Finance automation cuts KeyBank’s manual reporting processes in half

What was the challenge?

“Our team was well-versed in Workiva, but we weren’t thoroughly utilizing its automation and integration capabilities, which could connect data from an external source to our financial reporting. At the same time, we were in the process of implementing Workday as our new financial system, and we needed PwC’s experience and guidance to help design, configure and implement the connection between our technologies.”

Describe the solution delivered by the KeyBank and PwC community of solvers.

“PwC helped us automate the flow of data into Workiva for various schedules and financial reports. This centralized our data collection process across many platforms and reduced the time needed to generate and analyze those reports. As a result, our finance team was able to automate half of our SEC report assembly process; we reduced risk and strengthened our controls with a single source of truth; and we improved our efficiency and transparency, making it easier and faster for our internal and external stakeholders to receive these reports. Once the data connection was in place, PwC helped upskill and empower our employees as they adopted new ways of working in the Workiva platform.”

How does the solution blend the strengths of technology and people?

“We knew it was time to upgrade our technology to better fit our needs, and we already had the majority of the architecture in place. PwC helped us develop ways to use our current, untapped capabilities and plan for future process improvements. We can now make quick, informed decisions — and the constant flow of data between systems gives us confidence to stand by those decisions — with Workiva serving as our single source of truth.”

Where or how did innovation and unexpected ways of thinking come into play? 

“What set this implementation apart was that we weren’t just looking to connect our data from Workday into the Workiva platform. We were in the middle of a Workday finance transformation that was affecting our operations, causing us to plan in parallel with our Workiva expansion. PwC guided us through this change, using its holistic industry knowledge across Workiva, Workday and finance transformation to give us a new perspective that helped streamline our operations.”