Solve transactional challenges with our integrated approach
The rising market pressure to reduce costs and increase innovations, combined with rapidly changing environment conditions, is creating major challenges for our clients. Company processes need to be designed in a way that employees can efficiently deal with big data and recognize different process variants in a transparent manner – and all of this always with an eye to timeliness, stakeholder satisfaction, employee leadership and compliance.
Transactional excellence focuses on holistic, end-to-end finance process optimisation. Separate solutions and silo mentality in company processes will, at best, only have any effect at a few isolated points within the company. Because of this, finance function structures are increasingly moving away from individual departments and silo mentality towards end-to-end business partners and organisations. Our work in transactional excellence aims to organise and improve these processes, taking a holistic approach.
Why do you need transactional excellence?
End-to-end finance process optimisation
How can new technology help to increase efficiency and optimise costs in existing processes?
Keywords such as RPA, process mining and machine learning or the transformation of the SAP system to S/4HANA are currently on the agenda of many companies.
But just using these new solutions and techniques doesn’t guarantee success – whether for digitalisation or process optimisation. Every business process also needs to be carefully considered, both on an individual level and – most importantly – on a holistic level.
In many companies, transactional processes are not fully transparent, making automation a daunting prospect. Isolated solutions, such as separately automating the individual steps of a process, will often have less of an effect on the process as a whole than you might hope.
“Transactional excellence is our new way of optimising your processes – with a holistic focus. This allows us to realise the full benefits of individual solutions, in a complete, end-to-end process.”
Our services at a glance
- Process mining
- Robotic process automation (RPA)
- Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning
- Purchase to payables excellence
- Benchmarking and KPI management
- Digital controls
Process mining
Process mining is playing an important role in shaping and improving processes for an increasing number of companies. Our process mining service is designed to help you create transparent visualisations of your processes, based on digital footprints; this involves end-to-end analysis of all process variants, individual KPIs and conformance checks, along with evaluation of potential for automation and other features. Our process optimisation experts will then work with you to implement the data models you need for initial projects – these might serve as the basis for automation or transformation projects, for example. We are also happy to help you with efficient integration of process mining into your company, or with continuous process monitoring – either using your own licence, or PwC’s process mining as a service (PROMaaS).
Robotic process automation (RPA)
Using intelligent software in your company can make many tasks quicker and more robust, particularly repetitive manual tasks. Automation – using technology such as RPA – reduces the rate of errors and costs caused by time delays or rework activities. RPA also creates extra capacity because your employees are no longer tied up by monotonous, time-consuming activities of your processes; instead, they are free to use the time saved by RPA to deal with more urgent tasks. Our experts are here to help you throughout your journey towards implementing RPA. This includes examining and comparing providers and solutions, conducting a feasibility study, undertaking testing, implementing the solution, monitoring its performance and embedding the new solution into your existing compliance structure.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning
As well as RPA and tool-based workflows, we also use AI and machine learning to enable digitalisation of your more complex finance function activities. Our Accounts Payable 4.0 solution, for example, can automatically assign and post non-PO invoices. Powered by an algorithm, a neural network automatically learns how to generate posting information and post invoices based on analysis of big data and interactions with your accountants.
Purchase to payables excellence
Purchase to payables excellence is a series of carefully selected digital solutions and services which enable a high level of automation in accounting. In particular, they can help with tasks that currently take up a lot of your capacity. Our solutions are designed to make your daily accounting work easier, taking an end-to-end look at all your processes which might include e-invoicing or company-wide introduction of invoice management tools.
Benchmarking and KPI management
Many business owners, particularly in family businesses or middle market companies, are sceptical as to whether investing in digitalisation and automation will really make their business more competitive. We’ve frequently found that administrative functions are becoming increasingly important for our clients, and many clients want to assess their flexibility and competitiveness. We’re also often asked to evaluate our clients’ ranges of products and services in terms of available resources and costs involved – so that these can be optimised.
We can offer a wide range of benchmarking and KPI management services for all these issues and more.
Digital controls
Our digital controls team has many years of expertise in governance, risk management and compliance (GRC), and combines this knowledge with innovative technological trends to help you develop an internal control system (ICS) fit for the future. Digitalising your ICS includes automation of control activities using the latest RPA/AI technology and ICS software, continuous monitoring of the ICS across your company to identify anomalies as soon as they occur, and using process mining to closely examine company processes for weak points. The extra information this provides enables you to realize considerable cost savings, increase the quality of controls and better monitor risks.
Kion Group is going for automation in its ‘KION 2027’ strategy
Intralogistics corporation the Kion Group has set itself the target of boosting value creation and increasing employee motivation. The company’s most recent project is a ‘bot factory’, which produces innovative software solutions to enable further automation – and hence optimisation – of business processes. This will enable Kion to further extend its lead in the industry.
Benchmarking success: are your administrative functions flexible and streamlined?
We would like to invite you to take part in our short survey – which is an opportunity for you to check whether your company’s administrative functions are streamlined, flexible and ready for the future. Filling in the survey will take no more than ten minutes of your time.
The following link will take you to a survey created by PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage 35–37, 60327 Frankfurt am Main, Germany (PwC). The survey was created using a service from Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States (Google).
PwC and Celonis
We at PwC recognise that process mining is playing an important role in designing processes for an increasing number of companies. Working together with Celonis, we can provide support to your company – not just support with using process mining, but also sustainably integrating it into your company to increase efficiency and drive your transformation.
PwC and Hypatos
Hyperautomation remains the number one strategic technology trend for achieving transactional excellence since 2020. At PwC, we live that transformation and are aware of the relevance of Deep Learning/ Machine Learning technologies in the context of Hyperautomation. Our clients and we therefore welcome our close partnership with Hypatos. Together with Hypatos AI and our PwC finance experts, we automate your document processing.
Contact us
Christian Bartmann
Partner Risk Assurance Solutions und Co-Lead Kompetenz-Center Process Mining, PwC Germany
Tel: +49 69 9585-2848
