Where finance teams still lose time today: insights from our integrated banking webinar

With 120 finance professionals joining, our recent webinar on integrated banking offered a clear view of where finance teams still experience friction today, and where there’s clear room for improvement.

Manual banking tasks remain a big part of daily work

Many organisations have already invested in digital tools such as ERP systems, accounting software and the Isabel 6 multibanking platform. But true integration is often still missing. As a result, manual actions remain part of the process.

We asked participants where they still lose most time in their financial workflows. The clear number one: manually downloading and importing bank files. This was followed by manually entering payments, while obtaining a clear, up-to-date financial overview ranked third.

Individually, these tasks may seem small. But together they create ongoing friction and complexity, leading to significant time loss.

Several hours per week spent on repetitive banking administration

We also asked participants how much time they spend each week on manual banking tasks:

51%: 1 to 3 hours per week
36%: more than 3 hours per week
13%: less than 1 hour per week

For most finance teams, this means at least one full working day per month is spent on tasks that could be automated.

But the impact goes beyond efficiency. It also affects where teams can focus their attention. Time spent on manual administration is time that cannot be invested in financial analysis, planning or strategic support for the business.

Moving from fragmented workflows to integrated banking

Rather than treating banking as a separate activity in a standalone platform, finance teams are increasingly looking for ways to make bank data directly available within their ERP or accounting software.

 Saving time is one benefit, but integrated banking also helps teams:

• reduce errors by limiting manual interventions

• gain faster visibility on their cash position

• free up time for analysis and strategic work

Not more tools but connecting systems

The key takeaway from the webinar: finance teams are not looking for additional tools. They already have plenty. The real challenge lies in connecting systems, data and workflows so that processes become smoother and more consistent.

Solutions like Isabel Connect help make this possible by integrating banking processes directly into existing software environments.