Nie ryzykuj, że słabe dopasowanie między finansami a IT utrudnia sukces (Brian Montgomery)

Oczywiste jest, że organizacje w Wielkiej Brytanii i Irlandii (UK&I) poczyniły wyjątkowe postępy, jeśli chodzi o cyfrową transformację finansów. Według
nowy raport Workdayprawie połowa (49%) wszystkich organizacji w obu krajach opracowała i wdrożyła strategię finansów cyfrowych. 

This must be celebrated. The digital transformation of the finance function can provide businesses with a broad range of benefits including the reporting of non-financial data, improved procurement, streamlined financial close, consolidation, and enhanced
statutory reporting. Amid the ongoing economic volatility faced around the world, the benefits unlocked by solid digital transformation strategy can provide a clear competitive advantage. 

Now for the bad news. While British and Irish businesses are taking great strides forward into digital finance, Workday’s research uncovered organisational challenges that hold back progress. And as a result of these challenges, only 33% of UK and Ireland’s
finance and IT leaders would describe their organisation’s current finance technology as durable. This needs to be changed.  

Największe zagrożenie: brak wyrównania   

Aby w pełni wykorzystać korzyści płynące z cyfrowej transformacji, zarówno działy finansowe, jak i IT muszą ze sobą współpracować, z jasną i jednolitą strategią, aby osiągnąć wspólny cel. Jednak zdarza się to rzadko, a brak wyrównania jest wyraźny. 

According to the research, nearly half of senior finance and IT executives admit that there is a low degree of alignment and collaboration between these teams. What’s more, we found that just 34% of leaders in the UK and Ireland say that IT regularly advises
on emerging technology and leading platforms for finance, while half of respondents say that finance and IT jointly select the analytics, reporting, and visualisation tools needed to make critical financial decisions. Alarmingly, just half (51%) report that
finance always helps IT to understand the business strategy and metrics on which finance is measured.  

As a result, businesses run the risk of missing out on the benefits of modernised finance. It’s increasingly evident that a gap is emerging between the businesses which understand the value of nurturing strategic alignment, and those that have continued
to take a deeply siloed approach.  

Czas wypełnić lukę 

If these findings are setting alarm bells ringing, the good news is that there’s never been a better time to act. The barrier to growth is surmountable. 44% of executives surveyed said that they are currently in the process of developing a digital finance
strategy, meaning that they can ensure the gap between functions remains non-existent.  

 Oto jak odnieść sukces: 

1. Przyjmij nastawienie, które koncentruje się przede wszystkim na umiejętnościach. We found that just under four in ten (39%) of leaders believe that their organisation has the skills required to keep pace with emerging digital finance technology. This means swathes of organisations are falling
   behind, and a growing skills gap is emerging. By hiring finance professionals with a good grasp of digital, leaders can help to address this growing issue. Businesses can also look to upskill existing finance team members in digital technologies. The result
   is increased understanding between IT and finance departments, where both understand the same language and benefit from increased collaboration. 

2. Priorytetyzuj strategię dotyczącą danych. Just under half (49%) of finance and IT leaders in the UK and Ireland say that their organisation has a single, unified view of all financial, operational, and people data. This provides a blinkered, inefficient
   view of business performance, and hampers effective collaboration between departments. By adopting technology platforms that can enable seamless and easily accessible data, organisations can bridge the gap not only between IT and finance, but other departments
   też. 

3. Przyprowadź CIO do stołu zarządu. Currently, 44% of UK&I organisations report that the CIO does not join critical finance meetings — even when technology is essential to solving a business challenge. This must be addressed. By extending
   the boardroom table and nurturing conversations between the CIO and CFO, businesses can ensure that functional alignment starts at the highest levels. 

Businesses will only succeed when the entire workforce can coalesce around a shared common vision and work together towards it. By openly sharing (and building on) this vision, both the finance and IT functions can better understand how their priorities
align with the wider organisation’s success. 

Amid ongoing economic uncertainty, finance leaders and their teams need the transformative benefits of robust digital strategies now more than ever before. The lack of alignment between finance and IT departments must be addressed and bridged in order to
charter the best route through challenging economic headwinds. Doing so could just be the difference between success and failure.