As UK businesses continue to assess the longer-term impact of COVID-19 on their operations, research commissioned by commercial data and analytics provider Dun & Bradstreet found 45% of 250 UK-based CFOs and finance leaders surveyed are embracing new technologies to increase efficiencies and 43% plan on improving their data quality as they look to increase their ability to manage disruption in 2021.
The survey focused on strategies for 2021 and the influence of the pandemic on business planning, with over a third of respondents (38%) reporting that COVID-19 poses the biggest threat to their business operations this year, more so than geopolitical relations including Brexit (24%), climate change (20%) and government policies (17%). These findings are supported by data from Dun & Bradstreet’s COVID-19 Commerce Disruption Tracker, which shows that 96.78% of UK businesses have been disrupted this year with 98.39% of sales and 97.79% of employees impacted by the pandemic.
Despite widespread disruption, the survey found respondents’ highest priorities for the year included business expansion and growth (42%) and 41% identified the implementation of enterprise technology solutions such as CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems as key to improving financial operations.
Over a third of CFOs and finance leaders surveyed (35%) cited automation as one of their highest priorities. Three quarters (75%) are already on this journey, having already either completely or mostly automated their financial operations. Respondents believe there is significant potential benefit to be gained from the greater automation of financial processes such as selected cash applications (45%), order management (40%) and billing/invoicing operations (38%).
“Although the pandemic has disrupted the vast majority of UK business, our research showed that finance leaders are prioritising the implementation of technology and automation to support their future strategy,” said Tim Vine, Head of International Finance & Risk Solutions at Dun & Bradstreet. “In order to get the most value, finance teams can identify the operational methods and where automation can drive the greatest benefits in order to prioritise investment and increase efficiencies.”
Successful automation strategy is underpinned by having the right customer and user data, and effective data management in place. Almost half (43%) of finance leaders surveyed said that data quality was a paramount component of their plans to improve finance operations this year, but all respondents cited managing customer data as one of their most significant challenges. In particular, organisations struggled with:
- Using data to generate insights with minimal manual work (49%)
- Maintaining useful customer records among systems (45%)
- Sharing data across the organisation to inform decision-making (43%).
Vine continues: “The pandemic has driven home the importance of data analytics to helping businesses manage various risks and identify future growth opportunities. Data solutions can be integrated across a business to help unify information sources, support digital transformation and enhance finance operations to help manage through a turbulent business environment.”
To help organisations manage risk and disruption, Dun & Bradstreet has recently launched D&B Finance Analytics to help finance leaders transform their finance operations and reduce cost through insight and automation. The solution – powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and Dun & Bradstreet’s Data Cloud – leverages business intelligence natively embedded in two configurable applications – Credit Intelligence and Receivables Intelligence – that together create a credit-to-cash platform allows finance teams to manage risk, increase operational efficiency, enhance business insight and improve customer experience. To find out more visit:https://www.dnb.co.uk/products/finance-credit-risk/dnb-finance-analytics.html
Methodology
In December 2020 Dun & Bradstreet in collaboration with third-party research company Censuswide interviewed 251 CFOs and finance leaders at a decision-making level and above from companies in financial services, architecture, engineering & building, arts & culture, education, healthcare, HR, IT & telecoms, legal professions, manufacturing & utilities, retail, catering & leisure, sales, media & marketing and travel & transport.
About Dun & Bradstreet
Dun & Bradstreet, a leading global provider of business decisioning data and analytics, enables companies around the world to improve their business performance. Dun & Bradstreet’s Data Cloud fuels solutions and delivers insights that empower customers to accelerate revenue, lower cost, mitigate risk, and transform their businesses. Since 1841, companies of every size have relied on Dun & Bradstreet to help them manage risk and reveal opportunity.
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