Why Finance Leadership Must Accelerate the Journey – with focus on data
Is your finance function ready for the big changes coming your way? Imagine your competitors cutting costs by a third and making decisions twice as fast—can your business afford to fall behind? Technology is reshaping how companies operate, but is your Global Business Services (GBS) team truly aligned with what CFOs need—not just want—to make a real difference? The question is no longer about whether transformation will happen, especially in Finance, but about the pace and scale at which it must be delivered.
Today, Global Business Services play a critical role in driving strategic decision-making and often serve as the foundation of a strong and agile Chief Financial Officer office. Finance leaders within these services are increasingly leading this shift. With the advent of artificial intelligence, effective data utilization, and rapid capability development, a leaner yet more capable finance function is a reality.
Accelerating Finance Transformation: The Digital Imperative
In best-in-class Global Business Services, most transactional activities are fully automated through digital platforms or advanced AI-driven models. Yet, many organizations are at varying levels of maturity according to the most recent PwC CFO Compass Survey, only 1/5 of Finance functions are ready to efficiently act as a business partner. As GBSs and Finance Functions as whole continue to evolve, the core of transformation sits within effective Integration of human workforce and AI capabilities leading to hybrid delivery models.
Latest PwC Finance Effectiveness Survey reveals that about 75% of CFOs declared that digital finance tools helped them make decisions at least 40% faster. Finance transformation programs are also cutting costs by up to 35% within two years and making data up to 98% accurate.
To meet the growing expectations from the business, finance professionals need to upskill and shift their focus from transactional activities. Finance teams already spend about two-thirds of their time on complex, specialised tasks.
Technology is at the heart of this change; leading finance teams use advanced touchless automation solutions with smart OCR capabilities to circumvent language dependencies and automate around 85% of accounts payable work. While machine learning can answer up to 60% of everyday finance questions, freeing up experts to focus on knowledge based and value added more important tasks.
Nearly half of finance leaders says that digital tools are their top investment for 2025. Automation and AI are helping them save up to 90% of time on key processes and improve forecasting by up to 40%. For example, automated accounts payable lets companies process invoices three times faster and cut manual work by 75%. Monthly financial close times, which used to take over a week, now take just four to five days with more than 80% of the work done automatically.
These improvements not only make things faster—they also save money. According to Latest PwC’s Finance Effectiveness Benchmarking Study, top quartile organisations have reduced the cost of finance to 0.55% of company revenue. Invoice processing costs have dropped from $9–$12 per invoice to just $2–$5, and the best teams process up to 85% of invoices without any manual involvement. In accounts receivable, we observe almost similar levels of automation as in case of accounts payable, nearly 90% of payments are posted automatically in the best-in-class GBSs, which reduces errors and boosts cash flow. New controls like continuous monitoring cut duplicate payments in half and speed up audits.
Winning in this new environment takes more than just using new technology. The best companies organize their teams around key processes (like purchase-to-pay, order-to-cash, and record-to-report) and make people accountable for results. They balance work between big central teams and local experts and use managed services for activities such as compliance. Centres of Excellence set the standards, drive automation, and share best practices, while good data management and ongoing controls are built in everywhere. User experience is improved with self-service tools and real-time feedback.
Change works best when it’s in focused stages. In the first year, companies can aim to cut close times by 20–40%, reduce manual journal entries by a third, increase use of purchase orders, and get invoice processing costs below $5 in less than nine months. Using machine learning for cash application and process mining can unlock even more value, freeing up working capital worth 1–3% of annual revenue and cutting errors and audit hours in half.
Talent Evolution, Human-Machine Collaboration, and Centres of Expertise in Modern Finance
The transformation of Global Business Services (GBS) is as much about people as it is about technology. While advanced automation and, AI (inc. machine learning) is reshaping the function, it is the seamless interaction between human expertise and intelligent systems that truly defines the future of finance operations. At the forefront of this evolution stand Centres of Expertise (CoE), which orchestrate the interplay between talent and machines, setting new standards for performance, innovation, and value delivery.
Talent Upskilling: The Shift Towards Digital and Analytical Excellence
The modern finance workforce is rapidly evolving, with data analytics, digital fluency, and cross-functional problem-solving becoming core competencies. According to recent industry analyses, 85% of finance roles now require data analytics capabilities—a leap from 35% just five years ago. This surge in demand for digital skills is prompting organizations to invest heavily in continuous upskilling programs. Companies that prioritise learning and development see up to 50% higher employee retention rates and 25% faster promotion cycles. The result is a workforce increasingly focused on analysis and strategic support: today, the average GBS finance professional dedicates 65% of their time to these higher-value activities, compared to just 35% on transactional processing—a near-complete reversal of pre-transformation ratios.
To embed these skills, finance departments are creating networks of “digital champions” in every business line, collaborating with external experts and systematically investing in team training. This proactive approach ensures that staff can process large and heterogeneous volumes of data, design advanced statistical models, and oversee the reliability of AI-generated outputs.
Lead the Change: Transformed Finance as an Integral Part of Modern Global Business Services
The time to act is now. Finance leaders must accelerate the transformation of their Global Business Services and overall finance functions by embracing advanced technologies and investing in the skills that unlock true strategic value. The impact is transformative and can be distilled to 3 key take aways:
- With proven automation, unlock massive productivity gains that slash costs and speed up operations.
- With 60% of finance teams focused on insights1, Global Business Services power smarter, faster decisions that boost agility.
- With transparent audit trails in digital platforms, tighten governance, slash compliance risks, and drive accountability.
“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” - Charles Darwin
Sources:
PwC’s AI Agent Survey 2025
PwC Pulse Survey 2024 & 2025
PwC Finance Effectiveness Benchmarking Report 2024
PwC CFO Compass Survey: Transformation Roadmap 2023
PwC Benchmarking Tool
Authors:
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Sabyasachi Ghosh – Director, PwC Poland | Magdalena Niemczyk – Senior Manager, PwC Poland |
