The Fintech Revolution - How New Tech Can Transform

- How New Tech Can Transform Old Roles

The advancements in technology and digitisation across all sectors of business have come on tenfold during the last decade. Gone are the days of manual finances, heralding an era of automation, technological advancements, and digitisation.

Finance digitisation can revolutionise any finance or accountancy department, and one of its many benefits is that it can transform individual roles. One of the things we have been seeing in recent years is a sea-change in the types of jobs that are coming to market and the duties they have to perform. After all, jobs such as app designer, blogger or UX designer didn’t exist a few decades ago. Within finance, a similar revolution has taken place. Given this seismic change in job roles and emergence of new finance considerations, it’s worth taking a look at how digitisation can aid finance departments and the wider business.

- what is it?

However, over the past decade or so, SaaS systems have become the norm and now, it is difficult to find businesses that host their own finance software. Solutions now tend to emphasise user-friendliness, integration and more of a participatory culture. So when businesses talk about finance digitisation, they’re really looking at the impactful moments that technologies such as SaaS, Apps, and mobile devices have had on accountancy and the wider business.

What we’re really talking about here is the widespread adoption of technology in finance and in particular web 2.0 and SaaS (Software as a Service) systems. Twenty years ago, you would have been hard-pressed to find any company using a system delivered through a web browser with standalone, best-in-class apps. Typically systems would need users who had been specially trained, system man-

agers to keep them up and running and expensive upgrades if you wanted to do anything outside of the standard. Technology has not only changed the systems we use, it has also transformed the way many people do their jobs - and finance is a perfect example. Let’s dive deeper into some of the roles that have been forever changed and how these roles could continue to transform in the future as we continue to innovate.

The expenses clerk

The expense clerk’s role is one that may either exist exactly the same as before or may have disappeared entirely, depending upon the level of finance digitisation a company has committed to. In the 2000s, almost every company was using a paper-based expense process. Some of them may have utilised a ‘fancy’ spreadsheet to send it through to finance, but you can bet that it would have been printed out (with receipts attached) and then manually entered into a finance system and payments processing portal.

Still sound familiar? Don’t worry, many companies are still using this method even though there are now technology-based alternatives. In fully digitised finance teams, this role often no longer exists, or has been absorbed into another job role and completed through a dedicated application. In many cases,

any file maintenance has also been eradicated simply because everything is held online and with modern integration, the payments go directly into the system. This is one area where technology in finance has totally transformed a role, and the ‘expenses clerk’ of today is much more likely to be focusing on higher-level tasks rather than the manual, repetitive roles they may have previously been used to. However, many companies haven’t adopted a tech solution for expenses through a common misconception that it will be too expensive, or complicated to implement.

The sales manager

You wouldn’t expect finance digitisation to have any significant effect on the sales manager, but you would be surprised. With today’s technology solutions, rules can be applied to ensure that the sales manager only ever has to deal with things that are outside policy. For example, they aren’t now having to spend their time checking that someone has booked a room, paid for a meal and taken a train if all of these are within policy limits. Instead, it is far more efficient for the manager to only look at items that are either outside of the company set limits or, use integrated reporting to spot trends and issues. This allows their time to be freed up so that they can manage their sales team, rather than acting like a parttime expenses clerk.

Bank reconciliation clerks

Any traditional accountants reading this will know exactly what this person did and may well be thinking back to a time when they carried out this role in the past. A bank rec clerk would have been responsible for taking paper bank statements, matching up transactions on the main system and ensuring that the bank accounts matched those shown on the hard-copy statement.

Compared to other organisations, traditional banks are generally recognised as slow adopters of finance digitisation and many persisted in sending out physical statements long after they were really needed. Many would argue that the emergence and competition from digital-first challenger banks was the driver

that forced the highstreet firms to really grab a hold of digitisation. That said, this transition has known slow progress.

Over time, we reached the stage where companies could download a statement, however this was typically a simple PDF or CSV file with no real application. Next, software appeared that would allow the file to be uploaded and matched to the main system. Now, intuitive SaaS systems invariably offer bank links that download transactions and automatically enter items where they match predetermined rules. This has paved the way for a more paperless model and much of the filing and reconciliation work has disappeared. Of course there will always need to be a human eye to manage exceptions and anomalies, but to a certain extent, AI is capable of taking that way.

Changing for the better

There’s one theme that runs through all of these examples and that is the reduction in manual processing. Previously, people used to spend hours obtaining information, keying into systems, and then formatting reports so that managers could do their jobs. Finance digitisation has meant that significant amounts of this manual labour has now disappeared, leaving teams to be leaner but also able to concentrate on the things that really matter to the business. Some roles have almost disappeared, some have been radically altered and some are brand new, but what’s clear is that so many roles have been changed for the better by technology in finance.

And one thing that is guaranteed – there are more changes to come!

Yannick Van Looy, Territory Manager UKI & Nordics, Rydoo.

Multi-asset trading specialist, LegacyFX, is a world-renowned and award-winning brokerage firm. Established in 2017, it now owns transatlantic branches with over 200 employees and clients worldwide. Being substantially regulated enables LegacyFX to operate out of various regulatory jurisdictions such as the Republic of Cyprus, Vanuatu, South Africa, and Belarus. Overall, the company is owned and managed by a core team of professionals with vast experience managing investments in forex and other assets.

“The LegacyFX Academy” was created from the desire to empower trader, providing free education and making trading possible to everyone. The company offers educational videos, tutorials, webinars, ebooks, special sections for beginners and advanced traders, as well as one-on-one training sessions. Additionally, the company introduces a bespoke Webinar Training series designed for high-net-worth individuals with limited spare time.

LegacyFX is using the “state of the art” Trading Platform MetaTrader 5 on CFDs Trading on Forex Currencies, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, and Cryptocurrencies to support the increased needs of its Retail and Professional Clients. The Platform features new and extended characteristics, which makes online trading even more professional and precise.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

OFFERINGS

LegacyFX has the continuous development of its clients’ investment knowledge at the top of its corporate philosophy through ongoing training in investment strategies and the most updated trading tools:

Continuous development of the clients’ knowledge in Investment Trading Management. Providing zero overnight swaps. Providing free trading signals, copy trading, and Algo-trading. Free access to Autochartist premium tools, TradingView charts, MTE videos, and Market Research.

TRADING PLATFORM