3 challenges hampering companies’ finance digital transformation

Leaders say they make decisions based on instincts despite the availability of data.

The majority of companies in Singapore have yet to achieve robust finance digital transformation due to three key challenges, a study by Workday has found.

Based on Workday’s CFO and CIO Indicator study, the first challenge companies face is the lack of alignment, with 43% of business leaders admitting that their CIO does not have a seat at the table during critical finance meetings, even when technology is essential to solving a challenge. 

To add, more than half (53%) of Singapore IT leaders believe their aim to eliminate IT complexity is directly at odds with the expanding scope of the finance function.

There’s also a disconnect between the technology that CIOs and CFOs know they need and what they currently have, with 57% saying legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are not flexible enough for today's business requirements. 

“While technology transformation needs to balance IT's goals of simplicity and agility with finance's expanding scope and complexity, the survey reveals finance and IT agree change is required to meet their evolving needs,” Workday said.

Lastly, companies have yet to increase cross-functional finance and IT skills.

Despite 50% of IT leaders saying they are under pressure to innovate finance technology despite limited financial literacy, only 7% of leaders consider investing in upskilling and hiring IT talent with financial literacy skills as a top priority.

“As the finance function evolves to take on an increasingly strategic role that propels the organisation forward, it is key that IT and finance leaders work closely together, to deliver on a finance transformation strategy that leverages analytics and actionable insights for smarter business decisions in a fast-evolving environment,” Lee Thong Tan, CFO practice lead Asia, Workday.