Driven by the wave of digitalization, companies are looking to transform to become more competitive. As an enterprise data center, the importance of digital transformation of the finance department is self-evident. RPA (Robotic Process Automation), as an emerging technology, has become a powerful tool to empower the digital transformation of finance with its unique advantages.
The pain points of financial work coincide with the technical characteristics of RPA
Before RPA robots were widely used in the financial field, the promotion of enterprise financial work was mainly realized through manual operation, and with the increase of business volume, manual operation became more and more difficult to adapt to the requirements of enterprise finance.
The pain points of financial work in the traditional way1.A large amount of repetition of operations:The finance department contains a large number of repetitive tasks, such as transaction reconciliation, expense document review, invoice processing, and tax declaration. A large number of repetitive operations bring high labor costs, and it is impossible to release the energy of financial personnel to engage in higher value-added work.
2.Frequent system switching:Due to the need for business dealings, some companies usually open accounts with more than a dozen banks. Whenever you want to make a payment, bank statement and other operations, the financial staff has to manually and frequently switch to log in to the online banking of a variety of different banks to make a payment or the previous day's bank statement. The operation is cumbersome, time-consuming, and inefficient.
3.Peak busy:The obvious feature of financial work is the imbalance of workload. Especially in the large number of inventory, inventory and accounting at the end of the month and year, financial personnel often face difficulties such as periodic "996", untimely business response, and low data accuracy.
4.A large number of heterogeneous systems:According to the management needs of different periods and different departments, the enterprise will build multiple information systems (such as accounting system, capital management system, etc.). However, these systems are not integrated and coordinated, resulting in multiple information silos, and finance personnel have to act as data "porters".
5.Risk of Human Error:Manual processing of invoices, payments and other services has a high data error rate, which often brings greater capital management risks.
The solution under the traditional method is not as effective as it should beIn order to solve these pain points, some enterprises choose to solve them by increasing manpower and transforming the system. But the results were not satisfactory.
1.Increase manpower:Labor costs are rising year by year, and the pressure on enterprises to reduce costs and increase efficiency is increasing; With the increase of manpower, the efficient management of talents will generate new costs; The birth rate is declining and there is a shortage of labor.
2.Retrofit system:System transformation and API development between multiple heterogeneous systems often have high investment costs, long deployment cycles, and slow response to demand. Until the retrofit development is complete, all work is still manual. Especially in the case of more system docking, the difficulty of transformation is multiplied. Technology is updated quickly, and new systems often appear after system transformation.
Introduce machine automation processMachine automation (RPA) is a technology that accomplishes repetitive tasks under fixed rules. Finance work is in the realm of strong rules, and there is a lot of duplication of work in the process. The business characteristics of financial work are highly matched with the application conditions of RPA technology, which makes the application of RPA in the financial field possible. At the same time, RPA's reliability, reliability, security, traceability and other credible characteristics make RPA escort for its application expansion in the financial field.
1.Availability:Admission tickets in the RPA Finance app. It is suitable for high-volume, repetitive business processes with clear rules.
2.Reliability:Manual operation is susceptible to fatigue, emotions, and other factors, which can lead to errors. The RPA robot performs the task in strict accordance with the preset rules and will not be disturbed by these factors, which effectively reduces the error rate. In addition, RPA robots do not need to take breaks and can work 24 hours a day, which is a real "007", which can achieve continuity of work and ensure the accuracy and timeliness of financial data.
3.Security: An umbrella in RPA financial applications. Reduce the contact between people and sensitive data, prevent the occurrence of data concealment, deception and other problems, and improve the security of financial business processes. When it comes to sensitive content such as financial data and passwords, you can rely on RPA's own security measures and security solutions to prevent data leakage and theft. From the aspects of RPA maintenance, audit logs, data protection, data encryption, access control, and permission distribution, it can also improve the security of financial robots in business processes and reduce the risk of enterprise security systems being exploited by others. It is worth noting that the future promotion and application of blockchain technology will likely further promote the security of RPA technology.
4.Non-invasive:If a piece of software doesn't natively support automated functionality, then RPA can come into play. RPA does not need to make any modifications to this software, but creates a "software robot" to simulate human reading and operation, and let the "software robot" complete the process automatically, which is one of the core charms of RPA. RPA can be easily integrated into existing financial systems, such as ERP, CRM, etc., without the need for large-scale transformation of the original system.
5.Traceability:RPA technology comes with operation monitoring, log tracking and screen recording functions, which is convenient for enterprises to audit or supervise the business activities performed by financial robots. Once there is a mistake in the operation of RPA, managers can find the error point through monitoring, logs or screen recording, and find possible problems in the operation of the financial robot in time and optimize and correct it.
6.In line with the national policy orientation:China attaches great importance to digital transformation and clearly proposes to accelerate the development of the digital economy. As an emerging technology, RPA is in line with national policy guidance and helps enterprises achieve digital transformation of finance.
