The automation imperative

As companies transitioned to remote operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now prepare to support re-entry efforts or a hybrid model workforce, meeting deadlines, maintaining open lines of communication and ensuring accurate financial reporting have increased in both importance and difficulty. Finance teams that relied heavily on manual processes and spreadsheets found it difficult to do their jobs at the same level and continue to struggle today. CFOs need a way of ensuring team collaboration, efficiency and access to real-time data, all within a strict control environment from the comfort of their homes, or office, or both. As David Woodall, Director of Product Marketing at Trintech, stated, "What we know for certain is that the impact of COVID-19 will continue to be felt in the way we work, and the technology needed to support that work moving forward."^[1]

Top ways automation can enable your workforce – from anywhere

To keep up with the growing workload for finance teams, organizations are adopting automation to eliminate manual repetitive tasks thereby freeing up valuable human resources to focus on higher value-added initiatives. With financial close automation in place, your organization can:

• Reduce the number of accounts to be reconciled by 90%^[2]
• Reduce time spent on reconciliations to be reviewed by 75%
• Reduce employee turnover by 12%

Financial close automation solutions also make data accessible from anywhere, and when combined with advanced analytics, it can empower finance teams to gain deeper insights in several key areas including process improvements, risk management, scenario planning and budgeting.

Boston Scientific Corporation boosts international team connectivity with Cadency^® by Trintech

Boston Scientific Corporation (BSC) is a global medical manufacturing company with over 36,000 employees. It operates across 130 countries and 141 sites, including 16 principal manufacturing centers worldwide. The company needed a financial close solution that would help them increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their global accounting processes.

BSC implemented Cadency^® by Trintech across their Global Business Centers in the Americas, EMEA and APAC regions and also rolled it out to any acquired company as part of Boston Scientific's post-M&A integration strategy. Over 29,000 accounts are housed within Cadency^®, with more than 4,400 of those accounts set to auto-reconcile.

In terms of allowing the company to rapidly shift gears to a remote and hybrid workforce, "Teams across the globe, internally and within our BPO, were operating remotely in Cadency^® with no decline in performance," said Brian Burbach, Global Process Steward of Account-to-Report.^[3] Furthermore, the financial close solution empowered their remote and hybrid workforce while increasing efficiencies, all within control parameters. Ultimately, "The partnership with Trintech really has been important in helping us figure out how to adjust our processes and approaches to better work in this virtual environment," he concludes.

"Cadency^® sets people up for success and operates as the crossroads of process, technology and increased efficiency, and allows us to optimize costs while making controls more robust and effective." - Brian Burbach, Global Process Steward of Account-to-Report at Boston Scientific.

The Dallas Cowboys Football Club adds value to employee's roles through Adra^® by Trintech

Similarly, the Dallas Cowboys Football Club understood the importance of implementing leading technology to not only help scale the organization but also empower their people to refocus their time, energy and effort away from manual, tedious tasks towards more value-added initiatives.

The Dallas Cowboys Football Club uses Adra by Trintech to gain real-time visibility across their financial close process, ensure that cash flow management is streamlined, manage risk with standardized internal controls, and close quicker with heightened confidence.

"Being able to generate strategic insights with agility was a key focus for us when we decided to implement the Adra Suite and that focus only increased with the pandemic," said Tom Walker, CFO of The Dallas Cowboys. "The value of the Adra Suite, especially over the last 15 months, has been critical to our organization", he adds. "By allowing the technology to do what it is built to do and enabling employees to focus on more engaging and productive work, our finance team can see greater value not only from a budget perspective but also in having a foundation from which to build or enhance a workplace culture that is more likely to attract talent and boost employee morale."^[4]

Best-in-class organizations are embracing financial close automation that empowers their teams to focus on higher-value initiatives and in turn gain business-critical insights that help drive key strategic decisions for their organizations. Learn more about how you can automate your financial close process to empower your F&A team.