Digital technologie influences Finance. It influences the role Finance plays as well as the way Finance processes are executed. The breakneck speed of developments in technology enable Finance to build a future where Finance advises the organization based on forward looking insights. “What can happen and how do we respond?” instead of “what happened?”. Finance on a Mission, and our partners Deloitte, UiPath and Workday wanted to further stimulate these developments. That is why we introduced the “Future Proof Finance Award”.
Stimulating progress, inspiring each other
Organizations can learn a lot from each other by inspiring each other with solutions they choose. And this inspiration is an important driver behind progress. The Future Proof Finance Award is aimed at exactly that. Finding and sharing good examples of projects in organizations that help Finance in becoming more future-proof. That can be on a strategic, a tactical and an operational level. So, if it is a total different way of working, or optimizing processes in Finance, whenever it has an impact on the way Finance operates a project qualifies.
An Award dinner to honor the winner
On December 13 2022 we will organize our first Award Dinner. During dinner the winning project will be announced. Besides that, various keynotes of opinion leaders in the Finance discipline wil share their view. All is designed to create the right atmosphere to engage in valuable dialogue and learn from each other. And the have three excellent finalists: ASML, GrandVision en Heineken.
Argumentation for ASML as a finalist:
A lot of companies have adapted ERP in the last decades. The idea behind using ERP is to further standardize processes to fully utilize the possibilities of ERP. In practice, a lot of organizations customized ERP up to a level that maintenance of an increasingly vulnerable environment became a costly endeavor. ASML chose to support a greenfield ERP implementation with new RPA technology to enable ASML to use ERP standards. Fixing a scattered legacy landscape with the use of new technology is a huge challenge, and ASML’s approach can be an inspiration for others that face the same challenge.
Argumentation for GrandVision as a finalist:
Finance often spends a lot of time on fixing the numbers and getting the basics right. Time spent on reporting and crunching the numbers is time that is not available for supporting the business. A future proof Finance Function is a Finance Function that is capable of providing the right insights by spending more time analyzing trends and advising the business. A lot of organizations look at new tools for future proofing Finance. This can lead to an abundance of tools being used. GrandVision made the deliberate choice to tackle an issue by looking into how existing tools could be further utilized. A valuable approach that can inspire other organizations to better investigate if what they have is fit for purpose, before investing in something new.
Argumentation for Heineken as a finalist:
The idea of using technology to launch a new way of working in multidisciplinary teams, close to the business, with the aim to enable local ‘citizen development’, feels as a real step forward in future proofing the way Finance operates. The approach Heineken has taken in this project potentially addresses a struggle that many companies have: how do you effectively scale up (intelligent) automation? And that involves more than just having the technology available. We therefore think that this approach can be an inspiration for many companies.
