Chief executives are already reconfiguring how the future office will be disrupted by technology. FILE PHOTO | NMG
The book A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the
Future by Daniel H Pink gives a compelling argument for why the more
creative and expressive forms of work will be the most rewarded in
future.
A bit of biology: the left side of the brain is
analytical and logical; it is responsible for aspects such as language,
logic and critical thinking. The right side of the brain is responsible
for creative and expressive tasks such as emotional intelligence,
music, intuition and imagination.
The author argues
that tasks that require left-side thinking in the work place can either
be replaced by a machine or outsourced to the cheapest resource globally
as these tasks are typically deterministic or repetitive and the end
result is usually the same regardless of who/what does it.
Based
on this simple premise, we can infer that the workplace will be
significantly disrupted as technology becomes more precise in replacing
routine non-judgemental human activity. Digital disruption is the new
normal and technology disruptors are some of the largest drivers of
change in business.
According to KPMG’s 2018 Global CEO
Outlook Survey, 95 percent of CEOs see technological disruption as more
of an opportunity than a threat while 54 percent say that rather than
waiting to be disrupted by competitors, their organisation is actively
disrupting the sector in which they operate.
KPMG UK
estimates that a well-architected use of disruptors will enable extreme
automation, resulting in an operating model that achieves close to 70
percent reduction in labour while delivering on business value and
global risk management.
This will result in a huge
shift from the norm which has been to off-shore operating model
functions to jurisdictions where labour is cheaper.
As
well as driving digital transformation and protecting customer data,
CEOs are reconfiguring their workforces for a future where smart
machines and talented people work together. Humans will continue to do
jobs in high-touch segments where people pull on people’s heartstrings,
for example selling, marketing, arts, social enterprises.
Repeatable finance process such as routine transactions recording and reconciliations are ripe for automation.
Finance
functions must, therefore, embrace the disruptors of today to transform
their own operating models and unlock an environment of extreme
automation. Technologies are “extremely automating” finance operations
as we know them and slowly but surely developing intelligent finance
functions that are viewed as strategic advisors to the business.
There are at least seven technologies that will deliver extreme finance automation:
Robotic
process automation: will rapidly scale and dramatically reduce finance
work-effort through elimination of repetitive, rules-based processes
that require human intervention today.
Machine
learning: will boost foundational automation by deploying adaptive
technologies to make fact-based decisions that will eradicate manual
segments.
Digital analytics and delivery: On-demand,
customised insight delivery will enable finance to transcend the role of
historical scorekeeper and become a strategic interpreter.
Data
management: Progressive data management and mining of untapped data
sources (such as social media, government statistics) will create a
springboard for elevated discovery agility and prescriptive insights.
Natural
language processing: Unconstrained information accessibility from
unconventional and real time sources (such as news feeds) will allow
finance to positively influence business outcomes in real-time.
Cloud
based and self service solutions: Finance solutions will be cloud based
and therefore will constantly be improving in use-ability, flexibility
and accuracy.
Blockchain: Augmented information
authenticity will enhance security, shorten transaction cycle times, and
eliminate the need for reconciliations, for good.
While
this may all sound futuristic and unreal, almost a fad, the reality is
that some companies in the East African region have started embracing
extreme finance automation, primarily due to the need for real time data
to for more precise decision making.
This begs the
question, what is the future for current and future finance
professionals? The role of finance professionals will have to shift from
providing historical score keeping to providing dynamic insights to the
business.
Mbatha is an associate director with KPMG Advisory Services (dmbatha@kpmg.co.ke). The views expressed are personal.
No comments :
Post a Comment