^The APQC Blog

One thing recent years have made clear is that we’re navigating an era of rapidly shifting economic headlines. In this environment, finance departments must stay agile, prepared to adapt swiftly, and equipped to make well-informed decisions at a moment’s notice.

There’s a group of recruiting functions that has managed the seemingly impossible—they’ve achieved low recruiting costs, low recruiter headcount, fast time to hire, and high levels of new hire retention. 

It’s safe to say that recruiting technology plays a key role. 

As we approach the close of another dynamic year, it’s an ideal time to reflect on some of the critical areas that shaped the world of finance throughout 2024.

Each year APQC surveys process professionals to understand their priorities and challenges for the upcoming year.

End-to-end processes are cross-functional processes that comprise all the steps to accomplish a specific outcome or goal. Defining and mapping end-to-end processes (E2E) have been the number one process management challenge for at least the past three years.

November is one of my favorite months of the year as we usher in cooler weather, fall decor, and the opportunity for APQC to speak at “KNOWvember” events.

Did you know that 97% of organizations focus on process management?

In APQC’s 2024 Supply Chain Priorities and Challenges research, supply chain professionals emphasized the importance of soft skills like change management and collaboration.

Through its annual Financial Management Priorities survey, APQC found that late customer payments are one of the most common cash flow management challenges facing organizations today.

An executive at a regional bank recently confided in me that while his senior leaders all agreed that they wanted to be more innovative, he believed they all had wildly different understandings of what the word “innovation” meant.