It’s not even the holiday season but forward-thinking Canadian businesses, and in particular, their CFOs are already looking at the trends for next year, and the best ways to stay ahead. Most of the trends that are pertinent to CFOs are related to technology, and the following is a roundup of some of the most significant tech-related concepts to stay ahead of for the upcoming year.

Advanced Expense Management

Most large Canadian businesses aren’t still relying on manual expense management processes, but they don’t necessarily have leading-edge technology in place yet. It’s important for CFOs to explore what’s out there in terms of expense report software.

Things to look for include features that will make the software well-equipped for global travel and marketplace, for example having the ability to work across currencies and languages. Other things to make sure are integrated into new expense management software in 2018 include mobile-friendly capabilities, robust analytics, and flexible, customizable control options.

Empowering Employees To Take More Control of Technology

In the past, the idea of IT and technology, in general, was seen as something left to the professionals, namely the IT department. That’s starting to change, however because most of the technology being used by modern Canadian businesses is SaaS, which doesn’t require the same level of intervention from the IT professionals as older forms of software and tech.

This means that CFOs and financial departments can start empowering employees to take more control over what’s happening with technology. Along with this are opportunities for multi-departmental cross-training, and breaking down some of the silos that could be a potential obstacle to forward-thinking businesses.

More Remote Employees

The idea of employees traveling being able to connect with the company expense management system was already touched on above, and it’s important, but there will also be more opportunities for finance professionals to look outside the confines of traditional hiring.

With so much work being done in a mobile or remote way, CFOs can reach out to talent they might not otherwise have access to.

The idea of remote workers was previously seen as something better suited for the creative elements of business, such as copywriting or marketing, but now even the financial department can benefit from these opportunities because of constantly evolving technology.

Machine Intelligence

There has been a lot of discussion about artificial intelligence or AI, but what has the possibility to impact CFOs and financial professionals even more is machine intelligence.

There’s been a lot of focus on machine learning in the U.S. and other countries, and CFOs stand to enjoy the advantage that stems from the advanced algorithms and analysis.

Machine intelligence is likely to heighten the ability to solve difficult or complicated problems, eliminate redundancy through automation, and focus more on strategic objectives and how to best meet them.

Finally, one more tech trend worth mentioning is open architecture. With private cloud, on-premise solutions, there will be changes for CFOs to optimize pricing, operations, and vendor relationships, all from within the financial framework.