Robots are everywhere: even in finance

For some reason it’s somewhat difficult to imagine robots being integrated in business processes. Nevertheless their presence is actually very notable in companies where the finance department plays an important role. Although Robotic Process Automation (RPA) was something only the most innovative companies had integrated a few years ago, the number seems to be a lot more elevated in 2018.

Based on a survey carried out by technology and outsourcing consulting firm Capgemini it shows that 41% of the respondents work with some sort of automation strategy. The survey was conducted by questioning 500 CFO’s in Europe and North America. Today we’re going to point out a few interesting conclusions of this international survey.

The future of automating finance

Robots are expanding their territory. Nearly half of the respondents confirm that their teams have automated one or more processes in their finance department. This does not only concern top-level business processes, like record-to-report and order-to-cash, but also includes financial controls. Most CFO’s agree on the statement that these processes will be most likely completely automated within the next years. Another interesting development is how CFO’s consider RPA to be able to move from a simple scorekeeper to an indispensable strategic partner. Within the next 3 years RPA’s are not only to be expected to lead to a better customer experience, but also to be able to deliver completely new business insights. The future of automating finance seems in the hands of RPA.

The opinion of “Masters”

Masters can be considered as those who are ahead of the rest when it comes to RPA. In the survey 26% of the respondents were described as so called Masters. People meeting these requirements often work in companies where financial processes are either partially or fully automated. There’s a notable difference between Europe and North America, however, when it comes to the percentage of Masters, as a lot more Masters can be found in North America (58%). While the same percentage of Masters says to expect notable benefits in the next 3 years thanks to RPA, it is also important to underline the main reason why this is expected: RPA is considered to be inexpensive. Organisations are able to experiment by following strict parameters while at the same time expertise is gradually accumulated. By conducting small pilots before implementing the tools into other processes, companies are able to benefit from RPA in a safe way. Therefore both the risks and the costs seem to stay rather low which seems like a fair deal. No wonder robots are everywhere: even in finance.