The Pandemic Forced Companies to Rethink How They Track Their Cash
The death of monthly accounting has long been overdue
Remote work has been steadily on the rise for more than a decade, but when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, forcing many businesses to go remote all at once, it significantly accelerated the pace of digital transformation across companies and industries. The use of collaboration software like Slack and videoconferencing platforms, including Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet, skyrocketed. A study from Marketing Week and Econsultancy found that one in five large enterprises increased their investment in digital work tools in April. And while in most respects, tech-enabled businesses were already well equipped to go fully virtual, one department in particular rose to the occasion: finance.
For many companies, finance and accounting departments have traditionally been slow to fully embrace automation and digital solutions. As a result of being reliant on manual work and reactive workflow processes, accountants, controllers, and CFOs at otherwise tech-driven companies were ill prepared to track cash flow across a remote workforce — let alone during an unfolding economic crisis, when controlling costs is paramount not only to staying competitive but also staying in business.
