9DEC-JAN 2021With digital technologies, that company can now fully automate those reports, which helps improve accuracy and efficiency while freeing employees to perform other taskscase. By getting the company to buy in and be receptive to experimenting with new technologies, it's easier to adopt other new technologies later and make the most of their potential once the organization is ready to scale.· Prepare and Partner with Talent: Be aware that workforce disruption is top of mind for many employees when adopting automation or digital tools. While some more repeatable finance tasks may be obsolete (by design) when new technologies take hold, talent needs to be assured that new ones will be created. It's important to work with employees to make the most of their human skills, empowering them in new roles that rely on high-level analysis, relationship-building, and creativity.Buy-In from the C-Suite: It's imperative for CFOs to bring these ideas to the entire C-suite with confidence to secure further executive buy-in. If the CEO and other leaders champion major technological innovation in finance, it can help the business as a whole adopt the technologies and make the most of their capabilities--without unsettling employees or jeopardizing further progress.There are challenges to implementing these technologies, and CFOs should take care to build a strong business case for their deployment. The benefits, however, strongly outweigh the minimal risks. One major Deloitte client, for example, produces 165 different sets of financial reports with specific, deeply analytical commentary on each slide. With digital technologies, that company can now fully automate those reports, which helps improve accuracy and efficiency while freeing employees to perform other tasks.In business, it's always key to take advantage of a win-win. Financial reporting has much to gain and little to lose from new "exponentializing" technologies like automation, machine learning, and natural language generation. Now is the time for CFOs to consider getting on board.
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