Data drives decision making across any business – from monitoring revenue and expenses, to gaining customer insights, measuring marketing effectiveness and examining industry trends – but without the ability to trust your data and effectively analyse it, businesses can flounder.

When data lives in silos across multiple systems it can be challenging to get the insights needed, says Jeremy Ung, chief technology officer, BlackLine.

“There’s a complexity to managing data, and if you don’t have the data in one place, it takes you longer to make decisions,” says Ung. “You are spending a lot of time gathering the data versus actually doing something with the data.”

Not being able to access data easily can not only delay critical decisions from being made, it can also lead to mistakes. According to a report by The CFO, almost 50% of senior finance and accounting professionals do not completely trust their organisations’ financial data.

The best way to address that issue is to switch to cloud-based tools and processes that can help unify and analyse data from disparate sources, Ung says.

However, many businesses find the prospect of changing systems and processes daunting.

“Regardless of the cleanliness of your data or whether it’s stored in a spreadsheet or a system of record like an ERP [enterprise resource planning], even if you have disparate systems and feel the need to unify them before adopting a new technology, my answer is: don’t wait. Don’t let perfection be the enemy of progress,” says Ung.

Instead, take a continuous improvement approach by starting small and expanding capabilities over time, he advises.

Invest in technology

Sometimes there is no reason to reinvent the wheel. For those businesses that have put data management in the too-hard basket or find the prospect of switching from legacy data analysis systems and processes too difficult, leveraging proven solutions can be the most efficient way forward.

“BlackLine accelerates the transformation journey with templates and best practices that have been gathered from more than 4400 customers.”

BlackLine is a tool that helps provide a comprehensive, flexible and scalable solution that seamlessly connects and optimises data, and activities across your organisation, allowing you to connect, automate, control and report on your entire financial ecosystem from an intuitive cloud-based hub.

“BlackLine accelerates the transformation journey with templates and best practices that have been gathered from more than 4400 customers,” says Ung.

“It is a practical, tangible approach. It is not abstract. We provide templates so users can view, deploy and implement them within their organisations. It will help you to build a foundation, which lowers the barrier to adopting new use cases as your capabilities grow,” he says.

An example is a global food and beverage retailer that, over the past 10 years, has optimised financial close activities with BlackLine and, most recently, adopted the new Studio360 Orchestrate capability.

“They were able to map out a manual process that involved coordinating employees across multiple time zones as part of their close process,” explains Ung.

“Using BlackLine, they gained a clear understanding of how the process worked, the various steps involved, and what was happening at each stage. Over time, they were able to iterate on the process, automating different parts, creating events and triggering actions to streamline the workflow.”

Harnessing the power of AI

The use of AI and machine learning is becoming increasingly important as it automates repetitive tasks and surfaces insights more quickly, says Ung. It also helps alleviate bottlenecks in areas that have traditionally slowed down productivity.

“Technology teams, finance teams and other business areas have all been asked to prioritise using AI to accelerate workflows and prevent disruption. Finance teams have been tasked with figuring out how to fund these initiatives,” he says.

“This shift has been one of the biggest changes we’ve seen. The faster companies can adapt to these changes, the better they can capture market share and, to maintain a competitive edge, data is essential.”

Understanding your data and determining what can be funded, while responding to business needs in near real time, is no longer a luxury, but a must-have. Importantly, AI puts power in the hands of the users of the business function.

“There are often friction points in getting work done,” says Ung. “However, there is a shift towards empowering business functions, particularly within the office of the CFO, to adopt a more data-centric approach that integrates internal reporting and business operations more effectively.”

Data confidence

“When we look at what is undermining confidence in financial data, we repeatedly find that ineffective, manual processes are the problem,” says Owen Ryan, co-CEO of BlackLine. “Businesses have invested in technology solutions in recent years, including emerging forms of AI, but it’s clear that too many are still reliant on manual processes for a significant portion of finance and accounting work.”

Concerns about inaccurate, incomplete or inconsistent data can delay progress if businesses think they need to perfect their data before adopting a new system. The reality is there’s really no barrier to getting started if your data isn’t perfect, says Ung.

With BlackLine, companies are able to cleanse data and enrich existing datasets.

“This is why we’re keen on you bringing in data no matter how imperfect it is, we allow you to iterate on that within BlackLine and over time you can improve it,” says Ung.

“You can take that unstructured or structured data into BlackLine, enhance it, transform it. You can then do things like normalise the dataset across these disparate sources and then actually make rational decisions or drive a process and workflow from that data.”

Attracting and retaining good staff

Along with the benefits to leveraging technology that allows you to connect, automate and report on your entire financial ecosystem, there are risks to businesses for not harnessing the potential of automation, AI and access to trusted data. Among those are not being able to attract and retain the right people for the job if you’re not providing modern workforce tools.

It is crucial to build trust and confidence in these AI-powered capabilities, rather than viewing them as a replacement for human expertise, says Ung.

“There is a shortage of accountants, there is a shortage of finance professionals, there is a scarcity of talent and people have been increasingly more competitive about acquiring that talent.

“One of the ways that you attract talent is by having tools, processes, mentorship and workflows like trade and craft around supporting that talent growth. People are not going to want to work for a company that doesn’t embrace the future.” 

Explore BlackLine’s AI-powered finance solutions

Put AI to work for you with confidence with BlackLine’s comprehensive platform that places accuracy and security first, from data to decision. Unlock your time and amplify your impact with automation and insights you can trust. Learn more about BlackLine’s AI capabilities here.