The finance function is in the middle of an operational reckoning. Advances in automation, data visibility, and payments have never been more powerful. Yet, too many finance teams remain mired in manual tasks, legacy architectures, and fragmented systems that slow growth and expose organisations to risk.

For business payments professionals, the question is no longer whether change is coming, but how quickly you can adapt. Finance teams are spending disproportionate time on tasks that machines can handle faster and more accurately. Spreadsheets remain a crutch for forecasting and cash visibility.

Operational inefficiencies ripple outward into strategic stagnation. As one new survey bluntly put it, “manual processes, disconnected systems, and limited real-time insight continue to hold Finance teams back.”

That survey, Overcoming Operational Hurdles: The Role of Technology in Finance Management, from National Technology News, and sponsored by Bottomline, paints a candid picture of where UK finance stands today. But findings apply broadly across B2B.

Based on a survey of 200 finance executives from companies across the UK, what’s revealed is an industry divided between digital pioneers, companies struggling to get out of manual/legacy quicksand, and a large middle ground that knows what’s possible, but hasn’t yet selected the systems and platforms to achieve their operational goals.

 

The Automation Paradox

According to the data, finance is still trapped in what the report calls a “productivity paradox.” One in four finance professionals spends more than 75% of their week on tasks that could be automated. Yet only 11% of companies have automated more than 90% of their processes.

The research groups organisations into three archetypes:

  • Traditional Operators: Still heavily manual, spreadsheet-reliant, and siloed.
  • Transformation in Progress: Some automation in place, but still bogged down by integration gaps.
  • Digital Leaders: Highly automated, data-driven, and able to operate finance as a strategic partner to the business.

The report notes that “even modest automation investments can yield substantial returns for Traditional Operators,” but for ‘Transformation in Progress’ firms, the biggest pain point is integration. They often own multiple capable systems, including ERP, TMS, and bank portals. But these don’t talk to each other. The consequence is duplication of effort, wasted resources, and a finance team stuck in reactive mode.

 

The Battle for Cash Visibility

If payment processing is the backbone, cash visibility is the nervous system. The analogy works well, yet the report found a glaring gap that helps explain ongoing issues.

Nearly half of survey respondents said they continue relying on manual bank portal consolidation to monitor cash positions. That’s ironic, given that the method is labelled “resource-intensive” and “a double-edged sword.” What explains this disconnect?

The problem is fragmentation. “Most finance teams deploy 2–3 different systems for cash visibility,” the survey noted, calling it “a fragmented approach that introduces operational risk and reduces efficiency.” Troublingly, spreadsheets remain all too common: 36% of those surveyed report tracking cash this way, despite workflow glitches and human error.

‘Digital Leaders’ stand out. They’ve built unified systems where treasury, accounts payable (AP), and accounts receivable (AR) integrate into the vaunted ‘single source of truth.’

That integration enables real-time insight and reduces fraud risk. Meanwhile, ‘Traditional Operators’ burn valuable time reconciling numbers and putting out fires caused by errors.

 

When Strategy Gets Stuck in the Back Office

One hard-to-take finding is that finance isn’t living up to its strategic potential.

Only 34% of surveyed professionals said their finance function actively shapes business forecasting and strategy. An equal number admitted to having “limited strategic input.”

Instead, most teams are reactive. The majority conduct ad-hoc analysis when requested or provide monthly reviews. As the report puts it: “Finance often operates through a series of disconnected efforts, remaining primarily a reporting function rather than a strategic one.”

Consequences of this extend beyond finance. When payments data is siloed, approvals lag, reports arrive late, and the business loses agility. You can’t respond as quickly to market shocks, regulatory shifts, or fraud threats.

For Digital Leaders, however, the picture is brighter. They are embedding real-time analytics, KPI dashboards, and predictive forecasting into their decision-making process. According to the report, such firms are “moving beyond tool implementation to focus on predictive analytics and cross-functional collaboration.”

In other words, finance becomes a strategic enabler, not an administrative anchor.

 

What Finance Teams Want from Technology

If you want to know where finance is headed, look at how teams are choosing their technology. The top selection criteria in the survey were:

That list shows a priority shift. Security isn’t just an IT concern anymore…it’s a finance mandate. Integration isn’t a “nice-to-have” but rather a business-critical capability. And user-friendly design matters because adoption rates plummet on hard-to-use platforms.

As the report notes, “automation is no longer merely a technical upgrade, but a strategic business necessity.”

 

Crossing the Digital Divide

The UK’s finance sector stands divided. Traditional Operators are weighed down by outdated methods and struggle to stay compliant in a fast-changing environment. Transformation in Progress players are caught in an integration trap, moving forward but too slowly. Only a slim minority of Digital Leaders are managing to leap ahead, reaping the benefits of automation, real-time insight, and strategic influence.

Despite that, there are stunning advancements. Automation technologies like Confirmation of Payee (CoP), Verification of Payee (VOP), tokenisation, and ISO 20022-ready platforms are making an impact. Fraud prevention is now embedded, not bolted on. AI is starting to predict cash flow, not just report it.

“Organisations that successfully navigate this transformation will possess superior market responsiveness, enhanced risk management capabilities, and more agile capital allocation processes,” the report concludes. It implies that failing to do so will make organisations increasingly unfit for purpose.

For business payments professionals, the message is blunt but full of opportunity. Now is the time to ditch the spreadsheets, close the integration gaps, and stop treating finance as a back-office chore. Digital leadership isn’t just about tools; it’s about redefining finance as a strategic driver of growth.

Download your copy of Overcoming Operational Hurdles: The Role of Technology in Finance Management.