Digital transformation projects should not start with finance

Finance teams almost always lead digital transformation projects, but should they?

This thought came to me while I was enduring a financial systems sales pitch that I’d accidentally ended up in. (I’m normally good at avoiding these now, I must have had my guard down).

As they droned on about how we could finally be free of spreadsheets, I started to think; what if we (finance) are the problem here?

Most of us who have worked in finance will have experienced disruption caused by system changes, which are usually over promised and under resourced.

To make matters worse, often a big finance system change only really serves the finance team rather than the wider organisation. So you do all that work, and hardly anyone outside the finance team notices. Other than the disruption, and having to use a new annoying purchase order system.

We often present finance system changes as necessary for providing the users with better information. But how often do these projects really understand what the users want, let alone deliver what they need?

An alternative approach to digital transformation projects


Let’s think about expenses processing for a moment. There are dozens of apps out there that will manage expenses in a really lovely user-focussed way. They’re web-based, they work well on mobile. (You know, when you’re actually out and about incurring the expense!)

But if you work in a medium-sized or bigger organisation, you’re probably using a cumbersome expense management database “because it integrates with the accounts system”. (If you’re not still submitting a bit of paper with a manager’s signature…)

And that’s probably finance’s fault! We’re thinking about our problems when selecting systems. And we usually have the last word on what systems are implemented if they have any kind of finance implication.  “Ease of submitting expenses” is probably not high on our selection criteria, whereas “integration” and “reporting” and “control” are.

How might you get everyone in your organisation to embrace the concept of digital transformation?

Why not start with finding and implementing one of these lovely expenses apps? It’ll be much easier to implement than a full on finance system, and people in the wider organisation will immediately see the benefits of what a digital transformation project could actually deliver.

The expenses app will probably also deliver the reporting that the users are actually interested in (what have I submitted, when am I getting paid, how much have my team spent on travel this year) – way better than the accounting system will.

And with modern APIs, Power query or other power platform apps, there’s really no need to accept lousy front end design just because it “integrates” better. You can always build an interface these days.

Expenses is just one example, and maybe not relevant to all organisations.

The bigger point is to think about digital transformation projects as serving your customers or beneficiaries first.

Then look at systems that help the teams who deliver those products or services.

And when you’ve done all that, then maybe it’s finally time to look at the accounting system.

One of my earliest posts was on this subject, before I learned to call them digital transformation projects.

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