This article is a contribution from our partner, Embat

We typically associate month-end close with a tedious, resource-intensive, error-prone process. It’s arguably the most “stressful” task for the finance team, repeated every single month without exception.

In this context, automation stands out as a key solution, not only by shortening the closing timeline but by delivering a better-quality close.

The main goal is to free up time from repetitive tasks, enabling the finance team to focus on higher-value work, such as data analysis that drives better organisational decisions.

It’s about avoiding the tendency to prioritise speed over quality—a common cause of human error, an area where automation can significantly reduce mistakes.

Transitioning from manual processes to automated workflows

At the same time, moving from manual processes to automated workflows tends to eliminate redundancies, for example in bank statement reconciliations or in classifying and posting invoices to generate corresponding journal entries.

It also improves transparency.

Automation enhances transparency, since every operation is logged and traceable in a precise and secure manner, improving the quality of information and enabling better decision-making not only in finance but across the entire organisation.

However, integrating automation is a critical process that goes beyond technology alone, requiring organisational and cultural priorities.

Importance of data quality and change management

Everything starts with data quality. No automation, no matter the technology solution chosen, can produce reliable information if the underlying data is flawed.

The first step is improving critical processes.

That’s why the first step is to improve critical processes and establish controls to ensure high-quality data is entered into the system.

Cultural resistance within the finance team is often the main challenge. Fear of changing the current situation and the worry about being replaced by a “machine” can become the biggest obstacle to change—this is not about technology but about managing people.

It’s essential to understand these concerns and needs, as this shift requires acquiring new skills and adapting traditional roles within the team.

Training, adaptation and the evolving finance role

A lack of adequate training can cause any automation initiative to fail, investing in training and communication essential so that finance team members can understand and embrace the benefits of change.

In other words, technology on its own isn’t enough. Work must first be done on redesigning processes, training teams, and above all aligning expectations with existing resources.

In this way, automation itself is pushing the finance function toward a different model, with real-time information and the ability to make far more reliable forecasts about what may happen.

This means moving from a management approach focused mainly on the past to one centred on the present, with the ability to visualise and “interact” with the future—a new way of understanding financial management.

In short, streamlining the month-end close will move from being a competitive advantage to an absolute requirement. The adoption of new technologies, such as generative AI, will accelerate this change even further, removing the need to “pause” routine finance activities to handle month-end tasks.

Ultimately, this is one more step in redefining the finance function—and the CFO’s role—from operational manager and executor to a more strategic partner delivering greater organisational value.

Also Read

• Financial planning for changing economic cycles
• AI Lag in the Mid-Market: Stop Waiting for ‘Big AI’ and Start Automating Cash Management Now
• Visibility and Governance: How to Prove Compliance When AI Decides
• How Companies Can Lose Tens of Millions Without Being “Cash Constrained”
• FinTech Interview with Theo Wasserberg, Head of UK&I at Embat
• Finance Automation Is Having Its Sourdough Starter Moment
• From ledgers to the cloud: the evolution of treasury management systems
• Working capital in service of shareholder value
• Counterparty Management: Automating Payments and Collections

Join our Treasury Community

Treasury Masterminds is a community of professionals working in treasury management or those interested in learning more about various topics related to treasury management, including cash management, foreign exchange management, and payments. To register and connect with Treasury professionals, click [HERE] or fill out the form belo

This article is a contribution from our partner, Embat

Economic cycles are marked by periods of expansion followed by contraction, repeating over time. While their occurrence is well known, it remains difficult to predict their exact duration and intensity.

The ability to anticipate is a critical advantage

Today’s cycles are defined by the speed of change, with direct impacts on company revenues, supply availability, production, employment and more.

This is why organisations that can anticipate and adapt their financial strategies to a new reality gain significant competitive advantages over others.

It’s at this point that the finance team in general, and the CFO in particular, must shift focus from a primarily reactive stance to one that anticipates the start of a new phase in the economic cycle, projecting possible financial scenarios and considering the most impactful risk factors for the business.

Broad vision and flexibility for changing scenarios

This requires a broad perspective on reality, considering aspects beyond purely economic factors.

It’s not about predicting the future with certainty.

In other words, it’s about “understanding the whole film, not just the snapshot” offered by a financial analysis at a given moment.

The ability to anticipate becomes a critical, differentiating advantage—not so much to predict the future precisely, but to gain the flexibility to respond quickly to coming changes.

The companies that adapt best are those that identify shifts before they happen and act with discipline and speed.

