Previously, we discussed the rapidly evolving role of the modern CFO where they need to stay ahead of the technology curve while ensuring the company “keeps the lights on” with their traditional finance activities. In ivi’s most recent survey of finance executives, CFO’s themselves say they want to spend more time on digital initiatives and the application of digital technologies for finance tasks, however they still spend less time on digital trends than they do on traditional finance activities. Here are the 5 distinct technologies and tools that every CFO must invest in now to future-proof their business and stay ahead of their competition:
Data Digitalization
This is the process of converting physical financial documents and data from an analogue format into a digital format, which opens-up exciting opportunities to apply automation, software robotics, AI, and machine learning to your business operations. Unfortunately, the vast majority of companies still exchange financial documents such as invoices, credit notes, purchase requests, purchase orders, delivery notes, and advanced shipping notes, etc., in an analogue document and data format via either a postal or email transmission channel; where finance executives have to perform the tedious, repetitive, and time / cost-intensive task of manually keying-in financial document data to their ERP system. While some companies have tried to apply OCR scanning technologies to solve this challenge, the requirements for precision and 100% data accuracy that finance operations demand, renders this technology redundant.
Whether you are a Buyer or a Supplier, ivi will provide you with 100% accurate digital and data streams for both your inbound and outbound communications and financial document exchange processes, achieving paperless, touchless, and seamless operations from day 1.
Automation
Data digitalization and automation go hand in hand and allow for many finance jobs and tasks to be completed more efficiently and cost-effectively by software robotics, AI, and machine-learning tools. Finance Departments are overwhelmed by large amounts of raw data flooding in from every function within the business. Not only does the veracity of this data need to be checked and verified, but also departments such as C-suite, sales, marketing, and HR, expect to receive a sophisticated analysis of this data so that they can make sense of it all. Without automation, Finance Departments must spend all their hours collecting data and ensuring data quality, leaving little time left over for analysis, reporting, and strategic recommendations.
ivi’s data authentication functionality guarantees the accuracy of financial data before it is propagated into your ERP System, while automated business rules and settings are established to standardise data and create approval procedures for specific users which dramatically reduces document processing times and errors.
Analytics
As the Finance Department’s operations transform from a manual transactional system to a fully-automated, straight-through processing system, they will free time and resources to focus on the impact of analytics within finance. With many Finance Departments now establishing dedicated financial planning and analysis (FP & A) teams, the objective is to utilise analytics to draw actionable insights from the data. Whether it’s financial forecasting and planning, or comparing budgets and forecasts to actual results, the analytics enable companies to identify the drivers behind any variance and take immediate remedial actions.
Leverage your 100% data accuracy through the generation of actionable analytics which creates greater efficiencies, improve forecasting, and grow your business, as you make more informed financial decisions across the enterprise and transition all spend under management with ivi.
Visualization
Data visualization is all about making better financial decisions. With a graphical representation of information and data, and by utilizing visual elements such as charts, graphs, and maps, data visualization tools provide an effective way to identify and understand trends, outliers, and patterns in data. With data flooding in by the terabyte, visualization tools and technologies are essential to analyse massive amounts of information and make better data-driven decisions.
Spend your money wiser with ivi and achieve complete transparency and visibility over 100% of direct and indirect costs to more effectively understand, evaluate, and prioritize how money is being spent across the entire organization.
Integration
The final step in transforming the Finance Department from a cost-centre to a profit-centre is integrating your new digital transformation and advanced-analytics philosophy across the rest of the company. By integrating the traditional finance and ERP systems with other functions of the business including operations, supply chain management, and CRM, the company can achieve seamless and frictionless operations. The objective is to ensure that your entire database is not a large, clunky, and awkward system but an agile system that guarantees actionable insights.
ivi’s workflow-agnostic platform integrates seamlessly into existing ERP and financial system workflows or third-party approval systems, ensuring only 100% accurate data is processed, eliminating the need for data quality tools and dramatically reducing payment cycle times.
ivi as the world’s leader in the digitalisation of business processes between companies, enables your business to take the first step in its digital journey and transformation. With our industry-leading suite of e-Invoicing and AP Automation Solutions, we support over 15,000 CFO’s around the world to face the challenges of their evolving and expanded roles, as they take advantage of our latest AI and machine learning digital technologies.