Megan Weis, VP and general manager of finance & accounting for outsourcing services at Personiv, spoke with host Geoffrey Short on this episode of the Software & Technology Podcast. Weis brought her 20-plus years of experience in the finance and accounting world to this discussion on how companies can focus their employees’ energy on the tasks and initiatives that drive businesses forward.

There are everyday business tasks and activities a company must perform to keep operations running, but can these tasks overwhelm staff and cause more important initiatives from getting the attention they need?

“Getting these everyday tasks done really takes up the majority of a finance & accounting department’s time,” Weis said.

One suggestion, Weis said, is consolidating accounting systems. Process workflow was another area Weis pointed to as a way of understanding and removing bottlenecks. Finally, Weis said, outsourcing some accounting processes can also help companies streamline operations.

“I believe data-driven decision-making is opening people’s eyes to what they can do if they have the right talent in place and the time to analyze data,” Weis said.

If companies want to focus on data analysis and don’t have the time, outsourcing smaller, everyday processes is a solution. Weis said companies are typically using only 1% of the data they collect.

“Imagine what companies could accomplish by using up to 10% of the data they collect,” she said.