Therefore, financial planning must be based on a solid understanding of the current environment, because without that “compass,” any budgeting exercise loses strength as any “unexpected” event can have a major business impact.

Dynamic tools and active liquidity management

That’s why in many situations the “traditional” annual budget loses relevance, making it necessary to adopt more dynamic forecasting methodologies with multiple scenarios and shorter review cycles, allowing financial strategies to adjust without waiting for year-end.

Planning should be a dynamic process.

Financial planning shouldn’t be a static exercise but a dynamic process in which working capital analysis plays a critical role, especially in optimising collection days, renegotiating payment terms and reducing inventory levels.

It’s not about having a perfect plan but about building an organisational culture capable of adapting over time. For this, processes, tools and above all a change-oriented mindset are essential, with planning integrated across the entire organisation.

That’s why planning must not be relegated as an exclusive task of the finance department but must involve general management and operational areas to become a truly useful decision-making tool, not just an accounting exercise.

Never forget that cash is king!

The CFO’s strategic role in changing cycles

Another critical factor is the level of liquidity available when an economic cycle turns, both to manage periods of contraction and to seize investment opportunities during expansions.

When conditions tighten, liquidity can’t be improvised—it must be planned. Ultimately, it’s the best “insurance” against any cycle shift.

Active liquidity management is essential, requiring daily visibility of cash inflows and outflows as well as debt maturities and any contractual obligations.

In this context, the CFO’s role is fundamental—not merely as the keeper of the books, but as the architect of strategy and guardian of treasury, helping define and guide the new roadmap. This evolution cannot be optional.

The CFO must combine technical expertise with strategic business vision, providing cross-functional leadership and a deep understanding of the new macroeconomic environment.

Ultimately, dynamic financial planning in a changing economic environment has become an essential requirement for any business that wants to thrive. While it doesn’t guarantee success, it helps avoid costly mistakes and secure one of the scarcest assets: time.

Also Read

• AI Lag in the Mid-Market: Stop Waiting for ‘Big AI’ and Start Automating Cash Management Now
• Visibility and Governance: How to Prove Compliance When AI Decides
• How Companies Can Lose Tens of Millions Without Being “Cash Constrained”
• FinTech Interview with Theo Wasserberg, Head of UK&I at Embat
• Finance Automation Is Having Its Sourdough Starter Moment
• From ledgers to the cloud: the evolution of treasury management systems
• Working capital in service of shareholder value
• Counterparty Management: Automating Payments and Collections
• 10 Ways to Optimise Your Cash forecasting
• How Embedded Finance is Changing Bank Reconciliation
• Handling Treasury Management in the Digital Era

Join our Treasury Community

Treasury Masterminds is a community of professionals working in treasury management or those interested in learning more about various topics related to treasury management, including cash management, foreign exchange management, and payments. To register and connect with Treasury professionals, click [HERE] or fill out the form below.

This article is a contribution from our partner, Embat

It’s Friday evening. Your colleagues left for drinks an hour ago. You’re still refreshing bank portals and reconciling transactions in spreadsheets while SAP Business One or ByDesign waits patiently in the background. This is the weekly reality for many mid-market finance departments. While AI promises to make manual hurdles a thing of the past, the real win isn’t just tech – it’s getting your Friday evenings back.

Yet while AI adoption has surged – with McKinsey reporting that 88% of organisations now use AI in at least one function – the mid-market is hesitating. Many finance teams remain trapped in manual workflows due to implementation concerns and are putting AI implementation off until it ‘can be done without a major project’.  

It’s called ‘The Readiness Trap’ 

“Our data isn’t clean enough.” “We need better infrastructure first.” “We’re waiting for SAP to release more AI features.” 

These justifications sound like responsible governance. They sound sensible, but there is a fine line between being methodical and being stalled. That hesitation often blocks the very solutions that provide immediate relief. Many companies running SAP Business One or ByDesign often possess much of what AI automation tools require: a robust ERP managing financial operations with structured data flows, vendor master data, and integrated general ledgers.

While you are trying to perfect your business case, your competitors may be deploying a proven cash management automation that integrates directly with your SAP suite, and surprisingly, may not take a big effort to implement.

Here’s what many SAP Business One and ByDesign users miss: Your platform is already built for this. 

SAP Business ByDesign runs on SAP HANA and has a suite of open APIs designed for third-party integration. Similarly, SAP Business One offers more than 250 integration points and a robust Software Development Kit (SDK), allowing for deeply personalised automation. SAP has been expanding AI and automation capabilities across both platforms. Predictive analytics, and machine learning are now increasingly layered into core workflows. The building blocks are in place. The infrastructure for an AI-assisted use case such as treasury automation isn’t a future roadmap item; it exists today. The question is whether you’ll use them. 

