Bridging Financial Management & Corporate Communication Strategy

Sure, finance may be just a singular department out of a dozen — or more — at your corporation.

But, many of the tasks financial management handles touch every single team and vertical across the company.

And, of course, finance plays quite a pivotal role in your overall profitability and success.

Due to this, it's critical that financial management personnel can effectively communicate within their department as well as outside of it easily, quickly, and without having to worry about committing any costly security blunders.

The Many Roles of The Modern Financial Management Team 

Financial management is a broad term that any corporation can define in its way to fit its unique needs.

So, before we talk about how financial management pros can bridge the gap to communicate effectively and safely with the rest of their teams, let's ensure we're on the same page by laying out a basic explanation of financial management today.

At the foundational level, financial management departments handle tasks like accounting, payroll, invoice administration, tax preparation and payment, and controlling employee benefits.

As if that wasn't enough, there is also a more strategic plane on which financial management operates.

Certain groups within financial management organizations also help inform the overall business plan to make sure company assets and finances are handled in a way that ensures success and compliance. 

And they work to ensure that all departments adhere to budgets and hit performance goals to stay aligned with this business plan.

A robust financial management team supports the CFO or finance VP in building a long-term vision, tries to make and advise on the best financial decisions to realize that vision, and enacts day-to-day practices across verticals to keep the entire business moving in the right direction. 

The Rub: Keeping Finance Fast & Efficient — Without Sacrificing Security

As it turns out, a lot is happening in financial management.

All these different roles that finance teams are fulfilling mean they must interface almost constantly with everyone from the C-suite to the board of directors to the new entry-level hire that just started onboarding last week (whew!).

Today, there's one major and relatively new complication concerning all these financial management responsibilities: the remote workforce.

Of course, building a remote workforce comes with plenty of benefits. Chief among them is improved work-life balance, which boosts morale and, in turn, remote team productivity.

Equally important to note are the drawbacks of remote work. 

While there are a few, the primary concern regarding remote financial management is the need for more strategy around communicating sensitive information digitally, quickly, and securely.

Enter: 4 Rules & Tools for Swift, Secure Interdepartmental Communications

 If you, like many businesses, are looking for a way to empower your financial management team to work with highly sensitive materials without giving up any of the speed modern communication tooling has given us — we're here to help!

In this section, we'll cover some of the greatest current solutions for constructing your corporate communication strategy that enables rapid yet highly secure discussions among financial management departments and beyond. 

Gain Speed: Automate Financial Processe

Compared to the average, leading finance departments have found a way to spend almost 20% more time on value-adding tasks such as building and enforcing high-level financial plans.

How can you get on that level, efficiency-wise?

The key is automating repetitive business processes.

There are many tools out there that can liberate your financial management pros from dull, easy tasks related to data entry, invoice processing, payroll functions, benefits management, and beyond.

Dozens of types of software on the market for businesses of all sizes and budgets can grant your financial teams time to spend on more important to-dos that influence your company's financial compliance, success, and growth. 

Lock Down Security: Use a Safety-Obsessed Communication Platform 

While simple chat-based platforms have become the norm for some teams, when it comes to sharing sensitive financial documents and having private discussions about business assets — you can't trust just any old tool.

Beef up your security and chances of staying compliant with ever-changing data regulations with a security-focused employee communication app.

With the right internal communication software, your financial management personnel can connect with team leads, send sensitive data without relying on hackable email platforms, and even send out announcements and notifications to ensure everyone's on the same page with quarterly goals and progress. 

Stay on Track: Build a Culture of Communication Around Goals

Speaking of goals and progressing toward them — another piece of effective corporate communication that integrates the importance of financial management is company culture.

A company culture that understands hitting financial goals while aligning with compliance best practices is invaluable to overarching business prosperity. But how do you craft these goals in a way that inspires teams to strive toward them?

First, you communicate them clearly (use your employee comms app from the last point!) via the SMART goal method, which outlines that successful goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

Then, again, with great clarity, you communicate the key performance indicators (KPIs) you'll measure throughout the year to see how each department is advancing toward achieving its smart goals.

By working together to create, regularly discuss, and celebrate goals as a team, you can create a positive culture around financial communication and crush your goals. 

Improve Compliance: Communicate Go-to-Market Plans with Finance

Look, financial management teams don't want to be the bad guys.

However, they have to be sticklers in compliance with local, federal, and sometimes even international laws and regulations. If they aren't, the result can be hefty fines or even interruptions in doing business. And that is not something most financial departments have in their business plans for the year!

We've seen compliance issues arise when communications go from internal to external as part of the go-to-market strategy — a modern approach to sales and marketing outreach to potential customers.  

Read more on How to Build a Successful B2B Sales Strategy? The Ultimate Guide

Sales and marketing often have to craft creative messaging and use data from potential customers to generate interest in your business. However, it's easy to cross compliance lines if they aren't careful in how they do this. This line-crossing is particularly easy with today's consumer data privacy rules.

A communication strategy ensuring financial management stays involved in sales and marketing conversations is a great way to improve compliance and stop any issues before they reach your digital front door. 

How Will You Boost Financial Comms in Your Business?

As we all know, strategic communication is essential in the corporate world. This is particularly true concerning financial management decision-making and execution.

With a communication strategy focused on gaining speed, staying on track, improving compliance, and last but certainly not least, locking down security — your financial management team should enjoy the speed and safety they need to guide your business toward a successful future. 

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