Which finance processes do you think could be moved to a capability centre first?
High-volume, transactional, and repeatable processes are the best starting point, especially where standardisation and automation are possible. These include:
Transactional billing
O2C collections (not complex accounts)
P2P
Dashboard / reporting
Data analysis for the business
R2R, particularly where there is automation / AI opportunity
Expenses
Which finance processes do you think could not be moved to a capability centre?
Business or customer facing, judgement-based, control-heavy, or locally embedded activities are less suitable to move. These include:
Business partnering
Operational business controllers
Treasury
Internal control / SOX
Project management
Customer-facing activities
What factors influence the ability to move a process and how can negative ones be mitigated?
The key factors listed were:
Level of complexity
Automation opportunity
Criticality
Maturity
How negative factors could be mitigated
High complexity
Simplify and standardise the process first
Document exceptions and reduce local variations
Low automation opportunity
Improve system support, workflow tools, or AI / automation before transition
Remove manual steps where possible
High criticality
Retain strong governance and controls
Consider a phased migration or hybrid model rather than moving everything at once
Low process maturity
Stabilise the process first
Define clear ownership, SOPs, KPIs, and service levels before transfer
Summary
Move standard, repeatable, transactional work to a capability centre first.
Be cautious with business-facing, control-sensitive, or judgement-heavy processes.
Success depends on how simple, automatable, critical, and mature the process is before transition.