In the wake of a changing world post-Covid, organizations are speedily adopting digitization, automation and RPA. Finance as a function is also undergoing a change but the rate of change seems to be slower than what is required in this dynamic global environment. Currently F&A professionals lack a digital mindset. As we showed in one of our earlier studies, CFOs and finance executives feel that the future state of an F&A function is where accounting transactions run like water and finance professionals focus on driving strategic objectives. In order to achieve this long-term goal, there are three key things to look out for from a talent perspective:
- Changing ratio of digital vs. transactional FTEs: As the data suggests from our recent study, the number of digital FTEs (or bots) are expected to grow, while transactional finance talent is expected to reduce gradually in the next three years. While the need for experts will stay the same, organizations must start planning for digitally savvy talent that can work alongside automated workflows and manage exceptions. There is little room now for finance doing copy paste jobs without any strategic application.
- Upskilling current talent: F&A professionals in many companies today are trapped underneath legacy technologies and antiquated business processes, and are unable to undertake more strategic, value-adding work. They spend a lot of time doing rule-based tasks which can be an opportunity for introducing process reengineering, AI, and other automation techniques. With agility being the way forward and value creation becoming increasingly important, must pivot, from example, from data entry and enrichment to data analysis and planning. There is a need to upskill current talent by providing different kinds of learning opportunities – be it on the job or registering for training sessions for the staff or by creating peer learning opportunities.
- Change in mindset of current F&A staff and processes: Upskilling will not add value unless we also see a change in the way F&A professionals think of finance. An organizational change is required, with the help of transformational activities, to imbibe the importance of finance playing a strategic role rather than a back-office one. This cause needs to be championed by the leadership team across companies by exemplifying the importance of change. Finance is no longer a boring back-office function. Hence, creative thinkers are needed to develop domain expertise in specialized finance functions.
The Bottom Line: The movement from manual to digital execution of transactional finance is the way forward. The sooner organizations adopt ways to upskill talent and bring in a digital mindset within the current finance professionals, the easier it will be for them to be at par with the changing times.
As stated by the director of finance at a Canadian energy and utilities firm “The biggest challenges holding us back from achieving finance transformation at a faster pace are finding the right experienced talent to keep moving forward and adapting to changing technologies.” Organizations must prioritize their talent strategy to undertake the journey to adopting digital transformation.
