7 in 10 Retail, Finance and Insurance CFOs Say Digital Investments Are Paying Off

Investments in digital systems for fraud prevention, working capital, and accounts receivable (AR) lead a long list of digital expenditures that are yielding benefits for these businesses.

These modernization efforts are seen as reducing errors while improving the quality and speed of work, which are proving powerful drivers for investments in back-office digital tech.

In the study “Digital Payments: Changing Economy Sparks New Priorities for Systems Spending,” a PYMNTS and Corcentric collaboration, 250 CFOs at healthcare, finance, and insurance businesses were surveyed, and the majority say they’re seeing payoffs from digital systems.

With healthcare as the only outlier, the study notes that retail, manufacturing, finance, and insurance CFOs “were more likely to report that their investments in digital payment systems improved their operations than CFOs from healthcare companies.”

The data show that 80% of manufacturing CFOs, 71% of retail CFOs, and 73% of finance and insurance CFOs saw improvements in working capital and credit systems from recent investments in digital payments technology.

Healthcare was the outlier here, as just under 6 in 10 (59%) of healthcare CFOs surveyed said their investments in digital payments led to operational improvements.

A wave of spending on back-office digital systems is attributed to businesses preparing for the changes impacting the broader economy, with a focus on specific areas. The study notes that “38% of healthcare companies were most motivated by improving AR processes, but 69% said the same for AP systems. Among manufacturers, 69% said that improvements to AP processes were the most important reason for their investments in digital systems, and 47% cited improvements to their AR functions.”

Procurement is another area where businesses in different verticals see value in bringing in digital systems. “Retailers and manufacturers have made strong commitments to upgrading the digital technology in their procurement systems since March 2020,” per the study, “with 48% of manufacturers and 33% of retailers making these investments.”

Additionally, 50% of healthcare firms surveyed plan to invest in accounts payable systems, and 57% are planning future investments in accounts receivable systems. The study notes that “similar shares of retailers and manufacturers plan to invest in these areas. The surveyed companies are also making digital investments in fraud prevention and risk management, with the highest share investing in this area.”

Get the study: Digital Payments: Changing Economy Sparks New Priorities for Systems Spending