8OCTOBER 2023The below viewpoints are my own and are in no way representative of my current or prior employers.Have you ever examined a process in your finance & accounting function and thought, "There has to be a better way"? You may have uncovered an opportunity ripe for transformation. As a senior tax professional with 16 years working for multi-billion US public multinationals, I have experienced several transformation initiatives of all sizes. Examples include tax initiatives such as Onesource Income Tax & Provision and Global transformations such as Oracle Cloud. I have experienced many issues that can make or break the success of finance transformation. Many of the eight considerations below apply to options other than SAAS or efforts outside of finance.1. Choose low-hanging fruit. CFOs, CAOs, and Heads of Tax are continually asked to do more with less. A challenge I've seen with transformation efforts is selecting what to transform. Another is starting too large in scope. Especially in smaller organizations, it is key to start small to build momentum and not overwhelm staff. Brainstorm within your team to determine the low-hanging fruit: processes that chew up time and would take minimal investment to transform. 2. Make the case. A robust business case is essential for articulating the potential of the investment and receiving approval. Questions to consider for making the case are: What are the cost savings? Always remember that time is money. Could your team insource work previously outsourced?OPINIONIN MYBy Jennifer Segall, Tax Director, ASTECTIME TO GET SAAS-Y? CONSIDERATIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL FINANCE TRANSFORMATIONJennifer Segall
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