According to Strategic Finance, a publication of the Institute of Management Accountants, studies show that while nearly 80% of people believe that a finance team adds a great deal of value to a business, only 22% believe that those outside of finance see that value for what it truly is. It’s essential to change that perception.
Much like the human heart, Finance usually supplies the oxygen, ensuring the rest of the body can function. Their work is crucial to the growth that a company aims for, and Dental Select’s Finance Team is constantly measuring its business to understand performance and target new areas for growth.
Amy Anholt, CFO of Dental Select, has taken on an additional interim role by leading the technology department. While basic functions like bookkeeping and running reports will always be the bread and butter of a finance leader, the role of CFO has evolved from the traditional role of statutory reporting and compliance, to helping drive the direction and success of the organization through financial strategy and accountability.
At the core, Dental Select is a “fintech” company (meaning financial-technology), selling an insurance product. Our Finance Team plays a huge role in ensuring we have technological simplicity and accuracy for our clients; regardless of how they choose to communicate with us.
“Our technology helps us understand the ‘why’ behind the numbers and enables us to use that information to solve complex business challenges more quickly,” said Anholt. “Finance professionals not only should keep up with changing technology, but we have a duty to do so. Innovations like interactive portals, artificial intelligence, etc., bring massive benefits in fraud prevention, cost savings, risk avoidance and more. If we ignore those opportunities, we wouldn’t be doing our job.”
Finance performance improvement and transformation efforts slow when unsupported by the right technologies. With the visionary support and guidance of our President, Mark Coyne and CEO Brent Williams, Dental Select’s Finance and IT leaders head strategic planning, road mapping and resource allocation sessions to define how finance capabilities will create measurable business value through new technology.
Derrick Knighton, Director of Information Technology, supports Dental Select’s patient technology release strategy.
“Researching, implementing, and utilizing new technology is vital to the success of any business. Ensuring each element of our development has met the required standards and essential test metrics supports our corporate mantra of making dental simple. By taking the time to build it right, our clients and broker partners will be able to do their jobs efficiently.”
Knighton also stated, “Emerging technologies can be intimidating, but comfort has always been the enemy of progress. We’ve taken on the challenge of developing new technologies in-house and have brought in experts to build what we know our customers want and need.”
Dental Select is all about keeping things simple. These new technology efforts are being implemented to make gathering information, browsing provider options, navigation and ultimately, working with Dental Select a walk in the park.
