Digitalization is a triple jump of people, processes, and tools – none of them alone leads to anything
Digitalization is a triple jump process in which one can only fly when all three steps – tools, processes and people's skills and motivation – have been honed into the same coordinated entity. A bold leap is worth it, as its fruit bear widespread in the society. With its digital services, Accountor supports companies in changing their economy and working life – utilizing artificial intelligence, analysing real-time data, and predicting the future.
Digitalization tools have been available for a long time, but in many organizations their deployment has been delayed as it is challenging to get rid of old business models. However, in the last year and a half because of the corona pandemic, we have seen an unprecedented period of digitalisation, in which even companies and workers who have previously been frustrated with the deployment of e-applications have taken a leap into the digital world together with remote working – and very few yearn to go back to the past.
The pandemic forced companies to deploy the digital tools required by the new situation in a very short time. But no matter what tools are used, without functional processes and operating models, a person at home alone will not be able to make effective use of them. The real value of data and electronic processes is only created through people, leading by knowledge.
People in the core
The use of digital tools therefore requires the development of processes to support the use of tools and the adaptation of people's working methods to the digital world. Efforts must be made to motivate people to use digital tools and achieve the common goals of the company.
In the Leaderment philosophy that Accountor has been implementing for years, personnel’s commitment, motivation and satisfaction are the essence of everything. At the core is the idea that every employee knows how they relate to the company’s strategy in their own job. Respect for the individual's skills and own views is key, as it serves the entire work community, team, and company. At Accountor, this means trusting the employee, but also measuring the job satisfaction on a daily basis, so that changes in the employee's motivation can be reacted to immediately. According to Leaderment, the genuine ongoing dialogue and commitment to employee training is valued among employees.
The impact of digital leap is widespread
In addition to keeping our experts and systems up to date on the latest requirements and trends in financial management, we are constantly exploring and mapping new digital opportunities for the economy and working life of the future with the help of artificial intelligence and automation. By analysing business data, we get a realistic picture of the current situation and are able to predict the future for the benefit of companies and their personnel. Based on the factual information obtained with the help of our artificial intelligence, for example the outlook for future cash flow becomes clearer, which is an invaluable support when making investment decisions. Automation, on the other hand, frees people from routine work to more productive work, increasing a company’s competitiveness.
“The benefits of our digital triple jump were concretized in the context of a pandemic, as the government quickly needed real-time information on the state of the national economy to support its decision-making."
Not only does the company itself benefit from the company's digital triple jump, but it has far-reaching implications throughout the value chain. By bringing digital tools, processes, and our digital expertise to serve our SME clientele, Accountor is also enabling the digital triple jump for its customer companies in their own business. The benefits continue in the customer chain as well as to suppliers and subcontractors – and to society at large.
Real-time data for the benefit of the society
For almost 80 years, the red thread of Accountor's story has been automation, the use of new tools, and being the forerunner of development. The benefits of our digital triple jump were concretized during the pandemic, as the government quickly needed real-time information on the state of the national economy to support its decision-making. Accountor had an ongoing development project aimed at refining the business data we have to the benefit of societal decision-makers without identifying the companies and maintaining their information security and privacy. After the corona pandemic broke out, we decided to accelerate the project so that we could help Finland in a difficult societal situation.
Since April 2020, our monthly real-time data report on the situation of companies has been distributed free of charge not only to the authorities and policy makers, but also to the chief economists of the banks, the media, and others who need it. Authorities and decision-makers have real-time data with weekly and even daily accuracy to support decision-making, and with it the information on which to outline the future. From an international point of view, such co-operation between the authority and an accounting firm is unique. We feel that if we have the capacity to produce the needed information, we also have a duty to support our society as a whole in such an exceptional situation.
Active participation in the social debate and development work for the realization of meaningful and sensible digitalisation in our society is important to us, although it often also requires the courage to highlight areas that need development.
In the end it’s about courage
The digital leap is all about courage. We want to encourage companies to break away from old business models and venture into a new one. In addition to new operating models and tools, we are happy to provide companies with case studies of customers who have taken the digital leap and how it has helped those companies move forward. Not one of them has gone back to the old ways.
