By Tim Chisnall, Founder and Commercial Director

In these challenging times, identifying your business’s top priorities – and addressing the ones that are most likely to have a significant impact on your company – is an essential step to take on the path to financial stability.

But, here at Cognition24, we believe it’s almost impossible for CFOs and FDs to do this unless you also have the right technology in place. In the short term, this will help to give you the time and thinking space to address any immediate issues. Then, further down the line, it can also enable you to establish the changes in processes and mindset required to help the finance department move from being just a back-seat contributor to an essential pillar in setting and implementing your business strategy.

In other words, we believe finance leaders and their teams spend too much of their time dealing with mundane, repetitive tasks that may be important but add little value – such as closing their books at the end of a quarter, or chasing data for a forecast. Instead, they could be taking a step away from the drudge work to help address their business’s biggest challenges.

Fortunately, there is some great software out there that can help you to do this better and faster, and free up essential time for you and your colleagues. So, what should you be looking out for when deciding what you need? Here are some important questions to ask:

• Can it give me ‘a single source of the truth’, so I can see accurate and reliable data from all parts of the business in one place? (And how much time will this save?)
• Can it give me the kind of insights I need to get a genuine 360-degree view of the business?
• Does it give me the speed I need to compete in the current climate – that is, real-time data, rather than making me wait to the end of the week or month for a full view?
• Is it easy and intuitive to use, requiring minimal training?
• Does it give me enterprise-grade robustness, security and features, at a price that an SME can afford?
• Is it cloud-based, therefore ensuring the software is frequently updated, can be accessed from anywhere, and is easily scalable so I only pay for what I use?
• If I’m already a Salesforce customer, can it be integrated seamlessly with my other Salesforce solutions so that all essential business information is connected to Finance?

One solution that definitely ticks all these boxes is FinancialForce, a cloud-based ERP system, that is delivering all of the above and more for a wide range of businesses around the world.

At Cognition24 we’re proud to be a FinancialForce partner. So not only can we help you to implement the system and ensure you’re constantly getting the best possible value from it, we’re also able to help you with what is often the toughest part of all – the changes in mindset and processes required to ensure you’re fully making the most of the time you’ll be getting back.

That could include carving out new revenue streams, expanding your company’s services and offerings, influencing product innovation, or helping drive customer renewals – whatever happens to be your top priority.

Want to know more? We’d be delighted to answer any further questions about how smart technology can help you deliver both financial stability and the kind of long-term strategic outcomes your business is looking for – just get in touch.