Columbus UK Blog

How Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance can improve the efficiency of your processes

Written by Stephen Fox | Nov 13, 2020

AI is transforming finance and should come as no surprise that Microsoft is leading the way. In this blog, we’ll be talking about Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance, a solution that can apply AI to all manual processes.

Thanks to this, you can cut down the time it takes to complete these processes, gain access to intuitive recommendations and reduce the chance of human errors. Ultimately, you gain more time to focus on what really matters.

Let’s talk about the solution’s features in more depth.

Better financial decision making

There are three reasons for this:

Predicting customer payments becomes a more reliable process

AI-infused insights will allow you to better predict customer payments. For example, you’ll be able to proactively reduce write-offs and enhance your margin as you can understand if and when customers will pay their invoices.

Projecting cash flow is more accurate

Thanks to Dynamics 365 Finance’s customisable cash flow-forecasting capabilities, you can monitor cash flow in real-time, identify trends and make better data-driven decisions (such as cash flow projections).

Adapting to budget proposals becomes quicker

Let Dynamics 365 Finance perform tasks such as consolidating and analysing historical data. That means you get to spend less time and effort on budgeting and more time on other important tasks.

Unified financial processes

Dynamics 365 Finance brings your financial data and processes into one place. This then allows you to…

Get more time back

With role-based workspaces, an integration with Office 365 and predictive insights, you can prioritise and automate financial tasks. Ultimately, this gives you more time back and boosts productivity.

Easily adapt to changing business requirements

Thanks to the Office 365 integration, you can customise documents such as invoices and statements as and when you need to. This means it’s much easier to adapt to changing business requirements.

Benefit from a subscription-based economy

With automated recurring billing, you can quickly adapt to revenue recognition standards, decrease your audit costs, and accurate calculate and report on your financial statements.

Reduced operational expenses

Because Dynamics 365 Finance consolidates data from multiple sources and integrates with other systems, you can easily gain a clear, snapshot view of your business. Thanks to financial process automation, budget control, encumbrance and planning and analysis features, running your global business becomes much easier as you have better overall visibility - regardless of the location.

Reduced global financial complexity and associated risks

Benefit from the following intelligent features:

Flexible, guided, rules-based chart of accounts

This helps you easily adjust to evolving global financial requirements, thanks to various formats like no-code configurable tax, e-invoicing, payment and reporting.

Out-of-the-box functionality to ensure compliance across 37 countries and 42 languages

This helps you meet local and global business requirements, improving governance and reducing risks.

Access to prebuilt partner solutions

If your local needs require more than what Dynamics 365 Finance’s out-of-the-box solution offers, don’t worry. You can explore Microsoft’s AppSource, filled with prebuilt solutions from Microsoft and their trusted partners, and extend the core benefits of Dynamics 365 Finance.

To read about Dynamics 365 Finance and its features in more depth, click here.

Choosing the right solution is your first step towards improving cost efficiency

All manufacturers want to operate more cost effectively without compromising the quality and quantity of the goods produced. While your first instinct might be to cut costs by laying off employees or continue using legacy technology rather than investing in the latest versions, those approaches can impact team morale, suppress innovation and allow competitors to race ahead.

The idea is to become more cost efficient rather than reducing costs altogether. Investing in a solution that can transform your financial processes, like Dynamics 365 Finance, can help. But that’s not the only thing you can do to improve the cost efficiency of your manufacturing business.

From adopting a lean mindset and improving your operational visibility to following change management best practices, find out more in our exclusive guide below.