You’ve approved automation investments. You’ve sat through vendor demos. Maybe you’ve even deployed new tools across finance. Yet, nothing seems to work as well as promised. Your team is still buried in manual reconciliations, data silos and exceptions that software alone can’t fix.
That’s because technology isn’t the answer — at least, not without an organization-backed transformation strategy and an intentional change management strategy. Finance automation projects don’t fail because of bad software. They fail because leaders don’t take full ownership of process transformation and change management before introducing new tools.
The solution isn’t more technology; it’s the right technology implemented with discipline and as part of a larger automation fabric. Without an intentional approach to change management and transformation, an automation investment becomes just another expensive, underutilized tool collecting digital dust.
Fragmented tools, half-baked automation and the fear of change
Too many finance transformations start with the right intentions but fail to deliver meaningful change. Why? Because they get stuck in a pattern of isolated fixes rather than holistic process improvement.
Here’s what typically happens:
- Every department picks its own solution. Procurement, AP, AR, R2R and Treasury each introduce their own tech, creating more silos instead of fewer.
- There’s a lot of talk, but no action. Leadership discusses a unified strategy, yet execution and communication lags behind as departments focus on optimizing their own tasks.
- Everyone discovers automation ≠ optimization. Automating a bad process doesn’t make it a good one. If upstream processes remain broken, automation fails to reach its full potential.
- The talent drain may continue. Skilled finance professionals want to work on meaningful, strategic projects. If automation simply removes repetitive tasks without improving overall workflows, they fail to leave for organizations where they can make a real impact and impact strategic initiatives.
- Fear of change prevents full adoption. Many employees resist new technology because they see it as a threat rather than an opportunity. The lack of top-down communications exacerbates this problem. People need a good “why” to fully adopt the change.
Without a unified vision for automation, your finance team could find itself entangled in a web of disconnected systems, frustrated employees and a transformation effort that stalls without delivering.
Effective change management starts with vision
Most change management models, like ADKAR, focus on the mechanics of change: awareness, training, reinforcement. But they fail to answer the most important question: Why?
Your team isn’t resisting automation because they don’t understand it. They’re resisting it because they don’t see how it makes their work lives better or easier. That’s why your finance automation strategy must begin with a compelling vision that aligns with your desired business outcomes.
Before implementing new finance automation tools, map every step of your existing processes. Look beyond individual tasks and examine end-to-end processes, from business transactions to accounting transactions to disclosures.
Ask yourself:
- Where do bottlenecks occur?
- Why do bottlenecks occur?
- Where does manual intervention slow things down?
- Where do teams lose visibility into data?
Remember, this isn’t just an IT initiative: Transformation starts with people and leadership, not software.
Align on leadership outcomes
Your leadership team must be on the same page about what automation is meant to accomplish. Otherwise, employees will see it as an isolated IT initiative rather than a much bigger transformation. You must articulate a clear vision for how automation will transform finance into an agile, responsive function and align with strategic initiatives.
Make it known that automation isn’t replacing finance professionals. Instead, it should elevate them to focus on strategic, value-added work, which will upskill them and keep them relevant in an evolving industry. The right automation strategy will give your top talent a chance to focus on financial insights, risk management and forecasting, for example.
Investing in automation is essentially investing in leadership development — a wise choice that ultimately makes all finance roles more attractive and a competitive advantage in a decreasing accounting talent pool.
Cut the tech fat
Most finance leaders don’t think of themselves as technology hoarders, but take a hard look at your finance stack. How many tools are your teams juggling just to close the books? How many spreadsheets, integrations and workarounds still exist despite past automation investments?
The instinct to layer technology on top of broken processes is one of the biggest mistakes in a finance transformation. Instead of simplifying workflows, it creates more complexity, data silos and room for error. Siloed automation creates inefficiencies because you have to waste time toggling between multiple applications that don’t talk to each other, manually consolidating reports and troubleshooting data mismatches.
According to Gartner, 72% of CFOs identified metrics, analytics and reporting as their top focus for 2025. If this is at the top of your list, too, you’ll need to first consolidate, because focusing on analytics with too many number sources is like trying to measure performance with a broken dashboard. The numbers might be there, but they don’t tell the full story.
A single source of truth should be the goal. A core platform gives every finance function one reliable, accessible data set.
Addressing the talent pool issue
Because the finance workforce is shrinking, tacit knowledge built over years of working within your company’s unique financial operations is disappearing with departing employees. When you rely too heavily on this, you set up your organization for long-term risk.
Moreover, as Dennis Gannon, Vice President of Research in the Gartner Finance Practice, points out, “CFOs expect one in two finance employees to be digital talent by 2027. Given that digital talent currently makes up less than 20% of the finance function, there’s clearly much work to be done.” The gap is massive, and organizations that don’t start building digital capabilities now will find themselves struggling to compete.
Strategic automation can help you embed best practices and compliance standards directly into your systems to help you preserve and leverage key institutional knowledge. Think of it as extending expertise rather than replacing it.
Make it stick
Automation will change how your team works, thinks and interacts with data. But if each individual doesn’t trust the technology, they won’t adopt it. To drive lasting change, you have to go the route of incremental progress rather than sudden overhauls. Share quick wins and reward adoption.
How to accomplish a phased rollout
- Start with small, visible wins: Early automation success should be impossible to ignore, whether it’s eliminating a frustrating manual process like journal preparation, speeding up reconciliations or reducing reporting errors. These wins build momentum and create internal champions that help with future automation adoption.
- Implement automation entity by entity: Instead of rolling out a massive overhaul, focus on one entity, region or department at a time. A staggered rollout allows for continuous learning and refinement before you expand across the organization.
- Keep employees engaged: The worst way to introduce automation is to make it feel like a top-down decision imposed by leadership. Instead, communicate automation’s purpose clearly, involving your employees in the process and highlighting the personal benefits they’ll experience.
- Measure success and refine: Every rollout should be measured against KPIs, such as time saved, errors reduced or non-compliance rates improved. But hitting benchmarks is just one goal; you have to evolve your approach as your business needs change.
Real, lasting change is possible! Learn from these seven companies that used Finance Automation by Redwood to get there.
Lead the change — Don’t just approve the tech
Your role isn’t to buy more software; it’s to fix broken finance processes. The most successful finance leaders actively shape how their organizations use new technology. If you’re simply signing off on it, you’re letting IT and software vendors dictate your strategy.
That’s not leadership. That’s delegation disguised as strategy.
Ask bigger questions
| Instead of: | Ask: |
| “How do we add automation to this workflow?” | “How do we create an end-to-end process with no manual intervention?” |
| “How do we roll out this finance automation initiative?” | “How do we engage IT, Operations and business units so finance automation improves the entire enterprise?” |
| “How do we train employees on this new system?” | “How do we involve employees early so they help shape our automation strategy and champion adoption?” |
| “Which automation tool has the best features?” | “Which solution aligns with our long-term finance strategy and integrates well with our ERP?” |
Own the transformation
Don’t get caught in the cycle of buying more software to fix fragmented processes. Instead, align automation with your broader business strategy, ensure full adoption and lead the change with a clear, phased approach. That’s how you turn automation investments into real business transformation.
The right approach is to:
- Build a strategy before implementing technology.
- Eliminate redundant tools before adding new ones.
- Take full ownership rather than deferring to IT.
Finance automation can help you build a foundation for long-term efficiency and resilience. Your Finance team will be proactive and indispensable. Are you leading the change or just watching it happen?
Learn more about how to transform your team’s experience with automation in our guide, “Master the touchless close.”
