data analytics, and machine learning. These intelligent technologies have the potential to automate back-end operations, modernizing rigid legacy systems while driving efficiency across these business functions.”

By incorporating intelligent processes and technologies, CFOs can simplify their data structures to enable easier and faster closing, planning, and analysis. Dynamic tools that provide timely, meaningful insight can save money, manage data, improve business visibility, and improve efficiency.

Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >