The new high-tech CFO
October 5, 2018
October 5, 2018
More than eight in 10 High-Tech CFOs believe that without the Finance function, their organization would fail to meet its ambitions in the digital world. As High-Tech CFOs become stewards of digital transformation, they are coupling their strategic insight with data analytics capabilities to help their companies thrive.
Our job is to try to come up with the right actions to take, rather than simply to provide data in a PowerPoint presentation.
– ERIC NOREN, Managing Director – Communications, Media and Technology Industry Group CFO and Enterprise Value Practice Global Lead
CFOs in High-Tech are the most likely, across industries we surveyed, to believe that Finance should set the agenda for new technologies across the enterprise. Nine out of 10 are exploring disruptive technologies, determining the “big bets” that might benefit the business.
Through new data science technologies, visualization tools and algorithms, CFOs and their teams can now quickly, easily and economically crunch data to provide insights and predictive capabilities. Part of the CFO’s changing role is to use these analytics to improve performance reporting across the C-Suite. This close-to-real-time reporting supports strategic decision making across the enterprise, giving the CFO power and influence beyond anything we’ve seen historically.
Almost nine out of 10 High-Tech CFOs agree that traditional Finance positions in their organization will soon be replaced by more strategically focused roles. Traditional functions such as reconciliation, audit and payment processing will be simplified and automated.
“Pods” will become the norm in Finance organizations, tasked with working across the business to solve complex problems. These cross-functional teams will be made up of finance, data science, visualization and deep business experts who understand the business’s value drivers. Their data-based insights will drive outcomes and actions across the business.
In this environment, we believe High-Tech CFOs should consider three priorities:
3OUT OF4
High-Tech CFOs have adopted robotic process automation