Upcoming ISG Provider Lens™ report will look at providers using automation, analytics and other emerging technologies to serve customers

Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm, has launched a research study examining providers of finance and accounting digital services.

The study results will be published in a comprehensive ISG Provider Lens™ report, called Finance and Accounting Digital Outsourcing Services, scheduled to be released in August. The report will cover a range of finance and accounting solutions that leverage automation and other digital technologies to make processes more efficient, increase productivity, improve data accuracy, reduce costs and enhance customer experience.

Enterprise buyers will be able to use information from the report to evaluate their current vendor relationships, potential new engagements and available offerings, while ISG advisors use the information to recommend providers to the firm’s buy-side clients.

The new report will look at ways finance and accounting digital services providers are automating many functions, said Jan Erik Aase, partner and global leader, ISG Provider Lens Research. “The nature of these functions not only requires an understanding of the domain, but also relies on effectively leveraging automation and analytics,” he said. “The automation journey is not limited to robotic process automation but goes a step further to enable decision-making and managing enterprise finances more efficiently. Service providers are offering artificial intelligence with natural language processing capabilities and machine learning.”

ISG has distributed surveys to more than 40 finance and accounting digital services providers. Working in collaboration with ISG’s global advisors, the research team will produce four quadrants representing the services the typical enterprise client is buying in the finance and accounting digital services space, based on ISG’s experience working with its clients. The four quadrants that will be covered are:

• Procure-to-Pay Services, assessing providers of services covering the complete range of accounts payable processes, from capturing, processing invoices, vendor queries, master data management and claims management to ensuring on-time payment. The nature of these transactions not only requires an understanding of the domain, but also relies on effectively leveraging automation and analytics. These providers use automation technologies including robotic process automation, artificial intelligence, natural language processing and machine learning.

• Order-to-Cash Services, covering services that are repetitive and transactional in nature. This quadrant will assess providers that provide end-to-end O2C services supporting the entire customer-to-cash lifecycle, driving more efficient processing, improving working capital performance and reducing days sales outstanding. O2C services also provide enterprises with more flexibility to price products and services competitively and gain a market advantage.

• Record-to-Report Services, assessing providers that provide end-to-end R2R services such as general ledger accounting and reconciliation, inter-company accounting, fixed assets accounting, regulatory compliance and taxation, treasury and risk management using a mix of automation, intelligent data and workflow solutions, and advanced business analytics. These are aimed at empowering CFOs to focus on the core business and leverage technology to get real-time insights for making decisions quickly and enabling their finance departments to function more effectively and with greater accuracy.

• Financial Planning and Analysis Services, covering providers that provide services such as budgeting, forecasting, financial planning, decision support and financial analysis, management reporting, and merger and acquisition and divestiture analysis. These provide the CFO organization with timely, reliable financial insights and reports for effective decision-making.

The report will cover the global finance and accounting digital services market. ISG analysts Amar Changulani and Venkatesh B. will serve as authors of the report.

An archetype report will also be published as part of this study. This report, unique to ISG, is the study of typical buyer types of finance and accounting digital services as observed by ISG advisors.

A list of identified providers and vendors and further details on the study are available in this digital brochure. Companies not listed as finance and accounting digital services providers can contact ISG and ask to be included in the study.

About ISG Provider Lens™ Research

The ISG Provider Lens™ Quadrant research series is the only service provider evaluation of its kind to combine empirical, data-driven research and market analysis with the real-world experience and observations of ISG's global advisory team. Enterprises will find a wealth of detailed data and market analysis to help guide their selection of appropriate sourcing partners, while ISG advisors use the reports to validate their own market knowledge and make recommendations to ISG's enterprise clients. The research currently covers providers offering their services globally, across Europe, as well as in the U.S., Germany, Switzerland, the U.K., France, the Nordics, Brazil and Australia/New Zealand, with additional markets to be added in the future. For more information about ISG Provider Lens research, please visit this webpage.

A companion research series, the ISG Provider Lens Archetype reports, offer a first-of-its-kind evaluation of providers from the perspective of specific buyer types.

About ISG

ISG (Information Services Group) (Nasdaq: III) is a leading global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business partner to more than 700 clients, including more than 75 of the world’s top 100 enterprises, ISG is committed to helping corporations, public sector organizations, and service and technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm specializes in digital transformation services, including automation, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory; managed governance and risk services; network carrier services; strategy and operations design; change management; market intelligence and technology research and analysis. Founded in 2006, and based in Stamford, Conn., ISG employs more than 1,300 digital-ready professionals operating in more than 20 countries—a global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence, deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research and analytical capabilities based on the industry’s most comprehensive marketplace data. For more information, visit www.isg-one.com.

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