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In 2022, according to Vena’s benchmark reporting, 73% of finance teams were still spending too much time on manual tasks such as data validation and entry.
This is troubling for a few reasons. More manual data entry opens companies up to the possibility of human error. Spending more time on manual, repetitive tasks leaves little time for more value-adding strategic work. And in a competitive market, where uncertainty is the new normal, it means finance teams are potentially less agile.
That’s where automation comes in.
By automating your finance systems and operations (FSO) you open up new opportunities for productivity and growth. But many organizations still aren’t maximizing their automation potential.
When we polled finance professionals at our 2023 Excelerate Summit, only 7% called themselves mature in the way that they were leveraging technology to modernize financial processes. Another 43% still had improvements to make, while 39% had only just started modernizing their financial processes at all.
For those last two groups—as well as the 9% who said they hadn’t started leveraging technology yet, but were interested in knowing more about it—the journey to automation is still underway. But getting started on the right path is key to making the most out of the technology out there.
With that end in mind, panelists at our Excelerate Summit 2023 livestream, Unlocking Opportunities with Finance Systems and Operations, gave their advice for anyone who’s considering—or in the process of—integrating FP&A automation into their day-to-day finance operations.
In the session, I had the pleasure of talking to a panel of finance operations experts about the role of automation and the value it offers finance teams. Michael Mazuco, former senior financial systems and data manager with Bayshore Health; Toyin Olopade, financial systems and operations manager at Vena; and Olivia MacDonald, Vena’s senior manager of FP&A, all gathered to offer their opinions and share experiences from the field.
Finance operations (or FinOps) is the process of overseeing and managing the functions involved in a business’s finances. That includes (but isn’t limited to) budgeting, forecasting and your financial close—all of which can play a huge role in how successful your organization is in meeting its targets.
Today, every business takes a different approach to finance operations. But by introducing the right people, processes and technology, you can start to free your team up to focus on more strategic work.
“We design and implement change to our financial systems and processes to improve the overall value of finance,” Toyin, Vena’s financial systems and operations manager, said when defining the function of finance operations.
“This can be done through a number of ways, such as automating our planning processes or reporting, [or] creating efficiencies and cross-functional initiatives. But it also starts by engaging with the right people to understand obstacles and specific processes.”
All this is easier said than done. “It does take time. It doesn't happen overnight,” Toyin added.
Advice from seasoned pros on how to start introducing those changes to systems and processes can go a long way. But why spend that time on modernizing your financial operations in the first place?
Introducing technology like automation into your finance operations can be a lengthy process. Three years, for a mid-sized organization, is “reasonable” in order to get the necessary buy-in, select a system and introduce the cultural changes necessary for a substantial technology implementation, Michael suggested during the panel. It also requires resources and budget that may not be immediately available.
So with all of that in mind, why even bother?
The answer is simple, and one all of the panelists agreed on. By automating more of your daily finance operations tasks, you add new efficiencies to your entire finance organization.
And in doing so, you open up the potential for improved productivity and enhanced accuracy and compliance. But more than that, the panelists agreed, modern organizations need automation and technology like it to keep up with the competition in today’s market.
“Organizations are not sitting around—if we come up with a plan today, our competition is over there thinking and they will come back with another plan. So we need to revisit our plans again and again and again,” Michael said during the panel.
“So how do you do it? You can absolutely do it through Excel. But at some point when you grow over a certain size, it's no longer sustainable,” he continued. “So as a result, organizations have recognized the need to automate as they have grown and as they saw the need for automated ongoing planning.”
By moving to the cloud, simplifying your infrastructure and automating key functions with the right technology, you also offer your finance team the ability to make decisions faster and move with more agility. And those are critical capabilities to have in today’s market.
“Part of today's competitive landscape is the ability to get to the relevant information faster than before,” Michael said. “In the past you had to download and manipulate the data to come up with the answers. Today with access to, for example, quick reports in Vena, you’re able to create a report on the fly and answer most of your questions fairly quickly, without having to have an analyst do some work for you. So now we're seeing a valley of self-driven, self-serve functionality that is enabling finance organizations to do more with less.”
But automating your finance operations isn’t just a technology implementation. To get the most out of your automation efforts, you need to put the work in to get your people and processes aligned as well.
Building a Foundation for FP&A Automation
When we polled finance professionals at Excelerate Summit 2023, 28.4% said that their primary pain point when leveraging technology to modernize finance processes was the technology itself. But getting internal stakeholder buy-in (26.7%) and building up the right internal technical skill-set (23.3%) followed right behind.
That’s because people, process and technology are all tied closely together in any automation project. While all three are key, just as important is the order in which you approach them. And technology should always be the final piece.
“If we start with people we're talking about gaining stakeholder buy-in … you're getting exec approval, you're getting your budget, but you’re also getting whoever’s going to be a stakeholder on the project and making sure they’re bought into what you’re doing as well,” Olivia, our senior manager of FP&A, said during the panel.
