After more than a decade of steady development, ERP systems today are changing fundamentally, facilitated by the availability of advances such as cloud computing, advanced database architecture, collaboration, improved user-interface design, mobility, analytics and planning. This was evident when Oracle recently held its third analysts-only ERP Cloud Summit in New York to coincide with its Modern Finance Experience event. Oracle now has an increasingly robust set of business applications that reside in the cloud and a growing list of live customers – large and midsize – from a range of industries across the world, both of which were offered as part of the here-and-now technology theme at the event.
Read More
Topics:
Mobile,
ERP,
Machine Learning,
Cloud Computing,
Robotic Process Automation,
Artificial intelligence,
blockchain,
AI
SAP recently held a teleconference to highlight its blockchain strategy. Lately, the major business software vendors have been calling attention to their blockchain initiatives. While the focus on this technology might seem premature to those who still equate it with cryptocurrencies, evidence is pointing to a future pace of adoption similar to the rapid take-up of the internet in the 1990s. That blockchain is useful for a wide range of business functions isn’t news – just google “blockchain use cases.” Payment, provenance, testament and efficiency are four main themes driving a multitude of applications of the technology. That said, blockchain isn’t technology in search of a mission but is something more like the internet, both in its broad utility and in value multiplication through network effects.
Read More
Topics:
Machine Learning,
Office of Finance,
finance transformation,
Robotic Process Automation,
Artificial intelligence,
blockchain,
AI,
bots,
robotic finance
Robots of the physical sort are not about to take over finance and accounting but we have arrived at the age of “Robotic Finance”. I coined this term to focus on four key technologies with transformative capabilities: artificial intelligence and machine learning, robotic process automation, bots and natural language processing and blockchain distributed ledger technology. Embracing these technologies will enable any department to redefine itself as a forward-looking strategic partner to the rest of the company.
Read More
Topics:
Machine Learning,
close,
closing,
Robotic Process Automation,
Artificial intelligence,
blockchain,
AI,
Accounting,
bots,
robotic finance
The use of blockchain distributed ledgers in business processes is now a common theme in many business software vendors’ presentations. The technology has a multitude of potential uses. However, presentations about the opportunities for digital transformation always leave me wondering: How is this magic going to happen? I wonder this because the details about how data flows from point A to point B via a blockchain are critically important to blockchain utility and therefore the pace of its adoption.
Read More
Topics:
Planning,
Predictive Analytics,
Forecast,
FP&A,
Machine Learning,
Reporting,
budget,
Budgeting,
Continuous Planning,
Analytics,
Data Management,
Cognitive Computing,
Integrated Business Planning,
AI,
forecasting,
consolidating
Ventana Research uses the term “predictive finance” to describe a forward-looking, action-oriented finance organization that places emphasis on advising its company rather than fulfilling the traditional roles of a transactions processor and reporter. Technology is driving the shift away from the traditional bean-counting role. The cumulative evolution of software advances will substantially reduce finance and accounting workloads by automating most of the mechanical, rote functions in accounting, data preparation and reporting. (I recently summarized these in a “Robotic Finance”)
Read More
Topics:
Planning,
Predictive Analytics,
Forecast,
FP&A,
Machine Learning,
Reporting,
budget,
Budgeting,
Continuous Planning,
Analytics,
Data Management,
Cognitive Computing,
Integrated Business Planning,
AI,
forecasting,
consolidating
For several years, I’ve commented on a range of emerging technologies that will have a profound impact on white-collar work in the coming decade. I’ve now coined the term “Robotic finance” to describe this emerging focus, which includes four key areas of technology: Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), robotic process automation (RPA), bots utilizing natural language processing, and blockchain distributed ledger technology (DLT), each of which I describe below. Robotic finance will have a disproportionate impact on finance and accounting departments: I estimate that adoption of these technologies potentially will eliminate one-third of the accounting department’s workload within a decade.
Read More
Topics:
ERP,
Machine Learning,
close,
Consolidation,
Continuous Accounting,
Reconciliation,
CFO,
Robotic Process Automation,
blockchain,
AI,
natural language processing,
Accounting
The application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to business computing will have a profound impact on white collar professions. This is especially true in heavily rules-based functions such as accounting. Companies recognize the transformational potential of AI and ML, but the progression and pace of the adoption of these technologies is unclear. Some applications of AI and ML are already in use but others are a decade or more away from replacing human tasks.
Read More
Topics:
Big Data,
Machine Learning,
Office of Finance,
Analytics,
CFO,
finance,
CEO,
AI,
AICPA,
natural language processing,
Accounting
Fra Luca Pacioli, a 15th-century Franciscan friar living in what’s now Italy, is credited with codifying double-entry bookkeeping, which is the foundation of accounting. Pacioli, a polymath, was well acquainted with his contemporary and fellow polymath Leonardo Da Vinci. So, given they were at times collaborators, it’s fitting that one of the most important applications of SAP’s Leonardo technology will be in helping to disrupt finance and accounting organizations in corporations.
Read More
Topics:
ERP,
Machine Learning,
Office of Finance,
Internet of Things,
CFO,
Artificial intelligence,
blockchain,
AI
