From managing cash flow and financial planning and analysis (FP&A) duties to strategic planning, technology adoption, and regulatory compliance, finance teams are working harder than ever with potentially fewer resources.
The rapid pace of change requires organizations to react much faster to issues, disruptions, and opportunities. In this environment, your technology can be a distinct advantage — or create more obstacles to your organization’s success. Aligning your technology solutions across your organization is what makes the difference.
Challenges in Today’s Finance Landscape
If your finance team is facing challenges that complicate their work and take up extra time – you’re not alone. We’ve outlined some of the top issues we see finance teams facing today.
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You have disparate systems that are creating information silos.
Organizations use multiple technology solutions – legacy systems and new additions – within their finance team and across the organization. Having no defined digital strategy results in a mix of systems that don’t integrate, creating information silos, duplicative processes, and a barrier to productivity.
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You are still relying on manual processes.
Manual tasks take time – a lot of time – often adding hours to a process. Data entry, manual invoice processing, workarounds, and cross-checking data between systems all decrease productivity and act as a morale killer for your team.
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You are dealing with talent shortages.
Organizations around the country continue to be plagued with ongoing talent shortages – and finance teams are feeling the pain. With a decrease in individuals entering the accounting field, it is critical for organizations to invest in modern, efficient technology solutions to attract the next generation of finance and accounting employees and streamline processes for short-staffed teams.
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You have not fully addressed or adapted to remote work.
An increase in remote work left many organizations scrambling to figure out how their systems could handle employees working offsite. For finance teams, remote work has introduced new questions about security, duplicate systems, and the challenges of manual aspects, such as scanning payments.
Why You Need to Align Your Tech-Stack
Simply put, alignment is about your organization, culture, people, and processes. Aligning your technology solutions will help your team address these challenges. And you’ll create a more efficient, modern, and data-driven organization in the process.
Becoming a tech-aligned organization will provide:
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A holistic view of your business and financial data for smart decision making.
Connecting your operations data to your financial data is critical. If you have easier access to data and analysis, you can make smarter decisions for your organization. Connected data will also help improve forecasting by gaining a better understanding of opportunities and risks.
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Greater efficiencies from streamlined workflows and automation opportunities.
Efficiency gains will allow your finance team to focus on high-value tasks and learn new skills that will benefit the organization. By aligning your technology solutions, you can help reduce duplicate efforts and highlight processes that could benefit from automation.
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A better work experience that improves retention and recruitment.
People want workplaces that offer them the technology they need to do their job. When you integrate technology solutions and align your system with your organization’s goals, you’ll provide a better work experience that can help recruit and retain employees.
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Flexible technology systems that are ready for future growth.
The processes of aligning your technology solutions offers benefits in the present and helps ensure your organization is set up for long-term success. A thorough technology assessment will let you know if your current systems are agile enough to scale with you or if you need to start looking at other options.
How to Create Technology Alignment
Even if you understand the importance of why technology alignment is smart, the thought of getting started may seem overwhelming. We’ve created a checklist of the best practices for a successful approach to aligning your technology.
Here’s what to keep in mind:
☑ Get executive leadership on board
Ensuring you have buy-in from c-suite and senior leaders is critical to modernizing and transforming your technology stack.
☑ Assess current processes and gather feedback
Look for areas that need improvement and talk to other departments in your organization to learn how their work intersects with finance.
☑ Create a long-term plan with milestones
Create a long-term plan with a broad vision for the future that include small milestones to help you track progress.
☑ Celebrate small milestones with your team
Aligning technology systems requires significant time and resources which is why it is important to celebrate every small win and how it benefits the team.
Want an in-depth guide on the best practices for creating technology alignment?
You Don’t Have to Do It Alone
Working with an experienced team who understands your organization’s unique needs can help you drive impactful change. Whether you need guidance on how to align your technology strategy or simply need additional resources to accelerate your internal team’s technology priorities, we can help.
The Eide Bailly team has decades of experience using a proven, defined methodology to assist organizations with IT planning, strategy, and implementation. Our business assessments include a comprehensive review of your people, processes, business applications, IT operations and infrastructure, data, and security. Our team will provide recommendations as well as a prioritized roadmap for future business and technology initiatives.
Additionally, our outsourced and managed technology services team is dedicated to understanding where your organization is and developing innovative ways to get you where you want to go in the future. From application management to on-demand or contract managed services, IT monitoring, and optimization support, we work with your team to accelerate your business goals.
By working with our team to align your technology solutions, you’ll gain the tools and data you need to propel your organization forward on a path towards long-term improvement and growth.
Do you have the resources needed to achieve long-term success? If not, we can help.
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