A couple of things we’ve been meaning to talk to you about
When it comes to technology, it’s all too easy to carry forward unchallenged assumptions. We all do it. Sometimes because it’s easier, other times because we genuinely don’t know what we don’t know.
So, there are two things we want to talk to you about. First, why old ideas don’t always stand the test of time. And second, why it doesn’t pay to assume how much something will cost and dismiss it offhand?
Starting with the old ways. “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” ~ Henry Ford.
While this is a great sound bite and a popular quote, Henry Ford DIDN’T actually say this. But it does make a good point. It takes considerable imagination to envisage improvement outside of what you already know – especially if you’ve never seen a car. So, in the context of your financial business processes, falling back on using automation to deliver faster results – rather than better results – is understandable.
A simple example is a finance team member tasked with the weekly chore of cutting and pasting budget data from an assortment of applications into Excel and then emailing it to their boss. This takes 4 hours a week, or 12 hours per budget cycle.
You could look at this as a time-saving exercise and ask, “How can we speed up the cut-and-paste process?” But what if, instead, you enable the boss to directly access the required information with the click of a button? This way, there’s no reliance on another team member (who could easily be away on leave or sick).
While automation can be used to significantly reduce the need for manual input by streamlining old processes, what’s even better is that it can transform the process and outcome by taking a technology-driven approach.
Now, let’s talk about affordability - or the assumption that you can’t afford a forecasting and planning system. Maybe when you last looked at rolling out a new system, it was on-premises, and the price for 60 users was jaw-dropping. But times have moved on. Cloud-based solutions are considerably more affordable; some vendors even offer cutdown versions.
And the old, expensive ‘all-or-nothing’ approach is no longer considered best practice.
Instead of adopting a big-bang solution strategy, you can roll out a pilot project which addresses your most pressing needs to a sample user base. Then, you can ensure that the value added to your business is what’s expected (and the system is fit for purpose) before adopting en masse. The initial investment is much smaller, and the ROI can be proven before a full rollout. And the cost reality can be a pleasant surprise – not an unfounded assumption.
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