More than half, or 59%, of finance executives in the UK believe digitalisation will increase the productivity of each individual, according to a report from international recruitment firm Robert Half.

The report, Digital transformation and the future of hiring, also showed that finance executives believe that automation will enable employees to focus less on data entry and more on the execution of tasks (53%), as well as providing opportunities to learn new capabilities (51%).

Furthermore, the report found that digital processes will be extended to manual, data entry tasks such as financial modelling (41%), generating financial reports (40%), project management and reporting (38%) within the next three years. As a result, payroll (37%), financial planning (33%), accounts payable (38%) and accounts receivable (32%) are expected to be the roles impacted by automation by 2020.

Overall, 87% of executives have recognised the positive impact that the growing reliance on technology holds for organisations, according to Robert Half.

“Digitalisation will offer a new approach where labour and time-intensive processes can be shifted to allow for more value-added work to take place,” Matt Weston, Director at Robert Half UK said. “Automation is impacting traditional business functions in a big way. Finance is no exception and professionals will need to be prepared to hold a more prominent and integrated influence on the wider business, gaining new skills that will see them through the technological shift.”