Signs Your Finance Team Needs to Embrace Automation

Connected systems are crucial to finance and accounting because they give teams what they need most: accurate, timely, and consistent data across the organization without the manual headaches that come with managing multiple sources of truth.

Disconnected data hinders decision-making, increases errors, and keeps your team engaged in manual tasks. Finance automation utilizes technology to offload repetitive, manual work from your team's responsibilities.

When automation is done right, it can make a significant impact on the individual, team, department, and organization. I often interview finance and accounting professionals who share similar experiences regarding data errors, spreadsheet management, and the costly, unnecessary hours spent on manual tasks.

Two examples come to mind: Imedview and Room to Read.

When I spoke with Imedview, they had completed the implementation of Sage Intacct. Their biggest challenge was the absence of an open API in their proprietary system, which necessitated the creation of custom API calls. Imedview also faced difficulties with time-consuming manual data entry. After automating Sage Intacct with DataBlend, they were able to double/triple the number of invoices they were able to issue.

"We've been able to double or triple the number of invoices that we would have previously without DataBlend. We don't have to go fishing for the details, and the information is being pulled over by DataBlend and coming through correctly."

When I spoke with Room to Read, the finance team had a critical need to automate Workday Adaptive Planning after the announcement that it would no longer support integration with Sage Intacct. After integrating Workday Adaptive Planning and Sage Intacct with DataBlend, they could get back to what matters: helping more children.

"With DataBlend, the budget integration between Adaptive and Intacct now takes just 9 days of elapsed time, a huge savings when compared to the 9 weeks it took before – an 80% savings of staff time and cost. Errors were virtually eliminated, making the experience feel significantly more modern, efficient, and reliable. Additionally, actuals used to take over an hour to run; now, they take only seconds. With DataBlend, we are now realizing greater value from our investment in Workday Adaptive Planning."

"By having data sooner, the Finance team can now focus on insightful and timely analysis. This helps our business partners benefit more children, more quickly. As a non-profit, our 'investment returns' are measured in terms of how many children we can benefit from the value created. Our automation through DataBlend can result in over 400 more children benefiting each year from Room to Read programs.”

These are just two of many stories that showcase how finance automation really matters.

10 Signs It's Time To Embrace Automation In The Finance Department:

1. Manual Data Entry is Eating Up Hours – Your team spends more time copying and pasting than analyzing.
2. Multiple Versions of the Truth – Different systems (and different people) have different numbers for the same metric.
3. Slow Month-End Close – Closing the books takes longer than it should because you're tracking down data from multiple sources.
4. Errors – Manual processes lead to mistakes, and mistakes lead to rework.
5. Limited "Real-Time" Visibility – You can't easily see up-to-date financial or operational data across systems.
6. Too Many Systems, Not Enough Sync – ERP, CRM, payroll, POS… none of them talk to each other.
7. Reporting is a Nightmare – Creating reports requires multiple exports, merges, and data clean-ups.
8. Forecasting Feels Impossible – Without integrated data, accurate planning is a guessing game.
9. Your Team Feels Like IT Support – Finance staff spend too much time troubleshooting file formats and system connections.
10. You're Growing, But Your Processes Aren't – As your organization scales, your current data management can't keep up.

Finance automation turns your finance team from a reporting function into the strategic, well-run department that it was meant to be. And with a platform like DataBlend, you can automate the flow of data between your systems, eliminate manual work, and give your team a single, reliable source of truth. That means faster closes, cleaner reporting, and more time for the work that moves your business forward.