 "The new tech-savvy CFO")
Over the years, the convergence of emerging technologies has culminated in a few notable tipping points that have propelled financial analysis into the next era of insight and efficiency. The transition from punch cards to disk and magnetic tape in the 1970s took data storage processing out of human hands and into the digital realm. In the 1990s, widespread adoption of the internet brought unprecedented insight and collaborative potential to financial analysts everywhere. Today, the maturation of big data analytics, cloud, mobile, and social media has led us to a new tipping point at which businesses must re-evaluate their digital strategies. With these technologies in place, modern businesses can automate many of their traditional processes and develop new analytical capabilities.
With growing competition and evolving market driving the stakes high, organisations are increasingly turning to CFOs to weigh in on their IT investment decisions and help focus them. The CFOs of today, with their extensive skill set and analytics background, are well placed to identify the 'sweet spot' for IT purchases and help businesses align their digital transformations with their future goals.
As such, CFOs are becoming more ingrained in the development of investment strategy and taking on additional responsibilities as 'chief technology advisors' to the Board, delivering forward-looking financial insights to their businesses while still managing vital analysis and reporting operations. A recent campaign from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) underscores this development, highlighting the evolving role of the CFO with a new title, the chief financial and technology officer.
The new technology evangelist
CFOs today have unique insight into how their businesses operate and as such are quickly becoming catalysts for meaningful modernisation of their companies' IT infrastructure. A recent global study sponsored by Oracle and Accenture, points to the transformational power of the finance department today, with 68 per cent of respondents agreeing that the CFO is a strong evangelist for the role of technology within the business.
While data analytics, the cloud, mobile, and social media tools have become indispensable for businesses to remain competitive in today's fast-moving market, it will be up to CFOs to help shed light on this reality for the company's C-level executives. It will fall to finance to help businesses direct their investments to ensure they make IT purchasing decisions that will best serve their specific needs. In fact 66 per cent of people surveyed believe that the finance department is 'change-ready' with regards to adapting emerging technologies and systems, pointing to the CFO as a leader in extracting value from leading-edge IT for the rest of the business.
Moving past just keeping the lights on
Organisations today are spending a large portion of their valuable time and money just to keep their current systems running, often at the expense of allocating time and budget to actually driving growth. Many of these companies still rely on outdated data and paper-based back-office processes to make key business decisions, an approach that compromises their ability to make fully informed financial judgment calls. Moreover, more than two-thirds of CFOs cannot deliver important up-to-date insights into their businesse's finances to the CEO, which means that potentially lucrative investment decisions are delayed and companies could risk missing out on potential first-mover advantages.
Embracing the cloud
The expertise that CFOs bring to the table has helped shed light on a wide range of new opportunities for businesses looking to modernise their financial capabilities. cloud technology has proven especially attractive, and has begun to see increased uptake by CFOs across the Board. Results from the global study point to the high potential that finance executives see for innovation using the cloud. More than 25 per cent of those surveyed said they expect the technology to deliver valuable new insights to their companies in the form of advanced analytics and improved business intelligence capabilities.
In light of this, more than one quarter of businesses are already using the cloud to support their budgeting, planning, and forecasting efforts, with another 33 per cent planning to move these functions into the cloud over the next year.
Analytics at the heart of the business
The reach of modern finance today extends well beyond analysts' traditional expertise in static analysis and reporting. CFOs are delving deeper than ever into how their companies operate and allocate budgets to deliver insight and value to the rest of the business.
At the core of the CFO's new analytics arsenal are sophisticated big data tools and modern applications that enable forward-looking planning and deliver real-time insights to key decision makers in the company.
Building the business case
Although CFOs are showing strong support for emerging technologies, a significant number of businesses remain unsure of how to direct their IT investments to make modern systems and applications work for them. The survey reveals that only 20 per cent of C-suite executives have adopted the leading-edge technologies that their businesses will need to remain market leaders in the digital era. In fact, 45 per cent of respondents cited uncertainty associated with integrating new systems as their primary concern when investing in emerging technologies.
In this context, one of the main challenges for CFOs will be to highlight the opportunities that companies stand to benefit from if they can capitalise on the convergence of emerging technologies. With many organisations still relying on legacy systems, finance executives will need to concretise the business case for intelligent IT purchasing initiatives for the Board.
While there is inevitably some form of risk attached to any investment, the convergence of cloud, mobile, and big data has made the business case for implementing new IT tools stronger than ever, as has market demand for quicker and more flexible services. CFOs can help their C-level counterparts capitalise on these opportunities by highlighting how leading technologies can enable them to optimise back office tasks so they can focus more energy on developing new relevant offerings to secure a strong industry position. CFO's strong analytics background and aptitude for assigning monetary value to business decisions makes them ideal candidates for the job.
