EDITOR’ S QUESTION
ANGUS MILLEDGE, HEAD OF NEW BUSINESS SALES – EMEA, SAP CONCUR
During the financial crisis of 2008, I worked in a finance role in a large company in the chemical & automotive sector. The impact was profound across the world, and there were many lessons learnt during this time. In today’ s current market uncertainty, sharing these lessons can be invaluable for your business. By reflecting on the strategies and insights gained from navigating the 2008 crisis, we can better prepare and adapt to the challenges we face now, ensuring resilience and informed decision-making.
One of the most apparent lessons was the need for more liquidity in businesses. Many organisations were focused on top-line profitability, but we soon learnt that liquidity was crucial to survive the financial crisis.
The second lesson was on our appetite for risk. Across the board, our risk appetite has diminished, with companies now being more cautious about how they take and manage risk. Many of the institutions that were at the forefront of the GFC [ Global Financial Crisis ] were considered too large to fail, but we now know that isn’ t the case.
Regulatory oversight has improved significantly since the previous financial crisis, and it continues to evolve with new industries and technologies. Government, regulators and businesses working together play a key role in preventing financial crises and ensuring strong processes and controls are in place so the risk of these events is minimised. negotiate better terms by having access to more comprehensive data.
Businesses are looking for technology that allows them to be agile, and readily available data is supporting this. Consolidating data from disparate systems will help to have actionable data in near real-time, which can help businesses scale and grow.
Using AI for businesses can help to support decision-making and free up employees for value-adding tasks. Of course, this would be supported by human oversight, but we’ re seeing the benefit of leveraging Business AI in our processes.
For finance leaders looking for guidance on operating in an uncertain environment, my main piece of advice is to ensure their technology supports their strategic goals, whether they are looking to grow organically, enter new markets or add new product lines. This is quite often something that holds businesses back. It’ s really critical that the systems that businesses have support the ever-changing climate.
ONE OF THE MOST APPARENT LESSONS WAS THE NEED FOR MORE LIQUIDITY IN BUSINESSES.
In this day and age, we’ re lucky to have a whole raft of technology options to leverage to minimise risk and better prepare for these events. Utilising technology such as AI can help companies to navigate supply chain disruptions, allowing businesses to source goods and services more effectively. Automation can enable businesses to pivot to suppliers offering better value and
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