Business leaders are preparing for the future of finance and discovering new ways to optimize for success. To ensure their company has a clear lens into the future, they implement robust technology to elevate workflows and launch their business forward.

While committing to their mission, today's finance teams are taking center stage and departing from back-office positions. They're developing new skills and responsibilities while exploring finance trends that benefit their company's long-term goals.

Current trends in finance

1. Evolving to financial strategists

In today's virtual workforce, strategic leadership and communication skills are critical for long-term growth. Modern financial strategists provide historical context and current insights across the company. By harnessing the right resources, strategists can analyze trends and forecast opportunities.

The key to success is having a lean, strategically-focused team in the finance function. Technology provides an advantage for businesses by delivering insights for high-level decision-making. Financial strategists can pinpoint technology that offers value across the company and leverage it for future success. These solutions include data and analytics to unlock new opportunities for the organization.

2. Gaining operational control & visibility

The challenge for fast-growing companies is scaling—there is a discrepancy between where the company wants to be in terms of growth and spending and its current standpoint. CFOs are prioritizing operational control of company-wide spend and are increasing visibility to provide additional value.

These leaders are critically evaluating workflow complexities to determine which automation platforms will be the best investment to achieve operational control. Once they locate workflow inefficiencies, they modernize and refine their processes. With an efficient, connected tech stack, greater advancements can be achieved.

3. Streamlining for global expansion

Today, companies expect more from their finance organizations. These forward-looking businesses are leveraging their team to drive change and growth internationally. And with the right FinTech solution, there are no limitations with scalability.

Automation and digital tools are critical for rapidly growing businesses in driving their success. The right platform grows with the business by adding new entities and locations. These high-growth companies choose technology that is easier, quicker, and exceeds traditional finance capabilities to boost visibility and improve workflow processes. By investing in robust technology, organizations can expand globally.

4. Building resiliency within the finance organization

We are in the era of the Great Resignation. The pandemic heavily impacted the finance office and amplified the need for digital transformation across all operations. To build resilience, finance leaders are improving data visibility to uplevel their processes. They are prioritizing their operational workflows and ensuring their team can effectively scale.

Companies that have seamless workflows attract new talent. With modern, robust tech stacks, these businesses appeal to their team and boost company morale by ensuring that employees have an improved work-life balance. By automating their finance workflows, companies allow employees to grow in their careers.

5. Implementing the ultimate FinTech stack

For many businesses, tech stacks solve the problems worth solving. And high-velocity companies implement the most modern technology to propel their business forward.

The five main pillars finance teams need when building a tech stack are auditability, long-term scale, efficiency, risk management and crisis management. These elements leverage data visibility and improve processes. Businesses that implement technology eliminate manual, time-consuming processes and optimize their workflows for the future.

For many businesses, accounts payable is a critical and manual task for finance teams to manage. Modern organizations are turning to automation to streamline their entire financial operation workflow, including AP and PO functions. Technology connects all disparate processes to create an end-to-end workflow. From onboarding to tax compliance to fraud risk management, top finance teams are integrating their finance processes with the right solutions.

Understanding trends for finance's tomorrow

Finance roles are evolving, and the next generation of digital-savvy finance professionals has arrived. Modern leaders are focusing on empowering their employees, putting forth their best work, and looking for the next big trend in finance. When building an optimum finance function, don't look at today but forecast for the future—look for solutions that impact and scale with your business. By modernizing workflows and elevating employee morale, finance leaders are forging a new path to success.