Gartner Reveals: Automation Investments Top CFOs’ Agenda for Cost Reduction
Miami, Florida, February 8, 2024: A recent survey and analysis from leading research and advisory firm Gartner found that automation technologies are increasingly seen as a strategic lever for reducing costs by C-level executives. According to the report, Chief Financial Officers view process automation, robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics as top priorities for driving efficiencies and optimizing operations in the current economic climate.
The Gartner study, which involved over 300 finance leaders globally, revealed that reducing costs has risen to the number one priority for CFOs. With macroeconomic conditions remaining volatile, automation is viewed as a means to “do more with less” by streamlining workflows, eliminating manual tasks and gaining valuable insights from data. Areas cited by Gartner as top targets for automation investment included accounts payable, order management, financial reporting and other rules-based processes.
IBN Technologies, a leading accounting automation company, has extensive experience implementing end-to-end automation solutions across the very functions cited by Gartner as top automation priorities. Leveraging technologies like robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI) and optical character recognition (OCR), IBN’s team of automation experts have helped many US clients automate complex, document-driven processes.
“Where we typically see the greatest return on investment is in automating labor-intensive back-office transaction processing like invoice entry, purchase order management and cash application,” said Ajay Mehta, CEO of IBN Technologies. “Significant time and cost savings can be achieved by eliminating manual data entry and rework while improving data quality for further process optimization.”
One area that lends itself well to automation is invoice processing. Manual invoice entry is prone to errors from data transcription and involves significant labor costs. With automation, invoices can be intelligently captured, classified and extracted using OCR and machine learning. Key information is automatically populated into the appropriate systems for approval and payment processing. This allows accounting teams to focus on more strategic tasks rather than administrative data entry work.
Another example is order management. Automating order processing through integration with ERP and CRM systems ensures accurate order fulfillment by capturing all order details digitally at the point of sale. Any changes or cancellations can then be systematically updated across all related systems in real-time. This level of integration eliminates data silos, manual errors and rework for a better customer experience.
“The savings that come with automation often far outweigh the upfront investment required to implement the right solutions,” said Ajay Mehta, CEO of IBN Technologies. “Our clients also appreciate how automation of the accounting process improves process control, visibility and sets them up for continuous optimization through data analytics.”
Of course, successful automation requires more than just technology – it demands an experienced partner to guide organizations through change management and process re-engineering. As a leader in providing end to end automation solutions, IBN Technologies takes a holistic approach—leveraging the right mix of automation tools, expertise and best practices to deliver maximum value from any automation initiative.