By Riz Ahmed, Chief Research Officer, SAPinsider and Ogo Nwanyanwu, Research Director, SAPinsider  With remote teams on the rise, many organizations face difficulties finding a more secure and efficient way to manage end-to-end finance workflows in concert with SAP ERP source systems. Finance and accounting professionals have long relied on spreadsheets for the majority of their processes after exporting data from SAP ERP source systems. The same spreadsheet-driven processes now face hurdles with finance teams managing increased workloads away from the office. Finance automation can reduce spreadsheet errors and manual workloads, however finance professionals should understand the benefits and limitations before adopting finance automation to build trust.

Benefits of Finance Function Automation

Finance automation provides one major advantage, the ability for remote teams to have an intuitive view into their workflows. Spreadsheets don't typically offer this visibility. Automation can provide a more granular look at finance processes, allowing finance teams to quickly execute invoices and payments instead of having to manually enter exact numbers. SAP ERP financial systems are responsible for delivering reports and analytics teams need for tracking and forecasting purposes. Organizations can leverage automation to create a secure environment that allows remote finance teams to function safely.

Limitations of Finance Function Automation

While there are many benefits to financial automation, the technology isn't perfect. Finance teams need to carefully consider their needs and what they're trying to accomplish before selecting an automation solution. SAPinsider members should also be aware that not every process is a good fit for automation, meaning some processes still require the work of humans, such as approvals and reconciliations. Financial teams will require effective controls and orchestration tools to streamline automation of processes and manage the flow of work across lines of business. You can read more about how to future-proof remote finance functions in SAP ERP and SAP S/4HANA deployments here: Drive Finance Automation with Continuous Innovation Culture While many organizations have been hesitant to adopt financial automation, it is a necessary step forward in finance offices that are pushing for remote work. Finance teams need to understand the benefits and limitations of automation before adopting it so they can be confident their financial data is secure, accurate, and efficient. SAPinsider recently had the opportunity to discuss finance automation strategies with with Michael Ross, Chief Product Officer at Trintech.

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