Advances in technology over recent years have allowed all types of businesses to grow, from small companies, to large, industrial franchises.
Finance teams know that time is money – so it’s important to use your time efficiently, making sure all tasks are completed to a high standard and in good time.
By using automated finance software, businesses can adapt to ever-changing economic conditions, alongside focusing on the most important tasks within their workload.
The software achieves this through things like spend insights, automated workflows, virtual corporate cards, and much more.
This article will help to explain the current trends which help to maximize efficiency within the workplace.
What is automated finance software?
Automation software essentially means the utilisation of any operating system which now replaces the previous ways of handling finances, which were typically all performed manually.
By using this, you can effectively reduce the need for human input and therefore avoid any human error. Automation software is designed to turn repeatable, routine tasks into computerized actions.
Which processes are decreasing efficiency?
It’s important to identify which processes are taking up too much time for finance teams and can be avoided when replaced with more efficient means.
These are a handful of the tasks that could weaken company productivity:
- Unstructured workflow – This can come hand in hand with poor communication, and therefore lead to mismanagement. All teams should know exactly what they are doing with any tasks and have an understanding of when the work needs to be completed by.
- Chasing physical documents – For a finance team, this can be one of the main sources ofinefficiency. Having to locate physical copies of receipts and reports can be time-consuming. This time would be better spent on something else.
- Manual tasks – As previously mentioned, tasks which are performed manually can increase the chances of mistakes being made. By using automated software, this can be avoided and time can be spent elsewhere, on tasks such as forecasting or analysis.
How can automation systems help?
By automating lengthy tasks like transactions, record keeping and reporting, finance teams have more time, energy and resources to focus on tasks that are far more valuable to the company, like financial planning.
Here are some of the examples of tasks and different ways you can implement automated systems into everyday working:
- Accounting tasks – These can include tasks such as journal entering and reconciliations. When using an automated system these timely tasks like building management reports and gathering data can be collected, without human efforts.
- Expenses and invoices – Instead of hunting down receipts, expenses can now be completed quickly. Accounts payable and receivable processes like expense approvals or invoice verification can be automated – it’s really as simple as that!
- Payroll – The days of taking a long time sorting logged hours against schedules and calculating deductions are now over. Automated systems will do this for finance teams so the process is no longer time-consuming.
As you can see, having automated finance software incorporated within your business can help with time management, efficiency and productivity. Leaving teams with longer to focus on upsell and long-term forecasting.
