The Confidence Gap: Are Finance Systems Delivering on Their Promise?

Finance technology sits at the heart of modern reporting, forecasting and decision-making. Yet investing in a capable system does not automatically mean that organisations are unlocking its full value.

The Confidence Gap Report examines the relationship between finance technology investment, user adoption and long-term value. Based on research with 262 senior finance decision-makers across the UK, it explores whether finance systems are becoming fully embedded in everyday operations—or whether a gap is emerging between their potential and the reality experienced by finance teams.

Across the research, three connected issues emerge: systems are not being fully adopted, expected value is taking longer to materialise, and critical finance processes continue to take place outside the core platform.

What the research reveals

The findings show that many organisations have successfully introduced modern finance technology but are still using only a fraction of what their systems can deliver:

7% use only 26–50% of the functionality available to them
2% expected to see clear value within six months, but only 42.4% achieved it
3% continue to use spreadsheets as part of their regular finance processes
Only 10.3% use more than three-quarters of the functionality demonstrated during procurement
CFOs gave their systems an average satisfaction score of 7.98 out of 10, compared with 6.3 among financial controllers

The report also uncovers significant differences between sectors, roles and organisations, including how quickly value is realised, how extensively functionality is adopted and how heavily finance teams continue to depend on spreadsheets.

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