The Process to Develop Ardent’s Annual BIG Trends and Predictions List
Since 2014, Ardent Partners has gathered our senior analyst team together usually at our headquarters in Boston (but this year virtually) during the second week of January for a multi-day kickoff, during which time we dedicate serious hours to review the prior year’s research and main findings. We discuss our key research findings from our different market research surveys as well as briefings with technology providers, consultants, and investors. We also discuss our consulting projects, interviews with AP and Finance practitioners, and general inquiries that we field every year.
Once we’ve done an exhaustive reviewed of our own work in the prior year (which we use to develop the list of Accounts Payable BIG Trends and Predictions), we investigate the macro and global issues that are facing AP and Finance practitioners everywhere.
A Few BIG Trends
#1 – The Global Pandemic Lingers On… and On
For nearly two years, AP teams have had to face an entirely new set of challenges, accelerated by a global pandemic that had disrupted an interconnected business world and its supply chain. One full year into the pandemic, a majority of businesses surveyed by Ardent Partners were seriously impacted with 15% reporting an “extraordinary” impact and another 48% reporting a “significant” impact on their business as a result of COVID-19. At the time of this survey in Q1, 2021, only five percent reported “little-to-no” impact on their business’ operations or bottom line results.
In the world of AP and financial operations, the impact has been pervasive, but not very deep because while 97% of all AP teams have been directly affected by the pandemic, only 28% reported either an “extraordinary” or “significant” impact on their departments.
It is true that the COVID-19 pandemic forced stay-at-home restrictions upon a majority of workers in all regions of the world, causing unrest for many at the company, community, family, and personal levels. AP teams, across the board, were impacted by the need to work in an entirely new setting, cut-off from their co-workers and their daily routines. It does, however, appear that AP departments were better prepared than other functions to work from home, having either already automated or been able to continue their communications virtually.
This has been a period of dramatic change and uncertainty. It is clear that the pandemic will impact AP teams in 2022. But, at what level and for how long, both remain unknown, highlighting the importance of having agile and automated operations.
#2 – The War for Talent Continues to Escalate
Staffing shortages are happening across most industries and sectors, some facing severe coverage crisis issues that threaten to undermine revenue, customer satisfaction, and how internal operations are run. The gaps in today’s workforce are caused by a combination of factors, including compensation standoffs, a refusal from workers to return to unsafe conditions, uncertainty about career paths, and, what is a relatively new phenomenon in the world of work – “the Great Resignation”, which has seen workers leaving jobs in staggering numbers with no immediate plans to re-enter the workforce.
Staffing shortages have led to a very real ‘war for talent’. The stakes for finding, attracting, and hiring the right talent are, perhaps, higher than they have ever been. Record-low unemployment numbers coupled with an all-time high number of job openings has led to struggle for many companies. A literal talent “frenzy” has hiring managers in all industries and geographies struggling to fill key positions. A real ‘war for talent’ has emerged with many companies increasingly pressed to staff basic operations. The hard truth is that there is no single solution for global staff shortages that are going to continue making headlines well into 2022. Accordingly, AP leaders must start developing new recruiting strategies and contemplate different.
Make sure to check back over the coming weeks as I share more Accounts Payable BIG Trends and Predictions for 2022.
