4 trends from the World Finance Forum 2024

What are the most pressing issues facing finance leaders right now? Here’s what we heard at last week’s World Finance Forum in London.

1. Finance leaders are increasingly strategic decision-makers

There was broad agreement that the role of finance teams is evolving and at ever-increasing speed.

According to a Sage survey, 89% of CFOs say their role has changed since even just a year ago, and 96% feel finance roles will change in their organisations in the next three years.

Rather than being predominantly financial gatekeepers, finance leaders are increasingly strategic partners, advising on company direction and strategy. Indeed, the same research reveals 85% of CFOs expect to play a bigger role in shaping company strategy in the coming years.

The pace of change is being driven by market pressures — to keep costs down and retain talent in a competitive job market — as well as new technologies which are freeing up finance teams from manual tasks so they can be more analytical.

Julia Jansen, Navan’s VP Global Finance Operations, spoke of the evolving role of finance professionals and the contrasting roles they can play: “Are you the nagging one with the budget who always says no, or are your business partners seeing you as an expert who can contribute to the strategic goals of the company?”

2. Modernise to keep up

A hot topic at the event was the importance of modernisation — whether of processes, software, or mindsets. The finance function is a huge value driver at organisations, particularly when supported by technology that removes barriers and automates repetitive processes.

When it comes to modernising processes and software, Alex H., Vice President - Financial Accounting, Reporting and Control at Sage, says “you have to have the right mindset. Without an experimental mindset and without your teams being set up to succeed through trial and error, it is very difficult to implement new ways of working.”

Although the benefits of making changes are often clear, finance leaders might encounter resistance from their own teams when modernising tools or processes.

Hanna Earls, Director of Finance MI, Data and Analytics at Cambridge University Press and Assessment, said common blockers were caused by change fatigue, a reluctance to disrupt the status quo, or a lack of digital skills.

To overcome these, Earls stressed the importance of getting buy-in from leadership, communicating how new tech will benefit the team directly, and proactively involving team members in the change to promote a culture of inclusion and accountability.

One area of finance which remains manual is expense management. In a 2024 survey by Navan with 216 finance professionals, 47% of respondents said that their expense management is fully manual. In addition, the majority of respondents said it takes 1–4 weeks for manual transactions to be fully approved in their ERP, from swipe to reconciliation.

Modernising expense management processes can transform a chaotic process into a streamlined system that benefits everyone involved, and save significant time and money for companies.

Fever-Tree adopted Navan’s travel and expense platform in 2023. “Since switching to Navan, our finance teams save about two days a month managing spend. They no longer need to manually review expense reports, enforce spend policies, or administer reimbursements,” said Ben Lenehan, Fever-Tree’s Financial Director – Operations.

3. AI

No B2B conference would be complete without mentioning today’s buzzword, artificial intelligence, which made up an integral part of the conversation on modernisation.

Speakers emphasised the need for AI to play a supporting role in finance functions by providing real-time insights and data analysis, boosting fraud detection, and assisting with reporting and forecasting, for example.

AI’s ability to free up finance teams from manual, repetitive tasks and assist finance teams with strategic decision-making means it can be a key driver of success. According to Sage research, 86% of successful finance leaders have embraced AI, while 77% of CFOs expect AI to improve their job satisfaction.

That’s not to say that implementing AI tools needs to be rushed or wholesale at first. Instead, Sage’s Alex says AI can be implemented incrementally.

What’s more, finance leaders should ensure that the tools and processes they oversee are adding value rather than creating busywork, and this should be built into a regular review process.

There was an acknowledgement that the repetitive, routine tasks in the finance function mean it’s well positioned to lead the way in introducing AI in the operations of a company. Indeed, many finance departments are leaders in developing or acquiring their own AI tools.

Navan’s Jansen celebrated the way Navan’s natively developed AI tools save her team time. “We can ask AI what the sales team spent in the last three months, and whether that spend makes sense. Then we can ask what they’re likely to spend over the next three months, and we can do this without spending hours and hours on it, or needing to bother other departments.”

4. Finance teams are company data leaders

An ever-present topic throughout the event was the role of data in informing decision-making.

The ability of finance leaders to drive company strategies is dependent on using data effectively, so they can identify growth opportunities, optimise resource allocation, and spot potential issues early on.

Tools now play a key role in saving time so finance teams don’t have to “wade through loads of data” to work out historical trends or future forecasts, said Indie Dhedli, EMEA Finance Director at Workday. 

Dhedli emphasised that the role of finance teams is increasingly to analyse data, understand what it’s saying, and deliver the story “to the business in a way that they understand.”

But doing so means having the right tools in place, and the right methods for interpreting data.

Jansen spoke of the value finance leaders can bring when using tools that are “user-friendly, intuitive, and real time.” When equipped with the right tools, finance professionals become “business partners in the driver’s seat of a tool, helping with business planning and building strategic alliances with commercial partners.”

Navan’s all-in-one solution gives businesses real-time visibility into T&E spend so they can make better financial decisions and advise on strategy effectively. With all T&E data centralised in one dashboard, Navan customers can monitor spend as it happens for in-depth insights and always up-to-date budgets.

Book a demo to learn more about how Navan can help your company modernise its expense and travel management, and save you time and money.