Recently on this blog, our team has covered how intelligent automation can help organizations rapidly reduce cost while solving complex business problems our clients face. Avanade sees automation as truly transformational. It will forever change how an organization does business, while empowering its people to reduce repetitive, routine tasks and embrace higher-value, more meaningful work.

With intelligent automation, businesses can reduce inconsistent processes, accurately predict demand fluctuations, and rapidly adjust without manual intervention. Avanade helps clients increase automation business value by up to 5x, deploy automations at less cost, and achieve ROI in weeks, not months. Just one example: we helped Microsoft not just gain marketing efficiencies, but also save thousands of employee hours with Power Automate. Read the full story here.

Digging for gold: Why CFOs should invest in process mining
So how do you architect and accelerate intelligent automation? Start with process mining – an exploration of the transactional data created by the day-to-day activity of teams across your business. Through some detective work – and machine learning-powered analysis – process mining teams can deliver an illustration of just how an organizations’ business processes actually work. Done right, you can find otherwise-hidden inefficiencies, potential compliance issues, opportunities for automation, and discrepancies between teams that can slow business value.

Process mining is uniquely valuable across the finance department, where transactional data practically overflows. It could be the CFO’s secret weapon, driving transformation and shaping the next-generation finance department. Just some potential process mining use cases for CFOs:

• Accounts payable: identify the root causes of out of sync payments, potentially freeing up millions of dollars of working capital and capturing unused discount potential
• Procurement: intercept and monitor non-compliant buying, reducing overall procurement costs and increasing spend under management
• Accounts receivable: process streamline and prioritize collections, reducing the total cost of collections, cutting past-due invoices, and improving free cash flow.
• Across the board: CFOs gain the ability to visualize the connections, flows, and potential bottlenecks through accounts payable, accounts receivable, procurement, and other finance processes

We’ll explore more process mining value for CFOs at Finance Reimagined
Ready to learn more about the value of process mining for the modern finance department? Check out the Finance Reimagined conference from Microsoft, taking place on Tuesday, February 28, 2023. Review the fully agenda and register here at no cost. At the summit, I’ll join experts from Microsoft, IDC, and other industry leaders to discuss the trends and technologies reshaping finance as we know it. Learn more from Microsoft about key themes to be explored at Finance Reimagined.

If you’re interested in discussing how process mining can strengthen finance operations at your organization, Avanade is ready to help you design a strategy and set a course for success. Our consultations and workshops are custom fit to your needs, your business, and your priorities.

Learn more and book some time with our automation experts.