“Then is when process comes into play. This is something I think is so key to the success of an FSO team. You don’t want to automate a process that’s not already strong.”
In other words, without the right people and processes already in place, your technology endeavor isn’t going to be as successful as it could be.
So how do you go about putting all of the pieces in place to better serve your modernization journey and build a strong automation project? To ensure you’re successful, the panelists offered a few tips:
Getting the buy-in, budget and stakeholder support you need to get a finance and FP&A automation project off the ground can be a long journey with a lot of stops and starts along the way. On top of that, there’s also a change management element, as you create a culture of acceptance within your team and beyond.
To navigate all of that successfully requires good communication, as well as a solid dose of patience. After all, you need to be able to manage the expectations of executives, internal team members and other stakeholders. All as you move the project forward step by step, navigating any roadblocks along the way. “Being able to communicate to people on why things can take so long, the status of the project, that’s really key for this,” Olivia said.
Even when it seems to be taking too long, or your patience is running out, it doesn’t serve you to skip any of the steps involved in putting the right people, process and technology in place. “It’s really important that when you’re building something, you want to build for the future,” Olivia said. “Starting with a strong foundation is really key.”
After all, you don’t want to automate processes that aren’t strong already, Olivia explained. Or skip that change management element and go ahead without the right culture to support your automation efforts.
Doing so is only going to set your project up for failure from the start— if you try to force a square peg into a round hole, nothing good is ever going to happen.
There’s a reason you’re bringing in automation in the first place—and that’s because your team has a lot on their plate, taken up with the day-to-day tasks involved in finance operations.
So how can you expect them to find more time to put in place new processes or learn a new technology?
Starting with the quick wins can help.
“What I have found is a good way to build that capacity and build that stakeholder engagement is trying to find their pain points and quick wins you can help them with,” Olivia suggested. “The ideal situation is, is there something right now that’s taking up a lot of their time that you can automate quickly? So the hope there is that you’re creating capacity in their day, and that’s capacity that—fingers crossed—they can redirect in your direction.”
Not only that, but once your team sees those quick wins and the value that automation offers them, she added, ideally they’ll want to help facilitate the process even further.
But how do you even know which pain points to start with? According to the panelists, it’s as easy as asking your users the right questions.
“Most people know what bothers them on a regular basis in terms of their jobs,” Michael said. “Having a structured interview approach is very helpful. You uncover things that people seem to think [is] normal even though, for example, it's taking way too long, or you’re spending more time than you get the return for that time spent. And as a result … through the conversation you uncover what previously was either considered normal or unknown.”
Olivia elaborated to say she uses an approach called “root cause analysis” to get to the heart of the problems her team encounters. Root cause analysis helps team leaders dig deeper into a problem to identify—as the name implies—the root cause, so that they can better determine a solution.
“Be sure to ask follow-up questions, because people will naturally give you the surface-level answer and you don't want to solve at the surface level,” she said.
In many cases, the tasks finance teams are responsible for affect the organization well beyond finance.
The forecasts and budgets you create, for example, impact sales and marketing, operations, product development and beyond—and may require inputs from across the company. Any automation project should take that all into account, the panelists suggested, and consider all of the potential stakeholders.
“I would say your first step is identifying all of the stakeholders present,” Toyin said. “Understanding all of the stakeholders present, meeting with each and every single one of them and making sure they have their voice heard and their business requirements are gathered.”
Setting clear goals and expectations—and the metrics to support them—will keep everyone on track along your automation journey, while helping you avoid scope creep along the way.
But just as important is assigning someone to manage those expectations and the project as a whole. That’s where a strong project manager comes in. The right leader will also be able to help your team past any roadblocks along the way.
“Project management skills are extremely important,” Toyin said. “The rationale being that it is so easy to go off the wayside or not have the project moving the way that it's supposed to be.”
The right automation technology can revitalize your financial systems and operations and introduce new agility and efficiencies to your finance team. But only if you approach automation as one part of a bigger change—one that involves not just technology, but people and processes.
In doing so, you can start to optimize your finance operations and make the most out of your FP&A automation efforts. All while setting your business apart in today’s competitive market.
Find out how the emerging field of finance systems and operations is leveraging technology to modernize financial processes and drive business transformation.
As Vice President, FP&A at Vena, Tom Seegmiller is responsible for strategic finance, including business partnering, budgeting and forecasting, with a focus on optimizing enterprise value. Tom is instrumental in the formulation of the financial narrative for the executive leadership team, investors and board members. Tom has always had a focus on driving enhanced business decisions through leveraging financial and operational data. He is an experienced finance executive, having most recently led the finance team at Miovision Technologies. Prior to that, he was in senior FP&A leadership roles at OpenText. Tom enjoys golfing, skiing, exercising and traveling in his spare time, but most importantly, he loves spending time with his wife and daughter.
