Thinc

Helping SMEs scale with finance software and ERP solutions from SAGE and SAP

Senior Business Advisory Consultant

Helping you assess and select the best applications to improve your finance and operations. Tailored, AI enabled solutions that use Sage, SAP and Microsoft technologies.

Business Applications

Acting as an extension of your team to provide managed IT support, Microsoft licensing (including Teams + Teams phone) whether you're on a server, or wanting to move into the cloud.

Managed IT | Cloud Hosting

Protecting your business from emerging threats with AI enabled security tools, and training your team in Cyber Essentials for a security savvy workforce.

Cyber Security

Tech for Finance

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Join the podcast community of finance pros learning how to leverage technology to level up their lives. Listen to industry experts from companies like The Economist, Kraft Heinz, PepsiCo, and put their tech advice into action

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Top Voice | Finance Tech Consultant | AI & Automation in Finance Expert | Gartner Peer Community Ambassador

Tech is a minefield, and bad decisions cost you money, even worse, time (I’ve been there)

And now with AI, it’s even more difficult to understand what works best - PLUS...

90% of ‘AI enabled’ tools are rubbish (I’ve tried hundreds of them)

So I’ve made it my mission to help you cut through the noise…

If you feel like:

- Your tech is working against rather than for you
- You’re overwhelmed by how many options you’ve got
- You don’t know how to make the most of your current tech stack
- You’re struggling to decide what new tech will help you scale your SME

We should talk.

With my ~10 years experience in tech, I can help you:

- Benchmark your tech stack against other high-performing finance teams
- Help you assess the best tech options to grow your business
- Give you strategies to accelerate AI adoption in your team
- Coach you on how to leverage tech to level up your life

If that sounds good, you’re only one smart decision away from selecting a life-long tech partner.

All you need to do is hit connect ☑️

Speak soon,

Adam

Senior Business Advisory Consultant at Thinc | Founder & Podcast Host at Tech for Finance | Gartner Peer Community Ambassador for Finance | Dad of 2 young boys (3 and 2)

OpenAI's GPT-4 has FINALLY been beaten (and why you should care...)

OpenAI has dominated the AI market since the end of 2022.

Competitors have struggled to keep up, until now.

Introducing, Anthropic's Claude 3 Opus.

Which has just knocked GPT-4 off the top spot in the Chatbot Arena.

How does the arena work?

• Users chat to two random AI models.
• They don't know which model they're chatting to.
• They then decide which model performed the best.

Why should you care?

• You now have more freedom of choice.
• You now have a viable ChatGPT alternative.
• You now have more tools for different use cases.

What's the catch?

You have to pay for Claude 3 Opus.

But, there are also free models:

• Claude 3 Sonnet (this is becoming my go to)
• Claude 3 Haiku (fast and can understand large data files)

PLUS

The FREE Claude 3 sonnet model can also understand documents AND images.

This means anyone still using the free version of ChatGPT (which uses the GPT3.5 model) can get a more powerful model, document recognition & image recognition for free.

This puts even more pressure on the expected release of GPT-5 in the summer.

P.S - Have you tried Claude yet? Yes or No?

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Liked this? If you're a finance pro looking to win back your time, develop your tech skills, and stay ahead of the game. Subscribe to 'Framework Friday' at www.techforfinance.com

Adam Shilton 

90% of finance pros fear job loss. But here’s the truth:

1. Nobody complains about having more time
2. ‘Human’ skills will always be sought after
3. More automation = More enjoyment
4. Less decisions = Less stress
5. Purpose > Productivity

Remember: The World Economic Forum predicts an increase in jobs by 2030.

Technology is here to augment you 💪 Not replace you 🤖

P.S - Are you using tech to augment your skills? Yes or No?

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Image: World Economic Forum - The_Rise_of_Global_Digital_Jobs_2024.pdf

10 mantras every effective finance pro should live by:

 1. Done is better than doing
 2. Change is the only constant
 3. Ethics trump profits, every time
 4. There is no ROI (Return On Inactivity)
 5. Capital is Crucial, but Cash flow is King
 6. People, Profit & Planet go hand in hand
 7. Balanced Books require Balanced People
 8. Data + Head, Heart & Gut = Confident decisions
 9. If asked to ‘Cook the Books’, Get out of the kitchen!
10. What an opportunity costs is nothing compared to the cost of an opportunity lost

P.S - Which is most important to you? Type 1-10.

