Considering the ever-changing market landscape regarding technological advancements and innovation, the Finance department is always faced with the tremendous responsibility of stepping up to keep pace with the changes.
The advent of artificial intelligence and machine learning has brought about new challenges in talent as the finance department continues to navigate digitisation. However, given the right opportunities and strategies, these shifts can be leveraged to drive organisational value.
As it plays a greater role in businesses' accounting and financial reporting, the finance team can maximise AI opportunities and lay the foundations for the responsible use of new technologies by managing associated risks.
According to Workday, Finance teams of the future will need to have an inherent sense of curiosity and an ability to interrogate and interpret data in different ways to thrive in a digital environment and facilitate continuous learning to bridge any skill gaps.
The journey
As the market transforms with technological advancements, finance teams must integrate analytics and automation into existing processes and determine which specific system to transform first for maximum operational impact.
Workday says organisations often look for high impact, low effort, and repetitive tasks to automate first. With so many out-of-box business processes pre-configured in Workday, organisations can look at how they run their business, considering 'Why don't I adopt leading practice?'
By bringing convergence into processes that they might not even know were different across the different parts of the business, Workday sees this as a way for finance teams to start to really scale.
As for the skills needed by finance teams, according to Workday, they are moving away from transactional activities, which means they will better partner with our broad range of stakeholders.
Moreover, the company is helping by democratising information to stakeholders, so it really starts to elevate the types of questions they come to finance for.
Harnessing AI's potential
It is indisputable that AI is now part of organisations' processes worldwide, and finance leaders are faced with the inevitable task of fulfilling roles within their organisations that they may not have signed up for initially.
When handled properly, the challenges surrounding technological advancements can undoubtedly become great opportunities for business development. Hence, it is up to the Finance team and their leaders to seize these for their benefit.
Finance leaders must have a clear vision to weather hurdles and ensure that resource allocations are aligned with the organisation's goal.
Finance leaders grapple with the roll coaster ride of unlearning and relearning various skills to remain relevant in the business amidst the volatility and tech changes in the workplace.
To boost efficiency while addressing concerns about job displacement among Finance teams, Workday explains that the common trend across countries is a shortage of accountants; this is why AI and enhanced efficiencies will likely help to address some of this shortfall.
Workday also observes that significant job growth has come from technology-related displacement over the years. According to the financial management, human capital management, and student information system software vendor, many people will remember how our beloved Microsoft Excel changed how we work. AI (whilst on a different scale) is another disruptive technology that will continue to augment how we work.
Moreover, while what they do might change, the need for the finance profession's fundamental skill set remains.
Keeping teams engaged
In keeping Finance teams motivated and engaged during periods of significant change, particularly in the face of transformation fatigue, Workday believes they still need to deliver results, even if oftentimes on large projects, they can get caught up in what they must accomplish, stating that it is always important to look back at how far we have come--celebrate quick wins or milestones or solving a tricky problem.
Furthermore, finance leaders must have a good grasp of psychological safety to assess and address the emotional and psychological impacts of change within the department.
Workday advises leaders to support their teams by being vulnerable about their learning journey to maintain morale and productivity. She suggests that finance heads must ask questions and be okay with not knowing all the answers. Further, the company urges them to strive to find out solutions.
The psychological safety of a team is paramount in any workplace, let alone one going through change. The other complexity with an ERP transition to the cloud is that many people have not been through it before, as they are coming off 30-year systems, so there is a big uncertainty.
In addition, Workday says that unexpected things happen in any project, noting that demonstrating that it is okay to encounter challenges and empowering the team to lean into the messiness and find a great outcome also demonstrates trust in their capabilities.
Ethical AI
Regarding how ethical AI affects the current and even future strategies of the Finance department, Workday says finance leaders must keep in mind that this plays a huge role as there is a lot to understand, from data security and the quality of data to how models are trained to avoid bias, and everything in between.
It is then important to understand what data algorithms have been used to surface recommendations, hence there is a need to understand the source data.
Recommendations
Above all, it is imperative for organisations and their respective finance leaders to create a culture within the department that embraces change as an opportunity for growth rather than a challenge and hurdle to overcome.
Workday says that considering the rate of innovation these days, it all comes down to continuous learning and curiosity.