From batch files to real-time banking

One technical shift is also enabling more rapid deployment of treasury automation for SAP users: the move from batch-file banking to API-driven connectivity. 

Traditional banking integration often required significant middleware investment, lengthy implementations, and ongoing maintenance by specialised IT staff. This has historically priced mid-market companies out of real-time connectivity. Finance teams downloaded bank statements as files, imported them through batch processes, and accepted delays of hours or days. 

API-based connectivity changes this picture significantly. Modern treasury platforms, like Embat, that integrate with SAP can provide direct, real-time connections to UK and European banks through secure APIs enabled by Open Banking regulations. 

That means no middleware costs and no batch-processing delays. 

The ROI reality check 

Despite growing investment, you need clear expectations. Deloitte’s 2025 AI ROI research found that 85% of organisations increased their AI investment in the past 12 months. Yet most reported achieving satisfactory ROI within two to four years, significantly longer than the 7 to 12-month payback most expected for technology investments. 

The lesson?  

Target high-frequency use cases, such as bank reconciliation, as a measurable use case first. 

Why? Bank reconciliation is one of the most time-consuming cash management tasks. Integrated vendor solutions using Open Banking integration can connect directly to bank accounts, downloading statements and importing them into SAP Business One automatically. Such systems typically suggest matches based on bank reference information, then create incoming payments and allocate them against invoices automatically, potentially transforming reconciliation from a manual, hours-long process to an exception-management workflow. 

A practical implementation possibility

One common myth that may be holding you back is that AI implementation requires extensive timelines. Industry sources, however, suggest that many AP automation and treasury tools may complete implementations in weeks rather than months. 

A practical approach for your firm could look as follows: 

• Weeks 1-2: Conduct a focused workflow audit. Quantify baseline metrics like cost per invoice, processing time, error rates. 
• Weeks 3-4: Select a single high-frequency workflow with clear ROI measurement like AP automation or bank reconciliation. 
• Weeks 5-8: Deploy with a  specialised vendor offering mature “plug-and-play” integrations for SAP Business One or ByDesign. 
• Weeks 9-12: Monitor performance against baseline metrics and review the immediate ROI. With the manual “slog” eliminated, you can now focus on scaling these efficients across the department.  

From strategy to action

The key message here is: a comprehensive AI transformation plan does not necessarily need to be approved by the board and implemented company-wide. It may simply require a decision to automate one high-impact cash management workflow and a commitment to moving from concept to implementation in a quarter or two. 

Don’t wait for a ‘Big AI’ revolution that may never arrive. By leveraging purpose-built automation from partners like Embat, you can transition from manual workflows to real-time cash visibility in weeks, not years. It’s the fastest way to future-proof your finance department – and it might just ensure those early Friday drinks become a permanent fixture on the calendar. 

This article was written for the UKISUG community, drawing on publicly available research, official SAP documentation, and insights from across the user group. Implementation timelines represent general industry guidance and results may vary based on organisational complexity and readiness. 

About the author 

Theo Wasserberg, Head of UK&I, Embat 

Theo Wasserberg, Head of UK&I at Embat, is an SAP ecosystem veteran with an extensive background in SAP consultancy and systems implementation. After years of solving complex ERP challenges for UK & Irish businesses, and completed an MBA at INSEAD, Theo now focuses on helping finance leaders bridge the ‘AI gap” through seamless cash management automation. 

Also Read

• Financial planning for changing economic cycles
• Visibility and Governance: How to Prove Compliance When AI Decides
• How Companies Can Lose Tens of Millions Without Being “Cash Constrained”
• FinTech Interview with Theo Wasserberg, Head of UK&I at Embat
• Finance Automation Is Having Its Sourdough Starter Moment
• From ledgers to the cloud: the evolution of treasury management systems
• Working capital in service of shareholder value
• Counterparty Management: Automating Payments and Collections
• 10 Ways to Optimise Your Cash forecasting
• How Embedded Finance is Changing Bank Reconciliation
• Handling Treasury Management in the Digital Era

Join our Treasury Community

Treasury Masterminds is a community of professionals working in treasury management or those interested in learning more about various topics related to treasury management, including cash management, foreign exchange management, and payments. To register and connect with Treasury professionals, click [HERE] or fill out the form below.