VBA is DEAD - but are Office Scripts the answer?

Excel automation has always been a game-changer in finance. 

But with the rise of Office Script, what’s the future of VBA?

📊 VBA (Visual Basic for Applications):

- The classic powerhouse for Excel automation.
- Offers deep customisation & complex functionalities.
- Can extend past Excel to other applications Like PowerPoint.

📝 Office Script:

- The new kid on the block, optimised for web.
- Easily automate tasks across Excel in the cloud.
- Limited to Excel, but can be built into Power Automate.

At some point in the future we’ll be working completely in the cloud.

But until then, don’t go trashing VBA just yet.

Have you made the move yet? Yes or no?

P.S - For my full conversation with Excel automation guru Mark Proctor check out the podcast on this link - https://lnkd.in/ekdNbgEC

How to keep your finance data secure when using AI [5-Step Framework]

If you're worried your data's at risk when using AI, keep reading.

The Framework:

1. Compliance
2. Policy
3. Logins
4. Training
5. Anonymisation

Check out the detail below 👇

P.S - If you're a finance pro looking to win back your time, develop your tech skills, and stay ahead of the game. Subscribe to 'Framework Friday' at www.techforfinance.com

How to keep your finance data secure when using AI

How to Use Your Voice + AI as a Powerful Productivity Hack [3-Step Framework] (Plus example use cases)

If you’re tired of staring at a screen all day, here’s how you can get some fresh air and remain productive at the same time.

The Framework:

1. Topic
2. Record
3. AI Assist

Check out the detail below 👇

P.S - If you're a finance pro looking to win back your time, develop your tech skills, and stay ahead of the game. Subscribe to 'Framework Friday' at https://lnkd.in/e9x9XUHA

How to Use Your Voice + AI as a Powerful Productivity Hack

UPDATE: Claude now works with images 🖼 

- Understand complex equations
- Extract text from images
- Learn how things work

Have you used it yet? Yes or no?

5 powerful Python use cases for time-poor finance pros (plus library examples):

1. Data Handling

Clean, update and consolidate data
↳ Less errors, more time for fun

Example Library:

📚 OpenPyXL → Calculate excel formulas

2. Data Analysis

Calculations, statistics and visuals
↳ Less Excel, more pretty charts

Example Library:

📚 Plotly → Visuals & Dashboards

3. Workflow

Merge, move and integrate data
↳ Less copy paste, more live info

Example:

📚 Pandas → To merge different data sources

4. Predictions

Forecast, planning and modelling
↳ Less noise, more direction

Example:

📚 Scikit-Learn → Regression analysis

Understanding the use case is 90% of the work.

5. Reporting

Report direct from your database
↳ Less exporting, more reporting

Example:

📚 SQLAlchemy → Perform database queries.

Understanding the use case is 90% of the work.

And now, with the right prompt, you can do anything.

P.S - Which would you like to learn? Type 1-5

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Liked this? If you're a finance pro looking to win back your time, develop your tech skills, and stay ahead of the game. Subscribe to 'Framework Friday' at www.techforfinance.com

CFOs "I'm struggling to drive AI adoption in my team."

OK. Here's 3 things you can do right now to kickstart things.

1. Make it real

Share real life, use cases amongst your team.

- It could be a post from an AI expert.
- It could be an online article. 
- It could be a case study. 

Get it in front of them.

2. Make it easy

Using just a browser like Microsoft Edge with Copilot, builds it in to their day-to-day. 

- Get it to improve their knowledge. 
- Get them to ask it questions. 
- Get to 'always on'. 

3. Make it fun

Organise monthly or quarterly 'hackathon' style presentations where each member of the team can show something interesting, or something fun they've managed to do with AI.

When real, easy and fun things become.

Adoption will surely come.

P.S - Which one of these will you do right now? Type 1 to 3.

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