Building a digital finance function to power government in North America

CFO AND CIO INDICATOR STUDYReport BriefBuilding a digital finance function to power government in North America. A perfect storm for finance transformation in goverment organizations across North America. Finance and IT leaders at national and local government organizations within North America face challenges ranging from budget uncertainty to recruitment and retention. A digital finance transformation will help them tackle these challenges going forward, but currently they struggle with inefficient, expensive manual processes, as well as disparate, incompatible technology systems across departments. This makes it challenging to track grants and federal assistance, and manage large infrastructure projects.These organizations woud benefit from investing in innovative technologies that can help them make smarter decisions based on accurate, real-time financial, people and operational data. And IT and finance leaders should work together to improve visibility and secure agility. But our latest global survey of these leaders suggests that government organizations face three challenges in their efforts at finance transformation: 1. The lack of alignment between finance and IT 2. Skills shortages, including a lack of financial literacy in IT3. Insufficient amounts of actionable data“The need to improve decision-making by enabling secure timely access to reliable data is the biggest driver of technology modernization within organizations.”Barbara LarsonCFO, WorkdayReport Briefworkday.CFO AND CIO INDICATOR STUDY77Building a digital finance functiontopowerThe need to improve decision-government in North America.making by enabling securetimely access to reliableAperfect stormforfinancetransformationindata is the biggest driver ofgoverment organizations across North America.technology modernizationFinance and IT leaders at national and local governmentwithin organizations.organizations within North America face challenges rangingBarbara Larsonfrom budget uncertainty to recruitment and retention.CFO,WorkdayA digital finance transformation will help them tackle theseinefficient, expensive manual processes, as well as disparate,incompatible technology systems across departments. Thismakes it challenging to track grants and federal assistance,and manage large infrastructure projects.These organizations woud benefit from investing in innovative technologiesthat can help them make smarter decisions based on accurate, real-timefinancial, people and operational data, And IT and finance leaders should woriin their efforts at finance transformation:1. The lack of alignment between finance and IT2.Skills shortages, including a lack of financial literacy in IT3. Insufficient amounts of actionable data Government organizations in North America struggle in some areas. Among respondents within government organizations:53% lack confidence in their ability to pivot or change finance processes without compromising time or security62%are concerned that they lack the tools expected of next-generation finance talent 31%say that reliance on IT for access to data and reporting hampers data usability—the highest percentage of any sector surveyedBuilding a digital finance function to power government in North America | 2What does digital finance look like for government organizations in North America?Digital finance transformation is a top priority for government organizations, prompting these IT and finance leaders to make it their goals to:Drive more insight from data. The focus must be on improving finance and IT literacy, getting more usable data to drive insightful decision-making, and removing reliance on IT for reporting. Many organizations are now collecting more data, including non-financial information such as environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and operational data, but the sector is more reliant than most on IT teams for access to this data, which hampers usability.Invest in talent.Government organizations recognize that unless they address their skills gaps in areas such as data and analytics, they will struggle to get valuable insights. Their inadequate systems compound the problem.Improve alignment between finance and IT. In North America, 9 out of 10 government organizations have a digital transformation strategy in place or in development. Improving CIO-CFO collaboration—and aligning their teams—will be critical to the success of these strategies. Government organizations are also more likely than any other industry surveyed to say that one of the most valuable skillsets in supporting their digital finance transformation is interpersonal skills.Whatdoesdigitalfinancelook likeforgovernmentorganizationsin North America?Digital finance transformation is a top priority for government organizations, prompting these IT andfinance leaders to make it their goals to:Drive more insight from dataImvest in talent.ImprovealignmentbetweenThe focus must be on improvingGovernment organizationsfinance and IT.finance and IT litera