Technology Impact On Business

Question 1

What is technology’s impact on finance?

Answer 1

Positive and negative
Opportunity and threat
Finance team must embrace the opportunities and eliminate the threats or turn them into opportunity’s.

Question 2

What will technology and automation have the largest impact on?

Answer 2

Technology and automation will play an important role in all of the activities of the finance function but will have the largest impact on the ‘assembly’ and ‘analysis’ activities.
• free up’ the resources of the finance function professionals who can now place greater focus on the ‘advising’ and ‘applying/executing ’ activities.

Question 3

What will the finance function have to do to keep up to date with the changes?

Answer 3

The finance function will need to develop its competencies

have the necessary skills to provide the influence and impact required.

Question 4

Explain some examples of technology supporting digital transformation

Answer 4

Accounts payable/ receivable: automated invoice processing
Supplier Management: machines vet suppliers by checking credit scores and tax info and set them up on the company system without the need for human input
Procurement: can make the process paperless and house all information in a data base
Expense management: review and approve expense to check the compliancy against company policy. Machine scan read receipts, audit expenses and alert humans when an infraction has occurred.

AI chatbots: speak to customers and resolve issues without the need for a human

Question 5

What are the main technological changes that impact the finance function?

Answer 5

New data sources and analysis methods
• providing opportunities for better informed decision making
• predictive analysis has improved forecasting and reduced the need to rely on the personal judgment of the finance professionals
• Pulling demand for talent from L4 to L3
• Automation and cognitive computing
• Robotic process automation (RPA) automate many routine, clerical activities
• Cognitive computing such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning and natural language processing, allows automation on advanced data analytics and report writing
• Most tasks at the bottom of diamond shape will be automated while higher up the shape are less likely to be automated.

Question 6

What is the 4th industrial revolution?

Answer 6

Characteristics:
• Fusion – cyber & physical systems will continue to fuse
becoming increasingly autonomous
• Employment – robotics automation & digitalization are predicted to make many jobs redundant or fundamentally different to today
• Artificial Intelligence and machine learning – improved computing speed and optimized supply chains, enables products to be customized more easily and more cheaply
• Machine led manufacturing – the shift from machines helping workers manufacture, to workers helping machines will accelerate
• Improved asset management – benefits to the natural world through more efficient use of natural assets, a shift to renewables, innovations in recycling, coupled with digitization are anticipated to benefit the natural world.

Question 7

what are the key technologies driving the 4th industrial revolution?

Answer 7

Cloud computing

2. Big data & data analytics
3. Process automation
4. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
5. Data visualization
6. Blockchain
7. Internet of Things (IoT)
8. Mobile technologies
9. 3D printing

Question 8

What is AI?

Answer 8

is an area of computer science that emphasizes the creation of intelligent machines/agents that work and react like human beings.
• Latest development include: • Voice and image recognition • Planning
• Problem solving
• Learning and make decisions
• Machine learning is an area within AI

Question 9

How is AI used in finance and business?

Answer 9

TikTok and Instagram also developed various filters that can be applied
onto photos and videos.
• Facebook, in its process of recommending new friends, recognition of friends using user uploaded photos
• Apple and Amazon have developed and marketed voice recognition systems, to be built into existing product (such as Apple with its Siri system, Amazon with its Alexa system)
• In Finance, a lot of robots are designed and deployed for automatic trading of financial assets / contracts in market
• AI can also generate reports with recommendations for decision making.

Question 10

What is blockchain?

Answer 10

is a shared, immutable ledger that facilitates the process of recording transactions and tracking assets in a business network (IBM, n.d.)
• Anything of value can be tracked and traded on a blockchain network
• E.g. cryptocurrencies, NFT artwork, contract, information

Question 11

How does blockchain work?

Answer 11

Each transaction is recorded as a block of data which contain a hash, hash of the previous block and the data to be recorded in the block.
• When a new block is added, a unique new hash will be generated and added to the new block, where the previous block’s hash will also added to this new block.
• As the records are distributed, everyone in the blockchain system will share the same set of record, the system will validate the block sequence if it confirms with the rest of the distributed record, after validated, the new block will be added to the chain of record.

Question 12

How is blockchain used in finance and business?

Answer 12

To record information, e.g. supply chain tracking and
allow automatic trading
• Cryptocurrency (to create, trade and payment) • To create Smart contract

Question 13

What are the + and - of Blockchain?

Answer 13

Advantages: • Security
• Greater trust • Efficiency
• Disadvantages:
• Need talent to build the solution • Can be expensive
• Energy consumption

Question 14

What is the internet of things?

Answer 14

Describe the network of smart devices with inbuilt software and connectivity to the internet allowing them to constantly monitor and exchange data. (usually called Smart technology)
• Examples:
• Smart meters
• Doorbells and security camera • Wearable Tech
• Home appliances
• Cars
• Transport and infrastructure
• Manufacturing equipment and plant

Question 15

How is the internet of things used in finance and business?

Answer 15

IoT allows a network of smart devices with inbuilt sensors and internet connectivity to collect and transmit data constantly, forms a source of big data for data analytics or feed into process automation and or AI to make the system even smarter.
• IoT in finance and business examples: • Business planning
• Resources allocation
• Optimize processes
• Minimize expenditure
• Provide advanced warning of potential issues

Question 16

What is 3D printing?

Answer 16

3D printing also called additive manufacturing where an object is created layer by layer. It allows complex parts and components to be produced much cheaper, faster and in entirely customizable manner.
• 3D printing involves the use of modelling software to create a blueprint and output using 3D printer.
• Usual materials: thermoplastic composite type (such as plastic, metal)
• As technology becomes more advanced, food and even human cells can be printed in 3D.

Question 17

What are the advantages of 3D printing?

Answer 17

offers various advantages such as:
• Customisation
• Less waste
• Confidentiality
• Cost effectiveness and convenience in creating prototype
• In terms of finance, it helps to achieve cost efficiency on:
• Savings on costs due to less waste on raw materials and no over production through on-demand production
• Cutting down inventory holding of goods that enable Just-in-time production.

Question 18

What is mobile technology?

Answer 18

Mobile Technology used cellular network to communicate where the last link is wireless, the network enables radio coverage over a geographical area, enable portable devices such as smart phones, tablets and other smart (IoT) devices to communicate by wireless signal transmission.
• Developments in mobile technology have seen mobile phones progress from basic call and message devices in the late 1980s and 1990s to the smart phones, tablets and various devices we see today.

Question 19

How is mobile technology used in finance and business?

Answer 19

The mobile technology also support other technology applications such as cloud computing, IoT, Big data, analytics, real time data visualization, AI, blockchain, automation and more.
• Mobile technology allows improvement in finance and business professionals on:
• Communication and flexibility across and within teams • Scalability of systems
• Less paperwork
• Instant data visibility

Question 20

What is a digital mindset?

Answer 20

an extension of “helicopter view” and requires leaders and staff to see beyond the smaller incremental considerations of digital adaptation, instead thinking about the longer term vision for the organization and how it will appear in a digital world.

Question 21

What are the ethics in a digital world?

Answer 21

More and more data are generated and digital system integration becomes more widely and deeply penetrated into our lives.
• How data is obtained and being used is a major concern in digital world
• Other than that, corporate social responsibility will also look different in the digital world.