COVID-19 has accelerated digital adoption across all business sectors. The finance function needs to embrace tech and develop new skills to keep up.
Mark Cracknell, head of research at digital consultancy firm Generation CFO, sees a frustrating disparity between the way people operate in their personal lives and the workplace.
“People in their personal lives are quite digitally advanced and yet when they go into work it’s back to manual,” he says.
That situation is changing rapidly, however. For one thing, as Generation Z enters the workplace, they’re questioning why operations aren’t more digital and automated. For another, the pandemic has accelerated the digitisation of the workplace and the need for more timely data. “People will be forced down this route,” says Cracknell. “They need to be more cost-efficient. We won’t have any more headcount, but we’ve got to do more. And tech is the answer.”