CFOs are always looking to create efficiency, especially when it can result in cost management. The CFO is a person who is looking at operational processes within an organization and then seeing where efficiency initiatives can be applied.
Sometimes this is purely a case of cost reduction but other times it is about optimizing processes for the best use of company resources and time. This is operational efficiency, and it is something that over time, usually also results in cost efficiency.
This is one of the reasons why a CFO and their surrounding finance team should be interested in global payroll delivery and management technology. Anything that can streamline operations within a business-critical department such as payroll will be of interest to a CFO. This person knows that if they can find a better way to deliver and manage such a huge company expenditure, cost savings and productivity efficiencies will usually follow.
In this article, we will look at some of the reasons why paying attention to payroll management can lead a CFO down the path of creating efficiency and cost savings for the organization.
Efficiency through expert management
If a CFO has regular conversations with human resource directors and global payroll managers inside the organization, then this person can quickly realize the complexity and challenges facing them when it comes to payroll.
Payroll can be a large cost inside an organization, and it can also quickly become a function that is subject to complexity and inefficiencies, especially when an organization moves quickly into new countries and territories and hires new employees who require payment.
The chief financial officer then, when looking at cost and operational efficiency, will want the payroll department to be managed by experts who know what they are doing. The CFO will want a supporting technology infrastructure in place that is designed to optimize and streamline processes within the multi-country payroll delivery space and offer them the opportunity to create more efficient financial management.
The CFO will be interested in any digital innovation and technology platform that can create a more streamlined process for delivering and managing payroll across several countries at the same time-they will want experts involved with decades of experience in payroll and they will want the best technology in the market. There is a strong business case out there now for investment and if the CFO can be made aware of the strong cost and productivity gains associated with implementing a new global payroll delivery and management technology, then they are likely to give the green light and approve such an investment. Implementing a new technology in the payroll system can make the entire process much more efficient and easier to manage, it also makes work life easier for payroll professionals who would no longer have to carry out tedious manual data entry tasks, as payroll automation technology could take care of this for them. For the CFO, these things are all significant and positive changes that could be made possible with investment in the right technology.
Efficiency through advanced reporting
CFOs love data, analytics, metrics, and reporting, it helps them do their jobs better and provides detailed evidence to support important decision-making. No person wants to make business decisions without full knowledge of the facts, and CFOs, who are naturally risk averse by nature, will really want to avoid this in their business strategy.
Payroll management technology that can deliver detailed, comprehensive and consolidated real-time reporting around what is happening in terms of payroll costs across all of the countries inside the organization will be welcomed with great enthusiasm by CFOs.
This is another area for efficiency improvement, the ability to see what is happening with one of the largest business costs, understand how these costs differ across countries and the reasons why and be able to examine it all from a globally consolidated level for bigger picture insights. This is crucially important information for CFOs to have access to, it can allow them to manage their organizations payroll in a more detailed way, by being able to see exactly what areas of their payroll process need attention. Payroll is always going to be a large expense, if not the most expensive, part of an organization, so for a chief financial officer to now have the chance to get key insights into this process through detailed reporting, is going to greatly enhance the efficiency of their management.
If this financial data and payroll information can be extracted and delivered in easily understood reporting, a CFO is then satisfied that another level of efficiency around payroll is happening. The CFO will feel fully justified with any investment they make in payroll technology innovation when they have this level of detailed reporting at their fingertips. They will quickly realize that such detailed and nuanced financial reporting can open up a whole new level of understanding and insight into labor costs across the entire organization.
Efficiency through connected departments
CFOs who choose to educate themselves on the relationship between global payroll, human resources and the finance department will quickly become aware of the need for crucial and seamless data flows and integrations between the three departments.
They will also quickly become aware that integrations and data flows are missing from these departments at the vast majority of organizations and instead, valuable time and resources are being wasted by professionals inside these departments manually duplicating data across and between disparate and disconnected systems
A CFO interested in streamlining operations and creating efficiency by connecting departments with integrations and data flows, will be very pleased to learn about any technology that creates seamless data connections between the three. This is a whole new level of operational efficiency that has the ability to transform the data sharing processes within these connected departments. Several internal processes at once can quickly become faster, smoother and much more optimized, all it takes is an investment in innovative digital integration technology.
A global payroll control platform can connect all three and even automate the data flows: from multisource payroll related inputs right out to last mile reporting for both HR departments and the finance department. Connecting these departments via simple yet powerful integrations is another example of introducing operational efficiency that will inevitably result in an increase in productivity and a decrease in operational costs.
CFOs are always going to try and be as efficient and cost effective as they can be, and payroll is one area that can create both efficiency and cost savings when managed appropriately. By implementing new technology that can provide advanced reporting, connect departments and enable expert management structures, then CFOs can create valuable operational efficiencies inside payroll.
For more information about our Global Payroll Control Platform contact us today.