7.Ease of Use:The reason why RPA can become a powerful tool for the digital transformation of finance is essentially because it is easy to use: RPA is easy to learn, low-quality, drag-and-drop construction, visual programming, conversational guidance, low development cost and short development cycle.
What are the applications of RPA in financial management?
RPA (Robotic Process Automation) is widely used in financial management, which can optimize and automate many repetitive and regular financial tasks.
Common financial management application scenariosAccount Reconciliation:RPA can automatically log in to the banking system, ** statements, and compare them with records in the company's financial system to ensure the accuracy of account balances.
Invoice Processing:RPA automates the process of receiving, verifying, and entering invoices. The robot is able to identify the information on the invoice, enter it into the accounting software, and perform compliance checks.
Expense Reimbursement:Employee reimbursements can be automatically reviewed through RPA to ensure that expenses are in line with company policies and automate the payment process.
Financial Statement Preparation: RPA can collect financial data from different data sources and automatically generate monthly, quarterly, or annual financial statements, including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements.
Tax Filing:RPA can help calculate the amount of tax due, prepare tax returns, and automatically submit them to the tax authorities, ensuring the timeliness and accuracy of tax filings.
Budgeting & Monitoring: RPA can assist with budgeting, monitor discrepancies between actual spending and budget, and provide alerts when budget thresholds are exceeded.
Risk Management:RPA can monitor financial data, identify potential financial risks, such as unusual transactions or fraudulent behavior, and trigger further investigations.
Money Management:RPA optimizes cash flow management and automates fund transfers to ensure optimal capital efficiency and return on investment.
Data analysis:RPA automates the collection and analysis of financial data to provide management with insights to support decision-making.
**Business Management:RPA automates merchant eligibility, payment processing, and merchant performance evaluation.
Customer Settlement:RPA automates the generation and dispatch of customer invoices, as well as the subsequent collection and settlement process.
RPA and its best partner, AIIn recent years, AI technology has developed rapidly, and with the blessing of AI technology, RPA is even more powerful.
First of all, the threshold for RPA process design is lowerFor example, Shadow Knife RPA has developed Shadow Knife AI (enterprise version function) and magic instruction function, UIBOT is also in the internal beta preview version of the magic hat, using these functions, you can communicate with RPA through natural language, some processes can be compiled in one sentence, some need to go through multiple rounds of dialogue optimization, even drag and drop are saved, just like the leader assigns work to subordinates, let RPA automatically program;
Secondly, the application scenarios of RPA will be largerIf RPA is a primary school student, then RPA+AI should be a college student, it is smarter, and some businesses that originally relied heavily on human judgment can easily establish rules through AI calculation and analysis.
The role of RPA in the digital transformation of finance
In the foreseeable future, the financial field will develop in the direction of intelligent finance and human-machine collaboration and symbiosis, and the financial management model will undergo subversive changes.
Reinvent finance and business managementProcess Optimization:The financial processes that can be automated through RPA are standardized, and during RPA setup and commissioning, they help to identify and eliminate unnecessary steps, streamline operations, and improve process efficiency.
Business Convergence:RPA frees up finance staff by automating repetitive and standardized tasks in financial processes, allowing them to be more involved in business support and decision-making. This shift has led finance to shift from a traditional back-office support role to a strategic partner, with a greater focus on the convergence of process management and business finances.
Real-time monitoring:Automated tools can provide real-time data monitoring and analysis to help managers adjust strategies and optimize resource allocation.
Reinvent the relationship between the finance organization and its employeesFunctional Transformation:With the automation of repetitive tasks, finance personnel can be freed from routine transactional work and move to more valuable work, such as strategic planning, data analysis, etc.
Increase satisfaction:Automation reduces human error and work stress, improves job quality and employee satisfaction, and also provides employees with more opportunities to learn and grow.
Talent Development:The implementation of RPA has changed the way things work within the finance department. Traditional manual operations are replaced by automated robots, which requires finance staff to relearn new skills such as the design, implementation, and maintenance of RPAs. Therefore, businesses need to invest in the training and development of their employees to adapt to this change. At the same time, the introduction of RPAs may lead to the disappearance of certain roles, but it will also create new jobs, such as RPA consultants and data analytics specialists. This change requires companies to redefine the roles and responsibilities of their employees, as well as their career paths.
Reinvent the human-machine relationshipThe advent of RPA marks a new phase in the collaboration between humans and machines. In the finance sector, RPA robots are virtual human resources that can process large amounts of structured data and perform repetitive tasks, while humans focus on jobs that require creativity, judgment, and emotional intelligence. This human-robot collaboration model increases productivity and reduces human error, while also requiring employees to adapt to the working environment with robots.
Businesses need to build a new culture that encourages employees to embrace and utilize these technologies for mutual personal and organizational growth.
In short, RPA, as an emerging technology, is gradually changing the way finance is worked, helping enterprises realize the digital transformation of finance, and improve the efficiency and quality of financial management. Enterprises should seize this opportunity and actively introduce and promote RPA to achieve digital transformation of finance and enhance their competitiveness.