What have been the key challenges and impact for finance teams working remotely?

Remote work can be beneficial in all kinds of ways – but the specific kind of remote work which Covid19 thrust us into, has not been without its challenges.  Here’s the top 4 challenges for finance teams working remotely through Covid:

The impact of Covid itself

The biggest remote work  issue for finance teams is not, in itself, a remote-work issue, but a circumstantial one; The impact of Covid itself and the uncertainty it has caused has been a chief concern for many CEOs and CFOs alike.  With continually changing business regulations, the threat of new lockdowns looming, disruption in supply chains, parents home-schooling children and therefore less able to complete their work and the challenges of managing cash flow during such unpredictable and turbulent times – uncertainty has been a major hurdle for many finance teams, uncertainty which isn’t a part of remote work per se, but specifically attributable to the Covid crisis.

Access to cash

With uncertainty came turbulence in markets and the challenges of forecasting a positive balance sheet which in turn, for many businesses, made access to cash a considerable challenge.  Not knowing how long they would need to batten the hatches or how quickly recovery might be expected, managing cash flow and securing liquidity has been a key focus for all finance teams across the globe.  With constantly changing Government requirements, Finance Directors and CFOs have also become adept, overnight, at unpicking Governmental loan and grant schemes to understand what level of support they might be eligible for.

Digital transformation has been catalysed

Those companies who had already put in place automated processes and cloud-based file sharing have been in a much stronger position to cope with working remotely. Those that hadn’t done so, rapidly took steps to implement the technology required to improve collaboration and access to files across their teams and also to improve and streamline workflows using automation and workflow technology, to ease friction and increase productivity.

Face-time

The natural collaboration and interaction that takes place in the office, the ability for the CFO to have a daily finger on the pulse of the company’s sales or to know that their team are working like a tightly oiled machine – there’s no doubt every department has felt the loss of that built-in temperature check that being in the office together provides. Whilst we’ve lost direct contact face-time, it’s been replaced with video face-time, something every finance professional across the land – indeed every office worker around the world – has suddenly got very good at.

 

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