Future-Proofing Your Business: Essential Strategies for Long-Term Success

If you feel like the pace of technology is speeding up, you’re not alone. AI was a buzzword just a few years ago and now it seems to be everywhere. It’s expected to account for $243 billion in spending in 2025 and grow to $826 billion by 2030.

Businesses today are investing in new tools and strategies to stay current and streamline processes to future-proof their organizations for long-term viability. Technology is part of the solution, but it goes beyond that.

What Is Future-Proofing and Why Is It So Important?

Future-proofing your business means being prepared for whatever comes your way. Creating an agile and flexible approach, powered by data, automation, and technology, can help you stay ahead of the competition and ensure you’re ready for what’s next.

It’s about looking forward and building the skills and processes for resiliency and sustainability.

Why does future-proofing matter? Things are changing rapidly. Consumers continue to demand more (and they have more options than ever before). Global competition continues to grow and government policies continue to shift. Lately, rising prices have had a significant impact on profit margins. Economic uncertainty and political unrest can spring up at any time.

History is littered with companies that failed to adapt. Despite 65 million customers and 9,000 stores, Blockbuster ignored streaming media. Despite inventing the digital camera, Kodak never capitalized on it. MySpace didn’t have a scalable and flexible structure, losing out to Facebook. The list goes on and on.

What Practices Should Companies Adopt to Prepare for the Future?

Tomorrow’s successful businesses are investing in future-proofing strategies now to handle anything that comes, finding efficiencies to cut costs and enable scalability, and employing best practices to build strong, resilient organizations.

Focusing on Outcomes

As you consider the investments you want to make — both resources and capital — think about the outcomes you are trying to achieve. While your checklist might vary slightly from the one below, here is an example of where many companies are focusing their efforts to future-proof business:

• Increasing productivity – a top goal for cost containment
• Enhancing employee experience – key to attracting and retaining top employees
• Improving adaptability – making sure you have the tools you need to support flexible and agile business practices
• Delivering better visibility – ensuring you have near real-time insight into all of your processes, especially when it comes to spending and expense management
• Reducing risk – minimizing cyber risks and fraud

You can go in-depth on these strategies in our eBook, The 5 Most Important Business Outcomes for Finance Leaders and How to Maximize Them.

Embracing Automation

Every process you can automate frees up your workforce to take on tasks that create more value for your business. For example, SAP Concur research found that organizations with automated accounts payable solutions processed 64% more invoices monthly while achieving 20% average cost savings.

Training, Upskilling, and Reskilling

Upskilling and reskilling your workforce will be critical to future success. A 2025 LinkedIn Survey forecasts that 70% of the skills used in most jobs currently will change by 2030. Teams will need training and technology to adapt.

The Conference Board recommends that businesses focus on:

• Prioritizing upskilling on forward-looking technologies and skills
• Strengthening education pipelines and technology-enabled pathways
• Targeting technology research and adoption of cutting-edge tools
• Ensuring top business leadership is engaged and supportive of efforts

Upskilling needs to happen at every level of your organization, including finance departments.

Prioritizing Data Literacy

As artificial intelligence, machine learning algorithms, and predictive analytics become embedded in organizations, data literacy will become even more important. Modern solutions are empowering team members and reducing reliance on IT teams, using natural language processing (NLP) and drag-and-drop tools that enhance the employee experience and enable productivity. And solutions that provide end-to-end visibility of spend data enable finance teams to take a data-driven approach to decision-making and financial forecasting. 

This capability is critical, as 59% of finance leaders say their biggest frustration with cost control software is lack of data visibility. In addition,, team members must be comfortable working with these tools to optimize their impact– But 56% of CFOs say they have issues with ease-of-use and adoption of their cost control software. 

Without adopting new solutions and providing proper end-user training and enablement, organizations are falling behind competitors and will not be prepared for the future. AI is also transforming job roles, and entire industries and companies are investing heavily. 

Fifty-nine percent of IT leaders report that their AI implementations have met or exceeded expectations, primarily when it comes to increased operational efficiency, better data insights and analytics, and improved decision-making. 

Why Is a Flexible Organizational Culture Important?

“In this world,” Benjamin Franklin wrote, “nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Ole Ben forgot to add change to that list. We live in a perpetual state of change these days. Without an emphasis on future-proofing your business, you are at risk. It’s just that simple.

Why is a flexible organizational culture significant?

Adaptability to Change

A flexible culture encourages open-mindedness and innovation, enabling your team to pivot strategies as the business demands. Organizations with rigid structures are often slower to adapt and risk losing their competitive edge.

Managing Modern Workplaces

Modern workplaces can include remote or hybrid models along with flexible work hours. Such work arrangements can improve access to talent pools, enhance job satisfaction, and contribute to higher employee retention rates. However, they can also lead to fragmented communication, delayed decision-making, and challenges with accountability.

Future-proofing businesses means enabling both synchronous and asynchronous workflows to support a collaborative approach. Digital tools, including cloud-based systems and platforms, play a crucial role in providing this flexibility.

Focus on Continuous Learning

Continuous learning fosters creativity, collaboration, and adaptability. By investing in training programs and encouraging a growth mindset, you can empower employees to embrace change and excel in new roles.

Proactive Trend Spotting

Organizations that actively monitor emerging trends can stay ahead of the curve. Predictive analytics, scenario planning, and market research are essential tools for identifying opportunities and risks early.

Futureproof Your Expense and Travel Management With SAP Concur Solutions

SAP Concur solutions help you future-proof your organization, providing the travel and expense management tools you need to drive efficiency, reduce risk, and stay agile.

• Streamline processes with automation - Automate manual tasks like expense reporting, invoice approvals, and travel bookings to save time, minimize errors, and boost productivity.
• Enhance employee experience - Enable employees to manage expenses and travel from any device with intuitive, mobile-friendly tools, digital capture, and automated reporting.
• Gain near real-time visibility - Access insights into spend and compliance with powerful analytics to make better decisions.
•  Ensure policy compliance and reduce risk - Use built-in tools to automatically enforce company policies, detect anomalies, and safeguard against fraud.
• Support flexible work environments - Integrate with cloud systems to empower remote and hybrid teams, ensuring seamless and secure collaboration.

Learn more about SAP Concur solutions here.