The finance professional: the indispensable link in the order-to-cash process| FinTech Barometer 2020
The way people work, collaborate and network is heavily influenced by the technologies available to them. New technologies are bringing about more changes than ever, becoming increasingly intertwined and resulting in the connection of everything and everyone. Disruptive innovations and technologies are popping up like daisies thanks to augmented reality, robotisation and the Internet of Things. Machines are catching up with people when it comes to intelligence. Consequently, entire jobs are disappearing, new jobs are being created or evolving and the dividing line between physical and digital is increasingly blurred.
Technology has the potential to turn current business models upside down and ensure that processes can be organised more efficiently. Take repetitive actions within financial processes, for example. In many organisations, these are or have already been partly taken over by intelligent software tools and robotics. However, a revolution of this sort brings as many advantages as it does challenges. For instance, while technology is being used for an increasing number of processes, people remain indispensable and have to find where they can add value in this new working environment. Employees must be agile and flexible, learning how to use new technologies and how best to apply them.
Click on the image to see the infographic: The finance professional’s role in the order-to-cash process
Empower the finance professional
Organisations are increasingly realising that they can no longer ignore digital transformation and need it to empower people. Onguard’s annual FinTech Barometer, a survey conducted among more than 1000 finance professionals, shows that this topic is now on the agenda for 84%. More than a quarter of finance professionals (29%) expect to start digital transformation in the next six months, while almost half (49%) expect to start on their digital transformation journey within the next two years. The aim is to use technology to empower finance professionals by making it work for them, and thus make the finance professional role more strategic.
There is a lot of talk in financial departments about digitising processes in order to work even more effectively and efficiently, especially in the current uncertain times we operate in. But what happens when a customer hasn’t paid a bill due to financial difficulties? Are automated processes best positioned to solve problems of a delicate nature with the customer? In this whitepaper, we focus on the most important factor within the order-to-cash process: the finance professional himself.
