Go for gold with finance automation – a checklist for financial excellence

Regulatory pressure on the finance function is up. It’s an uncertain climate. We’re seeing a long-term return to higher interest rates. And an increasingly globalized economy means managing basic financial operations is more of a challenge than ever.?

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That means it’s never been more important to start tightening up your control. To put in the work now to increase visibility over your processes, optimize your working capital, lower DSO, extend DPO, and improve financial control. Think of it as conditioning. Helping your teams build the base they need to run the race in front of them – whether it’s a marathon or a sprint.?

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This is where finance automation comes in.? ??

Why automate finance??

Accenture estimates that?up to 80% of financial operations could be automated. And since as much as 60-75% of employee time in the finance department is spent performing routine jobs that can be performed more quickly, with fewer errors, and with significantly less risk of staff burnout, automation is a complete solution to many of your most pressing issues.??

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It’s the foundation to the great performance that’ll keep your organization competitive, pushing boundaries, and finishing on the podium.?

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5 top benefits of finance automation?

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1. Save everyone time and enhance the user experience for both customers and employees by removing the challenges associated with siloed systems, manual processes, and fragmented data.?
2. Reduce the errors inevitable in manual processes by removing duplicate and erroneous data and leaving the computers to run the junk miles –?your people don’t have to wade through hours of rote tasks anymore.?
3. Improve data visibility and quality with a single source of truth that makes reporting accurately as easy as clicking a button and checking on KPIs as simple as glancing at a dashboard. (You know what a FitBit does, right? It’s like that, but for finance ops).?
4. Simplify regulatory compliance with automatically-updating cloud systems that leverage data visibility and transparency in real time.??
5. Boost decision-making and decision velocity and approach finance more strategically with an up-to-date picture of your organization’s financial health so you can make better calls and secure bigger wins.?

So why are so many companies not doing it??

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49% of companies still don’t automate any of their financial processes. And that doesn’t just mean they’re missing out on a huge world of innovation and opportunity. They’re showing up to the start line with their shoelaces tied together.??

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At Serrala, we’ve been automation finance processes for 40 years now. And we’re happy to say we’re always ahead of the rest of the pack when it comes to innovation (including in the automation space). And we have a theory.?

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We think what’s stopping many of you is that you still think that automation –?whether it’s simple tools like RPA (Robotic Process Automation) or more advanced tools backed by AI and ML capabilities –?is a technology of the future. But it isn’t. It’s real, it’s available to you right now, and you can start automating every part of your finance operations now to achieve performance PBs across the board in quick time.? ??

Which parts of your financial operations can be automated??

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To help you get started, here’s a checklist of parts of the process we’ve helped to successfully automate at rates of 90% or higher with amazing results for our clients:?

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• Order-to-Cash processes:?automation can transform how your business requests, accepts, and applies payments. For Serrala customers, this means liberating businesses from manual and time-consuming processes, automating the entire accounts receivable cycle through the power of AI.?

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• Procure-to-Pay processes:?for most organizations, AI-powered solutions can make straight-through invoice processing automatic for a significant proportion of outbound payment requests. Meaning a greater ability to capture discounts, fewer late payments, and strengthened supplier relationships. ??

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• Treasury processes and cash visibility:?automated solutions can unify your entire banking estate, making it possible to manage every account your business holds from a single platform. Improving your ability to optimize fees, ensure all mandates and instructions are up to date, radically simplify regulatory reporting and compliance, and make decision making easier and faster.? ??

And remember: finance tasks that don’t require a human mind to handle an exception or a novel situation should be automated.??

How to automate finance: your comprehensive checklist?

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As with any new training program, you’ll need to go in with a plan to avoid burnout, injury, and upset. Fortunately, we’ve been around this track a few times and we’ve got you covered. (If you’ve ever competed in any sporting event you’ll find this checklist familiar, because it’s exactly what you’ll do to train for a competition).?

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1. Figure out where you are now: no plan works if you don’t know where you’re starting from. Document your systems and processes. Figure out how they work, what that’s costing you, and where the weaknesses are.?
2. Scope your outcome: next, work out where you want to be. What’s a realistic goal for your teams across AR, AP, and Treasury? What’s a good stretch goal? (in our experience, it’s 105%-110% of your target). What’s the timeline on which you want to achieve this??
3. Clean up your data: think of this stage as the “meat” of the training in athletic preparation. In finance automation, the quality of your data is equivalent to the quality of your health. You’ll need to ensure your data is correct, compliant, and, importantly, that you’ve shed any excess pounds (i.e. you aren’t bringing along any legacy data you no longer need).?
4. Pick your partner: the solution you choose for your automation program will depend on your specific needs as an organization. Think of your vendor as a combination of a coach, training partner, and extension of your own team. For more complex setups – particularly international organizations with big ERP investments and regulatory overheads – it’s best to go with a specialist.?
5. Get moving – and set a plan for continuous improvement: some of our customers have been able to automate as much as 60% of their finance processes within just a few months of implementation. But experienced contenders know that peak performance takes time and commitment. Don’t be satisfied with the initial gains. Make sure you’re working with your own teams and your vendor to constantly push the boundaries of what you’re achieving with automation.?

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Our competitive record??

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Check out how we can give you the edge across your financial operations at our website – and feel free to book a demo of any of our solutions to see how we can help your finance teams get the gold.???

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