Rethinking finance tech: People, projects and purpose

There’s nothing like the buzz of a new tool that promises to fix everything.

You see the demo, hear the pitch and suddenly, you’re envisioning a transformed team — month-end cut in half, reconciliations humming in the background, errors all but eliminated. It’s a compelling vision, and you buy in. The vendor assures you it’s plug-and-play. And then?

Reality hits.

Spreadsheets aren’t syncing. The data looks off. Your team is drowning in error messages and Slack pings. That “easy” integration turns into a six-month side project. And now you’re explaining why the month-end close is taking longer than before.

I’ve seen this scenario too many times to count. It plays out across Finance and Accounting departments in every industry, from traditional banking to fintech startups. We invest in shiny new tech, hoping it will solve deep-rooted problems, but it often just adds another layer of complexity.

It’s frustrating. We’re supposed to be the most efficient, most precise part of the organization. And yet here we are, still manually wrangling data at 10 PM on day five of the close.

What’s really going on?

We’re drowning in systems

The first problem is systemic, literally.

Finance departments are sitting on a mountain of systems: ERP, EPM, CRM, tax engines, payment apps, compliance tools and spreadsheets galore. These weren’t designed to work together; they were purchased in different eras for different reasons, often by different leaders. Yet, we expect them to play nicely when we bring in a modern automation tool.

It’s like trying to build a smart home with ‘90s wiring. Nothing connects the way it should.

And what do most organizations do when their tech stack fails to deliver? They buy more tech. We throw technologies at the problem instead of stepping back and asking: What’s the actual process we’re trying to fix?

The tools aren’t the issue. It’s the lack of orchestration. Without a unified way to connect and automate processes across systems, you’re just layering new complexity on top of old complexity. 

Change management is a people problem

Then, there’s the human side. Let’s be honest: accountants and finance folks aren’t the most adventurous bunch when it comes to change.

I don’t say that to be critical — I say it because I’ve lived it. Finance runs on control, precision and reliability. The idea of upending a process that “works” (even if it’s slow and manual) can feel risky or even reckless.

When someone comes in with a new system and says, “Trust me, this will change everything,” our first instinct is skepticism. Rightly so. We’ve all been burned before. But you can’t automate what you don’t understand, and you can’t expect people to embrace change if you haven’t helped them see the point.

Too often, we focus on the features — APIs, dashboards, machine learning — when what people want to know is: How is this going to make my job better?

If you’re a finance leader trying to drive change, this is your job. Translate tech into outcomes. Don’t tell your controller about artificial intelligence; tell her she won’t have to double-check 4,000 intercompany entries next month. Don’t explain event-based triggers; show your team how the system will flag issues before the auditors do.

Change sticks when it solves real problems in a way that feels personal. That’s the only kind of buy-in that matters.

Big projects fail, but small wins build momentum

Here’s another hard truth: The “big bang” implementation model is dead.

I’ve been part of those projects. The 18-month roadmap, the all-hands kickoff with 47 stakeholders, the integration timeline that looks more like a fantasy novel than a project plan.

They rarely work. Not because people aren’t smart or hardworking but because the scope is too massive and the tech is too rigid. Most of the time, you end up disappointed.

Incremental change and agile thinking are the only things that drive real outcomes, build confidence and give you clarity about the next steps.

Start with one process or pain point. Automate something ugly but contained — maybe a manual journal upload or a tedious bank reconciliation process. Let the team see the value in weeks, not months. Then expand.

You don’t need a fully transformed department tomorrow. You need a repeatable way to move forward without losing momentum or breaking what’s already working.

Automation as the enabler

I don’t believe in automation for the sake of automation, but I do believe in automation as the enabler of the bigger things: clarity, consistency, control. Not just faster closes but smarter ones.  Not just fewer errors but better insights.

The best automation platforms remove the drudge work that wastes people’s time. They connect the dots between systems that were never meant to talk to each other. And they give leaders the visibility and confidence they need to make better decisions without waiting until day eight of the close to find out what went wrong.

The vision isn’t all robots and magic. It’s a finance function that finally works the way it should.

Stop buying tools and start building capabilities

If you take one thing from our exploration of the finance transformation struggle, let it be this: Technology will not fix broken processes or siloed teams.

You have to fix those things first, or at least see them clearly, before the tech can do its job. That’s what real finance transformation looks like. Plugging in a new system isn’t the same thing as building the kind of team, mindset and roadmap that can adapt and improve one process at a time.

This is about more than just one team or project. It’s about how we evolve as a profession.Don’t let your organization become another cautionary tale. Be the example. Explore the potential impact of Finance Automation by Redwood.