The Finance department have always been associated with the stable and accurate flow of any process; they’re the stalwarts of any company. As the business landscape evolves, however, finance teams need to adapt alongside it – and what better way to do that than experimenting with new technologies?
When thinking about the intersection of finance and technology, the term FinTech is often the first thing to come to mind. FinTech represents the realisation of finance and technology’s relationship with innovation – think contactless payments and banking apps.
It’s not all about convenience, though; it’s also about levelling the playing field. By breaking down barriers and cutting costs, FinTech opens doors to financial services for everyone. It puts power in the hands of consumers, fosters economic growth, and adapts seamlessly to our digital world. In short, FinTech isn’t just shaping the future of finance; it’s redefining it.
With FinTech’s traditionally consumer-focused role, however, we can often close an eye to the Finance department’s woes. They too can benefit from innovative new approaches and boundary-pushing technology.
The Need for Innovation
Gone are the days when finance was solely about number crunching and compliance. Today, finance leaders recognise that embracing innovation is not just desirable but essential for staying competitive in a rapidly changing world.
A recent study found that 79% of finance leaders believe that, to meet future needs, they must play a significant role in owning business innovation and empowering transformation.
This of course doesn’t mean that the way finance teams have previously been working gets thrown out. Instead, new technologies are elevating their processes to gain more impressive results, ensuring they don’t fall behind landscape trends.
Leveraging Data for Insights
It’s no surprise, for example, that most technology teams are dealing with masses of data every day – but the most powerful aspect is the unmatched level of insights that can be extracted from it. With technology introducing sophisticated data analytics tools and machine learning algorithms, analytics help businesses in understanding their present and historical performance, forecasting future outcomes, and making more intelligent decisions.
With 88% of financial leaders feeling overwhelmed when handling their organisational data alone, detailed analytics and insights helping in making sense of the data quickly and efficiently, without taking up too much time or manpower.
Stay With the Competition
With the rise of AI in particular, businesses across the world are experiencing a shift in how financial operations are conducted to keep up with new technology. AI in particular helps in streamlining processes that would previously take time and resources, making anyone that doesn’t jump on board with new changes at a disadvantage to competitors that are embracing new changes.
Security is Always the Top Priority
Finance and technology aren’t the only ideal coupling – security awareness and digital transformation also go hand-in-hand.
The Finance department’s wealth of sensitive data, coupled with ever-evolving digital transformation, puts something of a target on their back. Going up against evolving threats makes it even more necessary to stay on top of emerging tech trends and developments. Ensuring that a move towards technology-empowered finance teams is done with minimal risk means adopting security measures such as Zero Trust and Passwordless Authentication to keep classified data secure.
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