In today’s ‘VUCA’ world—characterised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity— it is becoming harder and harder to get right. As discontinuity becomes the norm and the most established business models come under threat, business leaders may need to adapt their models or develop new ones. How can organisations achieve sustainable success in a constantly changing environment?

The first simple hotel management system was introduced back in the 1970s, allowing hoteliers to confirm on-site reservations. By the early 1990s, the first database management system was marketed, allowing for digital records, which made accessing information much easier than Excel spreadsheets. Now, the hospitality industry is amidst the "cloud computing boom". The impact of cloud-based solutions is enormous: it revolutionises how the managers run their hotels/restaurants and interact with the customers.

Shortcomings associated with the traditional budgeting approach can undermine the true value of the process. Budgeting should be less cost-driven and more investment-based, i.e. all forecasted costs of a department should be attached to deliverables—the products and services that department delivers to other departments or to the clients. Doing so will make budget decisions investment decisions.

When confronted with a problem, have you ever stopped and asked “why” five times? If you do not ask the right question, you will not get the right answer. The Five Whys is a simple question-asking technique that explores the cause-and-effect relationships underlying problems.

Known as the technology behind Bitcoin, blockchain can be applied in a wide array of applications for business, not just limited to only the cryptocurrency arena. Even though still in its infancy, blockchain technology is believed to redefine the finance function.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church’s objective was to find a flexible financial solution for use in a nonprofit setting in more than 1,500 sites around the world, and to stay up-to-date with current platforms, operating systems, and databases.

Companies spend millions of dollars developing and documenting their processes, policies, and controls, yet have little visibility into whether they’re being followed. With thousands of transactions to screen and systems being accessed by hundreds or thousands of employees whose statuses change daily, the process of monitoring for breaches—either accidental or intentional—can be both expensive and overwhelming. A strategic and automated approach is, therefore, essential.

In a more digitalised world, the finance leaders are expected to be forward-looking, evolved from their traditional role to provide data-driven analysis and insights. However, in reality, many CFOs still find it is difficult to keep up with the development, and therefore, is unable to deliver deep insights to support the risk management to spot new opportunities, weather economic shocks and volatility.

In July, Workday released its global “Finance Redefined” study, conducted by Longitude, which surveyed more than 670 finance leaders across the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, and South Africa to get their vision and strategy on the future of the finance function and finance leadership.

Knowing what direction to take in business is essential. Whether it’s acquiring new companies, launching new products, finding new ways to beat the competition, or other avenues of pursuit, it’s important to know where you’re headed and why. That takes real business intelligence and reporting proficiency, so that employees at all levels of your organisation can have immediate access to the information that’s relevant to their roles and tasks to make informed recommendations and strategic decisions.

Duplicate invoice payments occur far more frequently than most organisations realise. On average, approximately 0.1% to 0.05% of invoices paid are typically duplicate payments—which for a medium-size organisation with annual costs of $100 million over a three year period, could represent a loss of $300,000.