New Opportunities in a Time of Transformation

What a difference a year makes. For business and industry, and for people everywhere, 2020 was difficult and challenging almost beyond belief. Now, in the summer of 2021, we’re able to look forward to taking on new opportunities—and handling new challenges—with regained confidence and renewed vigor.

Our Q2 issue of BlackLine Quarterly focuses on how Accounting and Finance can use that vigor to advance and expand on their transformation initiatives. For some CFOs, finance transformation is seen as a means of helping the organization embark on new business models, something that is gaining importance in the post-COVID atmosphere of new opportunity.

SAP CFO Anthony Coletta agrees, and in SAP CFO: Focus on Transformation, Operations & Low-Hanging Fruit, he notes that companies effectively navigating the pandemic were helped by “a digital platform that allowed them to turn around new business models faster.”

Another lesson learned in 2020 was the importance of optimizing working capital—cash—in the difficult and unpredictable atmosphere of receivables. AR Intelligence: Turning Data Into Cash Flow & Delivering Insight Into Operations details how one of the newest BlackLine solutions can deliver real-time insights into customer behaviors that have traditionally been hidden in ERP’s.

Springtime also gives businesses new, chaos-free opportunities to accelerate their ongoing transformations.

For some, this might mean expanding their current BlackLine footprint by automating their journal entry processes. Close Fast & Accurately with Automated Journals looks at how journals can reduce the work of manual postings to give accountants more time to deal with exceptions and discrepancies.

For others, it may mean tightening their financial controls. This is important today in Europe, where regulatory agencies are working toward issuing new control standards. In Regulatory Headwinds Forecast in Europe—Are You Prepared?, BlackLine Director of Product Marketing David Brightman explains why it’s critical to upgrade controls before—not after—the regs take effect.

And for all companies, the move through digital transformation continues to underscore the importance of bringing on employees with not just analytical skillsets, but with the human qualities to put them to their best use. For employees, this means looking beyond the data science textbooks and developing the right interpersonal skills.

BlackLine Director of Strategic Accounting Michael Shultz explains how and why in Upgrading Your Accounting Skills? Don’t Forget To Be Curious… and Sociable.

The year 2021 has brought about a vast improvement in outlook, for people and for business. Hopefully, this issue of BlackLine Quarterly will give you some ways to bring about your own improvements in Accounting and Finance, and be better prepared to take advantage of new opportunities that will undoubtedly arise throughout the year.