Innovation is central to the success of the modern finance function and the businesses in which they operate. Yet, earlier FSN research, “The Future of the Finance Function ” highlighted that only 6% of CFOs understand the technologies available to them, only 37% know what solutions are available in the market and only 25% of CFOs have the time to investigate opportunities for technology innovation.
With this in mind, FSN is delighted to bring you its 2020 “Innovation Showcase”, an opportunity to bring to the attention of hard-pressed finance professionals what we consider to be leading innovations in core finance processes that could materially improve the way you work both now and in the future. And for the first time this year, we have reviewed and commented on two case studies for each vendor, to illustrate some examples of innovation in practice.
All the products which have been showcased by FSN are extremely complex and sophisticated and in all cases have taken many man-years of development effort. But innovation is very much in the ‘eye of the beholder’ and every finance organization is at a different stage of maturity. Some of the innovations assembled in this Showcase are at the leading edge of technological developments, others are around the architecture of the products or the way that vendors seek to reduce implementation risk. But if you’ve always relied on spreadsheets then even the simplest ideas, such as a unified transaction environment or a specialized budgeting tool can be innovative and game-changing.
In this Showcase, we have then identified independently for each of the global software vendors featured, three areas that we consider to be differentiating and interesting innovations to bring to the attention of modern finance leaders striving to understand and leverage the latest capabilities. As such, this document is not a product review, and neither is it an exhaustive list of all the innovative ideas available. It simply represents what we consider, in our experience of the market, to be great examples of innovation in finance processes.
Last year’s FSN Innovation Showcase was read by more than 16,000 finance professionals and we received some fabulous feedback. We hope that you find the innovations set out in this year’s document thought-provoking and interesting. But above all we hope that the contents will inspire you to explore innovation in your own organization and discuss with colleagues and the featured vendors, how you can leverage these developments to take your finance processes to the next level.
What our members of the Modern Finance Forum thought
“Thanks for sharing the insightful copy of the latest from FSN -loved it.”
Global head of Business Finance and Enterprise Systems –Automotive industry
“Many thanks for the useful and interesting document related to “Innovation Showcase”. I will surely discuss with colleagues and the relevant vendors in order to develop our Finance Process ahead.”
Business Controller –International telecommunications group
“Thanks a lot for the attachment. This is a fantastic and priceless document!”
Senior Finance Manager, Global Computer Equipment, Italy