As the global economy starts slowly to recover, the expertise that CFOs bring to the table has never been more valuable for businesses looking to take a lead in their respective markets. In their new role as technology evangelists, it will be up to financial executives to shed light on the value of emerging technologies like big data analytics to drive the next generation of efficiencies in the business. They also need to collaborate with other functions, including marketing and HR, to ensure that technology investments enable the right business outcomes. In doing so, CFOs can build on their reputation for expert analysis and solidify their position as trusted strategists on the executive Board.
With growing competition and evolving market driving the stakes high, organisations are increasingly turning to CFOs to weigh in on their IT investment decisions and help focus them. The CFOs of today, with their extensive skill set and analytics background, are well placed to identify the 'sweet spot' for IT purchases and help businesses align their digital transformations with their future goals.
As such, CFOs are becoming more ingrained in the development of investment strategy and taking on additional responsibilities as 'chief technology advisors' to the Board, delivering forward-looking financial insights to their businesses while still managing vital analysis and reporting operations. A recent campaign from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) underscores this development, highlighting the evolving role of the CFO with a new title, the chief financial and technology officer.
The new technology evangelist
CFOs today have unique insight into how their businesses operate and as such are quickly becoming catalysts for meaningful modernisation of their companies' IT infrastructure. A recent global study sponsored by Oracle and Accenture, points to the transformational power of the finance department today, with 68 per cent of respondents agreeing that the CFO is a strong evangelist for the role of technology within the business.
While data analytics, the cloud, mobile, and social media tools have become indispensable for businesses to remain competitive in today's fast-moving market, it will be up to CFOs to help shed light on this reality for the company's C-level executives. It will fall to finance to help businesses direct their investments to ensure they make IT purchasing decisions that will best serve their specific needs. In fact 66 per cent of people surveyed believe that the finance department is 'change-ready' with regards to adapting emerging technologies and systems, pointing to the CFO as a leader in extracting value from leading-edge IT for the rest of the business.
Moving past just keeping the lights on
Organisations today are spending a large portion of their valuable time and money just to keep their current systems running, often at the expense of allocating time and budget to actually driving growth. Many of these companies still rely on outdated data and paper-based back-office processes to make key business decisions, an approach that compromises their ability to make fully informed financial judgment calls. Moreover, more than two-thirds of CFOs cannot deliver important up-to-date insights into their businesse's finances to the CEO, which means that potentially lucrative investment decisions are delayed and companies could risk missing out on potential first-mover advantages.
Embracing the cloud
The expertise that CFOs bring to the table has helped shed light on a wide range of new opportunities for businesses looking to modernise their financial capabilities. cloud technology has proven especially attractive, and has begun to see increased uptake by CFOs across the Board. Results from the global study point to the high potential that finance executives see for innovation using the cloud. More than 25 per cent of those surveyed said they expect the technology to deliver valuable new insights to their companies in the form of advanced analytics and improved business intelligence capabilities.
In light of this, more than one quarter of businesses are already using the cloud to support their budgeting, planning, and forecasting efforts, with another 33 per cent planning to move these functions into the cloud over the next year.
Analytics at the heart of the business
The reach of modern finance today extends well beyond analysts' traditional expertise in static analysis and reporting. CFOs are delving deeper than ever into how their companies operate and allocate budgets to deliver insight and value to the rest of the business.
At the core of the CFO's new analytics arsenal are sophisticated big data tools and modern applications that enable forward-looking planning and deliver real-time insights to key decision makers in the company.
Building the business case
Although CFOs are showing strong support for emerging technologies, a significant number of businesses remain unsure of how to direct their IT investments to make modern systems and applications work for them. The survey reveals that only 20 per cent of C-suite executives have adopted the leading-edge technologies that their businesses will need to remain market leaders in the digital era. In fact, 45 per cent of respondents cited uncertainty associated with integrating new systems as their primary concern when investing in emerging technologies.
In this context, one of the main challenges for CFOs will be to highlight the opportunities that companies stand to benefit from if they can capitalise on the convergence of emerging technologies. With many organisations still relying on legacy systems, finance executives will need to concretise the business case for intelligent IT purchasing initiatives for the Board.
While there is inevitably some form of risk attached to any investment, the convergence of cloud, mobile, and big data has made the business case for implementing new IT tools stronger than ever, as has market demand for quicker and more flexible services. CFOs can help their C-level counterparts capitalise on these opportunities by highlighting how leading technologies can enable them to optimise back office tasks so they can focus more energy on developing new relevant offerings to secure a strong industry position. CFO's strong analytics background and aptitude for assigning monetary value to business decisions makes them ideal candidates for the job.
As the global economy starts slowly to recover, the expertise that CFOs bring to the table has never been more valuable for businesses looking to take a lead in their respective markets. In their new role as technology evangelists, it will be up to financial executives to shed light on the value of emerging technologies like big data analytics to drive the next generation of efficiencies in the business. They also need to collaborate with other functions, including marketing and HR, to ensure that technology investments enable the right business outcomes. In doing so, CFOs can build on their reputation for expert analysis and solidify their position as trusted strategists on the executive Board.
Sandeep Mathur
Managing Director, Oracle India
Managing Director, Oracle India