
“It’s a difficult, draining job to keystroke enter 450 invoices a month – it doesn’t exercise your mind. Now [we’ve got SAP Concur] my team are spending their time in a more intellectual way, chasing, training, meeting with people one-on-one and having to be creative and come up with solutions. I see people who are more challenged and more fulfilled and for me that’s an important thing.” 3. Get up to speed on legislation If 2017 was the year of Duty to Report, 2018 is going to be the year of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). They’re two pieces of legislation that affect the finance function hugely, but all the signs are that people aren’t getting to grips with them. Our own research suggested that 46 per cent of businesses were not aware or only somewhat aware of Duty to Report. And Forrester, suggested 80 per cent of firms will not fully comply with GDPR by the time in comes into force in May 2018.
Getting up to speed on legislation will not only give you peace of mind, it will also give you an advantage over your competitors. 4. Get more visibility on spend
5. Lead rather than follow When we surveyed finance leaders in EMEA companies last year, we found many could be making more of technology. As we’ve already seen, there’s no doubt it offers tangible practical benefits, but there are wider strategic benefits too. Paul Jackson explained the difference SAP Concur had made to the reputation of his team and offers another reason why many finance professionals might be keen to embrace technology: “Accountants generally have a reputation for being backward-looking because that’s our role. But just having a system that works, takes advantage of technology and can be run on a mobile phone makes a big difference. It puts us on the front foot and gives us self-confidence and a standing in the organisation we didn’t have before.” So, those are the New Year’s Resolutions we think many finance professionals will be making. What will yours be?
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