The year 2020 is still not forgotten by anybody who has experienced it. After the year started with big expectations for the next ten years, by March the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic was a severe blow to the world economy and was an important part of almost every organization’s plans for the year. As the year was approaching, the public promise of a number of vaccinations at the beginning of 2021 brought some light at the end, raising global economic recovery expectations.
However, it is doubtful that the 2020 pandemic would be the only interruption this decade will witness. And for any organization that has not digitally altered its business and financial procedures, it has become a real wake-up call.
Conquering complexity leads the way at speed
The basic financial operations are mastered by streamlining and simplifying the record reporting and the agile planning and forecasting. Thus, financial teams may support strategic business-wide decision-making through end-of-term reporting and may subsequently proceed into the more sophisticated financial reporting process.
Here are six actions that successful financial firms take to overcome complexity and be able to lead quickly. The order of actions outlined here is not written in stone, it can change according to the requirements and problems of a certain organization. The following are the 6 steps:
- Drive Simplicity and Efficiency in IT Systems
- Implement a Fast and Accurate Financial Close Process
- Align Strategic, Financial and Operational Planning
- Empower Managers with Financial and Operational Data and Metrics
- Leverage Advanced Analytics Such as Predictive Forecasting and Machine Learning
- Ensure Internal Systems and Processes are Poised to Support Growth and Expansion
This can be achieved only with a unified, intelligent finance platform, enabling CFOs and finance teams to take a quick lead in various financial operations.
