Enterprise technologies have come a long way in terms of streamlining business operations to boost productivity. From mundane, repetitive office tasks to complex business workflows, automation can simplify them while directing business towards the right path, thus ensuring its competitive edge. Microsoft SharePoint is one such critical enterprise productivity tool with pre-programmed applications designed to automate a variety of business operations.

More specifically, a function like financial management where businesses collect and process a huge amount of sensitive data everyday with little to no margin of error, automating workflows using SharePoint can streamline various operative functions for greater effectiveness and efficiency.

SharePoint for finance is transforming thousands of businesses by streamlining everyday crucial operations to automate them for maximum efficiency with minimum errors.
 

With that being said, here are six important finance workflows that can be automated using SharePoint.

• Budget Planning 

Budget planning is the first and the most crucial financial operation for every business. After all, financial planning begins with proper budget allocation and resource distribution. 

Traditionally, using Excel sheets for keeping track of budget data entry and allocation is a common practice for many businesses. Also, most companies follow a strict workflow when it comes to budget allocation for their projects. However, in the current dynamic business environment, companies have to keep their budget planning flexible enough to keep up with the unpredictability of the market. 

SharePoint simplifies budget planning for financial departments by allowing them to process a huge amount of data on budget inflow and outflow, monitoring budget allocations for multiple projects simultaneously, and providing a budget planning strategy ideal for the business. Using SharePoint, finance heads and managers can create a bespoke budget planning strategy that considers the needs of each vertical the business’ overall objectives. It also improves the accuracy at which you plan your next budget distribution to optimize costs and maximize revenue.

• Invoice Processing 

Processing received invoices from various third-party vendors and service providers can be a daunting task for any firm. Not only is it tediously time-consuming, but it also demands utmost attention to do it right every single day. 

SharePoint can analyze your invoice pattern to prioritize various invoices and helps you keep track of the time so that you won’t cross the deadline of invoice settlement. It also helps in authenticating vendors and their invoices through a unified verification method for fast and accurate approvals.

Leveraging the capabilities of SharePoint, you can automate the invoicing process with paperless invoicing operations and can access the documents from anywhere using your smartphone. Allocating crucial everyday activities like invoice processing to SharePoint can significantly boost your operational efficiency for greater competitive advantage.

• KYC Data Collection and Management 

KYC data is among the most crucial and sensitive data for any financial organization. To serve clients efficiently and securely, a company must have a robust KYC data management system that streamlines and secures the entire KYC process. 

This is where SharePoint can be a game-changer for businesses. Not only can you improve the data management system for collecting KYC data from new customers, but you can also make it more secure through robust authentication at different stages of data collection and management.From collecting new customer’s KYC data to securely processing the KYC information of millions of customers whenever necessary, SharePoint can facilitate a systematic workflow across all stages.

• Back-office Operations 

From external operations, let’s move towards the internal processes that SharePoint can impact. Handling everyday back-office operations using SharePoint takes a significant burden off from administration so that they can focus on the core business activities.  

Activities such as workday attendance, procurement of office supplies, managing salaries of employees, etc. which can be done without human intervention can be automated using SharePoint to increase their accuracy and turnaround time. You can also plan day-to-day tasks and functions for your teams with customized workflows according to their role in the organization, thus maximizing efficiency and resource optimization.

• Forecasting 

Business trend forecasting, when done right, can keep companies one step ahead of the competition. Especially when it comes to financing, forecasting plays an even more crucial role as we can allocate our resources according to the dynamic work environment in order to get maximum returns on the investment. 

However, it’s much easier said than done. External market scenario depends on numerous factors like customer’s buying power, ever-changing trends in the market, competitor’s strategy, the current economic scenario of the market you’re conducting business in, etc. 

For SharePoint and Microsoft 365 users, it is very easy to integrate their cloud and on-premise applications with SharePoint, and instantly connect them with Power BI, which parses through all forms of data across your SharePoint applications or intranet to predict future trends or rectify problems in workflows, based on real-time insights. As SharePoint is able to streamline and classify data in great detail, it makes it easier for Power BI or any other data analytics tool to process the assorted data and deliver contextual and actionable insights to help companies plan their strategies effectively.