Enhance Your Finance Business Partnering With These Tips!

The phrase “Finance Business Partnering” within the accounts and finance industry is considered a bit of a buzzword. Even though the phrase is fairly new within the industry, the concept has been around for a while. The term is all about the skills of translating the world of finance into something that is helpful for non-finance people.

This has been the practice of the best business partners for many many years. But an important thing to note is that being a good accountant does not make you a good business partner. The thing that makes a great finance business partner is the mindset. Here’s all you need to know to ensure that you and your team are ready for any tech-based approach to business partnering.

Anna/Pexels | What one needs to know is the extent of the capabilities that tech affords you, rather than worrying about the ins and outs

Select A Goal

Business partnering does not happen magically with the flick of a wand, and there isn’t one specific product that will help each and every effort. Experts have suggested that you start off with an overall goal. The world is brimful with technologies these days, and it is constantly emerging, because of which it may be a challenge to choose where to begin.

A few broad frameworks were suggested by experts, such as making a goal to reduce enterprise risk. This way, there would be a broad chance to be strong enough financially to improve data quality, data security as well as the accuracy of its forecasts.

Know Your Audience

There is no doubt that with the help of technology, the sharing of information as well as decision making can be supported with a boost in the finance mission. However, the business’s success is still dependent on the relationships that are present within the business. Marta Wegliska, a finance and strategy manager, says that one needs to understand what it is that the end user really needs.

To figure that out, one needs to talk to everyone during the design stage, to IT experts, handpicked people within the business units, and even with one another. Marta’s thinking is that the more time one spends in this initial phase, the better the eventual phase will be.

Sora Shimazaki/Pexels | The experts believe that a business partner needs to understand what it is that the end user requires from them

Build the Skills

The real question is, does finance have the skills it takes to pick up new roles in business partnering and tech? Experts think that quite a number of teams are prepared; it appears that there has recently been an increase in the demand for forecasting and partnership. However, many people are not skilled enough to take on the job.

ThisIsEngineering/Pexels | Young IT specialists should be hired to advise the senior members of the team

Experts suggest that one way to develop these skills in people is using the “reverse mentoring” method with young employees that are IT specialists to share their ideas as well as advise the senior members.