Konsolidator Blog

Why Technology Must Play A Larger Enabling Role In Creating An Agile Budgeting Process

We are in the middle of the planning season for 2021 and uncertainty has never been greater. It is almost obscure to think that we can plan for how next year will turn out. Yet, most company procedures dictate that you must prepare a budget to be approved by the board and which you can operate by next year.

Hence, you must tackle the challenge of planning for 2021 and get the most out of the situation.

Let us discuss ways you can do that.

Showing data to business stakeholders in long-winded tables and with lots of numbers is a no-go.
You will not find many finance professionals that have not yet understood that point. Similarly, most finance professionals know that we must develop insights through analytics to get a seat at the table. However, doing this does not come without challenges..

CFOs and finance professionals should take what they learned from the current lockdown during COVID-19 and implement it in everyday work at the finance function.

Around the globe, CFOs tend to need faster and automated processes to deliver relevant and accurate financial data to the management. 

Digitalization and digitalizing work processes have been key subjects within the finance business in recent years. The main idea behind digitalization is to automate tasks and workflows to increase efficiency.

Since the current health crisis has left the finance function unprepared for what to come, CFOs must digitally transform in order to handle the Corona crisis.

Use the crisis as the catalyst for long-term innovation!

Most things we cannot predict nor control in the current environment. So we need to focus on what we can control. And that is our reaction to it. 

And this goes for Finance too!

A mantra which has been heard for many years now, and the Covid-19 crisis has proven more than anything that it is correct.

The whole Corona period has been marked by new situations every day to be dealt with. And you as the CFO have to answer on what it will mean to the business, what the management should do and whether there is enough money in the bank. The CFO is responsible for providing an overview of: what the liquidity looks like, if the company can be part of the government's support schemes and so on. The many and fast changing situations in this Corona crisis show the need for a factual and correct foundation to base decisions on.

The evolution of cloud technology has transformed the way we think and work in the online digital age. Cloud based applications gives us easy access to our data when wherever and whenever we want. This is one of many reasons why finance professionals should consider moving to cloud based software applications. The benefits are numerous.

Decreasing manual maintenance, increasing productivity, and gaining greater access to reliable data - these are key points why 9 out of 10 companies on a global scale are converting to cloud-based software solutions. 

Digital transformation - the development from manual to automated or digitized tasks - is a hot topic across industries, especially in finance. The digital transformation in the finance function means the automation of manual and repetitive processes, real-time insights on data, and a higher quality of analysis and strategic decision making.