If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that we can only be certain of uncertainty. While business has always come with an element of risk, business leaders are now having to contend with rising raw material prices, supply chain challenges, and reduced customer budgets due to the cost-of-living crisis. It’s not surprising that business leaders feel like they’re planning on shifting sands.

As economic uncertainty grows, finance teams must make quicker decisions and create more agile structures to future-proof their businesses. This starts with having the right processes and tools in place to manage operations like spend management. When a finance team has these tools in place, they have the information they need to make better decisions, get real visibility across their organisation, and understand their market better. All of which helps them feed more effectively into the company’s strategy and plan effectively for future challenges. This is, perhaps, why we’re seeing so many businesses taking up transformative technologies to regain control, help with decision making, and boost employee wellbeing at this turbulent time.

Regaining control starts with digital transformation

COVID-19 revealed which businesses had embraced digital transformation as, overall, they fared better than those that hadn’t. As we move into a post-pandemic phase, digital transformation continues to be key. PwC’s latest Pulse Survey found that 60% of executives say that it is their key growth driver in 2022. And it’s easy to see why. Automation reduces the risk of human error, which reduces overall risk in uncertain times. It also cuts the time taken up by tedious tasks and streamlines processes, like invoice processing. Rather than wasting time on manual admin, teams have the freedom to concentrate on strategy and planning.

But automation also has a less-obvious effect. By simplifying the onboarding process and reducing the time spent on admin, businesses can maximise the impact each individual can make. For example, rather than spending days collecting data before making a decision, they have the right data on hand. This means their attention and time can shift to change and innovation. Instead of being bogged down by the process, they would have time to analyse and improve it.

Strategic decision-making needs operational transparency

During uncertain times, businesses must be able to make rapid strategic decisions. Finance teams don’t have time to organise their accounts, expenses, and other outgoing costs in different systems. Rather than wasting time moving data, finance teams need integrated software that allows them to focus on the bigger picture.

A lack of operational visibility hinders finance teams’ ability to anticipate and react to future risks. To be ready for any eventuality, companies need to bring in information-sharing tools and ensure business-wide transparency. These tools allow finance teams to dig deep into where their business is going right, and wrong, to duplicate past successes and avoid repeating mistakes. Spend management tools, for example, give access to a full history of outgoing payments in all accounts, including ongoing subscriptions. This ensures every decision is supported by accurate and visible data. 

Improving employee wellbeing with spend management tools

The COVID-19 pandemic has focused attention on employee experience and wellbeing like never before. With more people looking to change roles and skilled workers in short supply, businesses need to find new ways to improve the day-to-day experience for employees. This is key to keeping existing staff and attracting new talent.

Weighing employees down with lengthy and complicated manual processes creates a frustrating and unrewarding work experience. Sorting out expenses, for example, adds to individuals’ to-do lists at an already pressured time. While a complicated process could stop them claiming back their expenses at all. In contrast, an automated process would automatically track and upload purchases made on company cards via an app without adding admin to an already busy schedule. As reimbursements can happen almost instantly, employees don’t lose out and they can manage everything through one system, so day-to-day stress is reduced.

Managing uncertainty now and in the future

For business leaders, digital transformation is vital to flourishing during our turbulent times. Outdated, manual processes are time-consuming and don’t deliver the visibility or control needed to make strategic decisions. Automating business spend management reduces admin, improves the quality of data, and boosts the overall experience for individuals. It’s an essential tool for managing change now and for preparing for the change we’ll see in the future.