Kodak, Blockbuster, Atari… there are plenty of famous businesses that are now nothing more than names. Instead of evolving, they stuck to what they did and - you know the rest...
To stay successful, businesses need to react to market changes quickly and effectively. That means making sure all your processes are working faster and more efficiently.
After all, your business is the sum of its parts, so it’s no good changing just one piece of kit, you have to make sure change is integrated throughout the business.
By keeping an ear to the ground and an eye on new technology, you can review and update processes, you can make sure you’re always working faster and more cost-efficiently. So let’s look at how a new finance system could speed things up for your business.
Is your business relying on someone in the finance office to sign off every single process? If so it must take an age to get things done.
Modern technology can get rid of the logjam by giving certain staff tailored access to the finance system. By adopting devolved technology in your finance system, you could transform how things are done across your business. To take just one example, if someone in Marketing needs to buy a new laptop, they can input their own order directly into the finance system. Budget holders can then log in and approve the purchase electronically. That means faster processing for you and your colleagues, and less workload for your core finance team.
It’s the same when it comes to sending out invoices. Your colleagues across departments can enter details straight onto the system, and don’t have to wait for internal mail and manual signatures. That means you get paid faster than ever before. That’s got to be good for the cash flow.
One other bonus with choosing devolved-friendly technology is that it means senior managers can access their own figures to make informed decisions instantly. Rather than waiting for reports, which can be out of date by the time they’re printed, they have the information at their fingertips. So they can react and make decisions whenever they need to.
Fair enough, you may say, but will it really make that much difference?
The answer is an emphatic yes. On average, businesses that adopted a devolved approach saved 84 typical working days a year.
How often have you experienced delays because you were waiting on someone who wasn’t in the office that day? Or you were working out of the office only to realise you didn’t have the information with you that you really needed?
It’s no wonder we’ve seen such a surge in businesses moving their finance systems to the cloud. With easy access to the facts and figures from any location, via a web browser, decision making and processes across the board are speedier.
You’ll start to see budget holders being able to approve orders right from their smart phone. And sales teams update expenses or revenue via their tablets. The result? Your teams are working faster and more efficiently, and your financial data is up to date like never before!
There was a time when integrating IT meant buying a whole new suite of systems for the whole business. Nowadays modern systems are more flexible, and can share data freely with all your other systems. That can really help to free up people across your organisation, giving them the time and space to concentrate on what they do best.
To take just one example, the people within your finance team are highly skilled, talented and qualified. So do you really want them spending all their time re-keying data? By integrating your IT you can free them up to concentrate on strategic objectives and drive your business forward. Integration will also ensure all your financial information is bang up to date.
That’s good news for the business as a whole, as you always have all the latest information you need to make decisions. So as your market changes, you can react and change with it. Again, that makes for faster and more cost-efficient working.
By reviewing your processes and considering how technology can help, you can unleash some compelling benefits across your business. Modern technology can help you work smarter, faster and in a more integrated way, while freeing up your finance teams too. Make sure your business doesn’t get stuck in the old ways of doing things.
Remind yourself of the power of modern technology by visiting our Software Page, or get in touch with us today here.
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