Finance Transformation Roadmap: Tips for Development
When looking for novel ways to foster innovation and growth, companies may find it beneficial to pursue a finance transformation project. In order to achieve a successful transformation, it is essential to develop a roadmap that outlines what will be done and when, who will be involved, and how the project will support overall company growth goals.
As experts in helping organizations leverage people, processes, and technology to drive sustainable value, we’ve outlined some essential information for developing a finance transformation roadmap.
What is a Finance Transformation Roadmap?
A finance transformation roadmap details plans for optimizing and improving a company’s financial processes with the goal of fostering more efficiency, cutting back on costs, avoiding potential risks, and providing more real-time visibility into financial ongoings to power strategic decision making.
When company teams allocate the necessary time and resources to properly prepare and get ahead of potential issues before they arise, this roadmap will serve as a blueprint for aligning people, processes, and systems in a way that enhances the finance function and empowers organizations to reach their goals.
While the specific type of finance transformation project a company may decide to pursue will vary greatly depending on their unique needs, below are some common examples.
Examples of Finance Transformation projects:
- Implementing a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform.
- Integrating advanced analytical tools to heighten FP&A capabilities.
- Automating manual workflows or repetitive processes.
- Reworking financial reporting procedures to improve accuracy, transparency, and reliability.
- Optimizing measures for data migration and management.
Tips & Steps to Develop a Finance Transformation Roadmap
- Assess the current state to define the vision, strategy, and KPIs of the finance transformation.
- Evaluate technology systems and solutions that will support the finance transformation.
- Factor in governance and compliance requirements and document new processes associated with the finance transformation.
- Ensure the finance transformation project is in line with cybersecurity best practices.
- Develop a plan for change management post-transformation.
- Include measures for testing the new configuration and continuously monitoring and improving the finance transformation project post-deployment.
The finance transformation process is wrought with complexity and requires expert allocation of resources with specialized knowledge in finance, technology, process optimization, risk management, change management, and more.
Instead of consuming current employee’s time and pulling focus away from their day-to-day, it can often be more beneficial to turn to a trusted finance transformation consultant or team for support.
For more information, head to our blog: Finance Transformation Consultant: What They Do & How They Help Your Business.
1) Assess the current state to define the vision, strategy, and KPIs of the Finance Transformation
To begin developing a finance transformation roadmap, it’s essential to start by assessing the current state of the finance function to identify current and potential pain points, define the goals of the transformation, and properly allocate resources down the line.
By conducting reviews of preexisting processes, collaborating with team members and stakeholders, and drawing comparisons to industry standards and benchmarks, companies can work to outline the vision, strategy, and KPIs of the finance transformation project while ensuring they are aligned with overall growth goals.
By paying close attention to inconsistencies, risks, and areas for improvement, companies can then decide whether it is better to focus on optimizing workflows, standardizing operations, automating processes, or pursuing another type of finance transformation.
2) Evaluate technology systems and solutions that will support the Finance Transformation
Whether a company is embarking on a full-scale ERP implementation from a cloud-based platform like NetSuite or a simple rework of preexisting data management practices, it is vital to evaluate potential technology systems and solutions that will support the finance transformation.
There are many options out there, and understanding which is most beneficial often requires specialized expertise. There will likely be some upfront costs associated with the implementation as well – so it is also essential to factor in how the desired technology system will bolster ROI down the line.
This step can become a bit more complex and time-consuming if a company needs to integrate with legacy systems, especially if they fail to follow data management best practices.
3) Factor in governance and compliance requirements and document new processes associated with the Finance Transformation
Depending on the type of company and industry, there will likely be a series of governance and compliance requirements the finance transformation project must adhere to.
To ensure finance transformation roadmap development success, it is key to align new implementations with laws, regulations, and best practices – and include steps for documenting new processes, especially if the company is approaching an audit.
4) Ensure the Finance Transformation project is in line with cybersecurity best practices
With the rise of data breaches and cyberattacks, companies must put a hefty focus on implementing measures to safeguard their data and users from threat.
When developing the finance transformation roadmap, it may be beneficial to conduct a cybersecurity risk assessment to identify vulnerabilities and inform insightful risk management.
For a detailed look into this process, head to our blog: Cybersecurity Risk Assessments: Everything You Need to Know.
5) Develop a plan for change management post-transformation
In order to ensure efficient utilization of new systems and solutions, it is key to integrate a plan for communicating key project milestones to employees, training users post-deployment, and integrating other measures for change management.
Without integrating these items into the finance transformation roadmap, company teams won’t be able to do their jobs, time and money will be wasted, and the transformation won’t be nearly as effective.
6) Include measures for testing the new configuration and continuously monitoring and improving the Finance Transformation project post-deployment
Well ahead of go-live, decide how the company will test new systems and solutions and include this in the finance transformation roadmap. This will provide one final opportunity to correct issues and inconsistencies and ensure efficient user adoption down the line.
In addition, technology systems and solutions must often be continuously updated and optimized to ensure a maximization in configuration value. As the last part of the finance transformation roadmap, it is best to include methods for monitoring the success of the transformation post-deployment.
Final Thoughts on Finance Transformation Roadmaps
When conducted correctly, finance transformation roadmaps pave the way for showing companies how to efficiently leverage people, processes, and technology to rework financial strategies, foster innovation, and drive sustainable growth.
If you’re looking for expert guidance to help you put your best foot forward and ensure the transformation is in line with company goals, our experienced team of finance transformation consultants is ready to help you with:
- Reviewing people, processes, and technology within your current finance function to provide expert recommendations on improvements.
- Working and collaborating with high-level executives to understand key business drivers.
- Driving financial system implementation and testing.
- Identifying finance function issues and areas for improvement.
- Advising clients on how to optimize accounting functions, internal controls, and more.
- Providing guidance with financial process documentation, data gathering, process design, system configuration, and more.
- Conducting cybersecurity risk assessments.
- Training users on new systems and cybersecurity best practices.
