The second blog in our hybrid working series, Ben from Amnu explores how Finance departments can benefit from SharePoint.
How can Finance Departments get the most out of SharePoint?
SharePoint is a hugely powerful Intranet tool that can form the foundation of excellent organisational optimisation, but how can a finance team make the most of the solution? Often one of the busiest departments in a company, with a great deal of responsibility on their shoulders, financial / accounts teams can benefit hugely from the timesaving, process optimising features of SharePoint.
In this blog, we’ll take you through a handful of ideas that you can implement which can save time for your finance team and radically improve the service you provide to colleagues, customers, suppliers, and partners.
1. “Read the manual!”
Finance teams can be bombarded with questions from colleagues about a whole wealth of subjects. A “healthy” Intranet (one that’s got lots of up-to-date, relevant information frequented by all staff, who know how to use it) can become a place to direct colleagues to for self-service issues.
The Finance section of your Intranet could be easily updated by one of the team, then it’s available to colleagues 24*7. Embed the culture of “check the Intranet first – oh and by the way, you have tried Googling this haven’t you 
?” and build a list of FAQs and more detailed pages of information to save your department time you’d dearly like to spend getting the payroll done instead!
2. Provide an expenses Power App
Maybe you’re currently losing hours / days per month checking through receipts / reports submitted by your colleagues, having to categorise them, make sure they’re in line with corporate policy, have they got the VAT receipt and so on… or maybe you’re paying per employee per month for an off-the-shelf expenses solution, and maybe it doesn’t quite fit your needs?
Consider building an Expenses App using Power Platform, which, once built, won’t cost a penny (other than the licenses you’ve probably already got) and you’ll be able to adapt to your specific requirements. The beauty of SharePoint / Power Platform is that it works beautifully on a mobile phone, tablet or PC, so your colleagues will thank you for making their lives easier and you’ll save time in your own department to boot! If you’re concerned you don’t have the confidence / time to build the app yourself then Amnu are here to help!
3. Video it!
A significant burden on Finance teams can be the need to train colleagues, suppliers, partners and so on how to use line-of-business applications / systems, let alone teaching colleagues in your own team. Here at Amnu we’ve made a huge success of building up the Amnu Training Academy (sounds very grand, doesn’t it?).
In reality, all we’ve done is record training sessions (Teams has a really easy way of doing this – get in touch – we’ll show you!), uploaded them to Microsoft Stream and then linked to them from our SharePoint Intranet. This way, you’re buying back time each time a new colleague needs training – direct them to the video and have a brief catch up with them after to check they’ve understood.
4. Contracts / Purchase Order Management App
Apps can be built for a wide variety of different processes. A great idea is to look at your current practices and consider whether the process could be made more efficient / effective by digitalising* it.
Maybe you’re using Excel for a certain process. Now don’t get us wrong, here at Amnu HQ, we L
VE Excel, but ask yourselves “Is Excel really the right tool for this job?” …or paper, or whatever you’re using right now… for each process. As with the expenses app we talk about above, the Power Platform toolset is all there for you to use, however it may be wise to enlist the assistance of experts such as Amnu at least to get you started on the right track. The time organisations can save by optimising certain time-laborious processes can be significant to say the least.
* Sometimes referred to as digitizing.
5. News, Events, Announcements, Documents on SharePoint…
The list goes on! In a way, the only limit is your imagination! SharePoint provides a hugely versatile way of interacting with your colleagues. It’s SO EASY to keep up to date when you’ve been shown how, and that’s just SharePoint! When you see how easily it integrates with other applications such as Microsoft Teams, the transformation truly starts to take place in your organisation. SharePoint is designed to be used by “non-techies”, so don’t be afraid, dive in! – and if you need a little support, call Amnu!
Amnu are Microsoft specialists, and we can help make sure that the deployment of SharePoint for your workplace is seamless, as well as provide help with how to navigate and get the most out of its new features. Get in touch!
FAQ’s
What is digitalisation?
Digitalisation (or digitalization) is the use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities; it is the process of moving to a digital business. Sometimes referred to as digitisation / digitization.
What is Microsoft Power Platform?
Microsoft Power Platform is a suite of technologies which enable development of tailored solutions to enable business transformation / digitalisation. The Power Platform includes Power Apps, Power Portals, Power Automate, Power Virtual Agents and Power BI.
What is Microsoft Stream?
Microsoft Stream is an Enterprise Video service where people in your organization can upload, view, and share videos securely. You can watch videos from across your organization in the Stream application or in other applications you use every day—any time, on any device.
What is Microsoft SharePoint?
SharePoint is a Microsoft product which enables organisations to share and manage content, knowledge, and applications to empower teamwork, quickly find information, and seamlessly collaborate.
What is Microsoft Teams?
Microsoft Teams is a collaboration app built for hybrid work so you and your team stay informed, organized, and connected — all in one place.
About Amnu – Your UK Microsoft Partner
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Amnu are Microsoft 365 Specialists who provide a full range of services for the platform. This includes Support, Training, Adoption, Consultancy and Migration. Learn more about the Amnu story or Contact Us, our number is 01189000573.