{"id":436175,"date":"2020-09-28T07:24:42","date_gmt":"2020-09-28T05:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=436175"},"modified":"2020-09-28T08:33:34","modified_gmt":"2020-09-28T06:33:34","slug":"how-sage-helps-business-use-new-technologies-to-improve-financial-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/industry-news\/436175\/how-sage-helps-business-use-new-technologies-to-improve-financial-management\/","title":{"rendered":"How Sage helps business use new technologies to improve financial management"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Africa\u2019s economy suffered a significant contraction in April, May, and June, under lockdown restrictions in response to COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Gross domestic product (GDP) plummeted by more than 16% between the first and second quarters of 2020, giving an annualised growth rate of \u201151%.<\/p>\n

The impact could have been far more severe were it not for broadband connectivity and digital technologies like the cloud, which enabled many businesses to continue operating.<\/p>\n

Sage\u2019s VP of Medium Business for Africa and the Middle East, Gerhard Hartman, said financial leaders in South Africa embraced new technologies during this time and are playing a key role in the digital transformation of their businesses.<\/p>\n

This is according to research which formed part of the CFO 3.0 \u2013 Digital transformation beyond financial management report<\/strong><\/a>, which Hartman discusses below.<\/p>\n

1. What do the findings of the \u201cCFO 3.0 \u2013 Digital transformation beyond financial management report\u201d mean for Sage\u2019s own processes and strategies in South Africa?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The research highlights a trend we have observed and spoken about in South Africa for a long time: that CFOs are transforming into real-time analysts, and form part of a C-Suite force leading the digital transformation agenda in their organisations.<\/p>\n

CFOs are also looking to streamline complex financial processes and deliver the rich financial and operational insights they need to scale\u00a0and transform their organisations.<\/p>\n

For us, it confirms that the launch of Sage Intacct<\/strong><\/a> is perfectly timed to meet the growing need from South African CFOs for tools that support the digitalisation of the finance function.<\/p>\n

2. The report revealed that medium and large South African businesses were ahead of certain more developed countries in embracing digital technologies. Why do you think this is?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

South African CFOs are confident in technology, in the future, and in themselves.<\/p>\n

Many of them have already experienced an increase in organisational performance due to early cloud adoption and are ready to double down on investing in other emerging technologies.<\/p>\n

Unlike CFOs in some countries where employees are still worried about machines taking their jobs, South African CFOs are setting the cultural example by calling out emerging technology as crucial to their success and putting a stake in the ground on the humans-versus-bots debate.<\/p>\n

3. While digital technologies are having a substantial impact on the finance function in these businesses, do you believe smaller businesses could also use the cloud, automation, AI, and machine learning to improve their own financial management?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Small to medium-sized South African businesses have embraced mobile technology and accounting in the cloud.<\/p>\n

We believe they are likely to also be enthusiastic about using artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation, blockchain and other emerging technologies when appropriate to streamline their businesses and improve efficiencies.<\/p>\n

Given their limited resources, they will be eager to use tech to reduce administrative tasks such as tracking expenses and submitting invoices.<\/p>\n

Rather than replacing human employees, AI and bots will help people working for and managing SMEs to achieve more with their time, and growing their businesses.<\/p>\n

4. What makes Sage Intacct the optimal solution for South African businesses seeking a powerful financial management system?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Sage Intacct was developed by finance professionals for finance professionals, featuring the flexibility, world-class security and user-friendliness the market has come to expect from Sage.<\/p>\n

The solution provides deep, multi-dimensional accounting; automation for efficient financial operations; and sophisticated visibility for real-time decision making.<\/p>\n

Sage Intacct also provides finance professionals with best of breed integrations, using an open API that makes it easy to connect with third-party cloud applications – providing a highly extensible and scalable platform.<\/p>\n

It is a modular solution where customers pay for what they need, delivering a lower total cost of ownership.<\/p>\n

The product has earned many awards and high rankings from independent analysts. This includes yielding the highest comparative score in core financials for lower mid-sized enterprises use case (Gartner\u2019s 2020 Critical Capabilities for Cloud Core Financial Management Suites).<\/p>\n