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Good news CFOs: The Future of Finance Looks Bright (But Only if you Plan and Act)

A new research report released today by CFO Research and sponsored by SAP shows that while Finance has improved a lot over the past years, there is plenty of opportunity to Finance to deliver more value to the organization.

The report, Thriving in the Digital Economy: Four Reasons Why Finance Is Excited About the Future has four key findings that CFOs, senior finance executives and board members will find of significant interest:

Finance professionals are embracing their influence in their enterprises—and looking forward to a bright future as their profession evolves.

The good news is that finance professionals are more influential than ever in their organization, and have opportunities to go beyond core traditional areas of ‘old’ finance. The biggest challenge with this opportunity comes from ensuring that talent with leadership potential in finance can grow beyond the core additional areas.

© CFO PUBLISHING LLC

© CFO PUBLISHING LLC

The organizational scope of the finance function—already broad— continues to expand to encompass risk management, IT, M&A, and other key functions.

Again, as Finance becomes the central organizational address for all administrative and support functions within an organization, can the talent planning match this need?

Finance teams will be challenged to fulfill their core performance management mandate in the face of rapid change and greater business complexity.

High value-add within finance can only happen with the right people, processes and technologies in place, especially as business gets more complex and change continues at a faster pace.

Finance professionals see the rising wave of digitalization and automation as the key to their ability to partner with the business to manage performance.

In a conversation with Thack Brown, general manager and global head of Line-of-Business Finance at SAP, he said that the impact of technology opportunities (digitization and automation) will radically change how the transactional part of finance is being managed, even by those following current best practices.

Stay tuned as I will be sharing parts of my interview with Thack Brown. The insights he offered were fascinating, and combined with this report, provides excellent food for thought for the CFO who is looking to be the best business partner possible to their organization.

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The C-Suite Relationship Map

I am fortunate to speak with hundreds of executives each year, in addition to those that I follow and track. Over the years, I have learned a lot about success, what works and what doesn’t, from these talented leaders.

One area that successful executives have in common is their ability to get the best out of their corporate relationships. No matter the discipline of the C-suite executive, their technical ability is just the base upon which they start having an impact on their organization. The CXO is not an island, but is integrated into an ecosystem that is mutually dependent. The success of any executive relies on others. Those who recognize, nurture and sustain successful corporate relationships are those that accomplish more.

My blogging and recent book, Guide to CFO Success, focuses on my primary audience, the CFO and the Office of Finance. Some of the content is CFO specific, but the guidance with respect to relationships applies across the executive suite. Guide to CFO Success spends a few chapters dealing with relationship management for the Chief Financial Officer. A key tool in this discussion is my CFO Relationship Map, a copy of which is visible below.

CFO Relationship Map - October 2014

While I created the Relationship Map for my discussion with my Finance audience, this Relationship Map is useful to all executives who wish to succeed in their own environment.

The Relationship Map is a graphical representation of the areas of corporate relationships. They include who you work for (at the top of the map), who you work with (internally, on the right of the map, and externally on the left), as well as those that support you (your team).

In the CFO Relationship Map, you’ll notice that the CFO reports to the CEO, Board and Investors, and works with the other executives of the company internally. The CFO has a number of important outside relationships, which can include bankers, lawyers, auditors and other advisors. And, as I say in my book, the CFO can only be as good as the team they have allows them to be.

Depending on your own situation, your personal Relationship Map will look different. However, like other executives, you have people you work for, work with internally as well as externally, and have people that support you.

To read the full article on the BlueSteps Executive Career Insider Blog at this link.

You can also map out your own relationships, using this blank Relationship Map or by creating your own.

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Do CFOs need to master IT to succeed?

As the person responsible for all things financial in an enterprise (of any size), the Chief Financial Officer needs to combine people, process and technology to drive results across the enterprise.

Solutions for organizations and finance departments  that were best in class only a few years ago may well now be obsolete, and incapable of providing  companies the functionality they need  to succeed in today’s dynamic business world.

Does a CFO need to master Information Technology to succeed?

I asked this question to John Kogan, CEO at Proformative, an online community by and for Corporate Finance, Accounting and Treasury Professionals. Here is his response:

Master IT? No. Truly understand how IT can be used within their organizations and across the enterprise? Yes! CFOs can’t outsource their understanding of technology and its use within the enterprise. They need to embrace it in order to understand how it is being used and how it might be used to better advantage. Armed with such knowledge they can create a plan, with help from others in their organization as well as IT, and work to make whatever they do have better and more effective. This is a never-ending process.

I also asked John the following question:

Are CFOs afraid of IT?

I’m sure they are out there, but rare. I think it’s more common for some CFOs to be so busy doing all of the other things they are responsible for that IT may fall between the cracks or they outsource it to someone else internally. They may not realize they are doing this or they may not believe IT merits more of their time. Obviously they have a lot to do and there is never enough time to do it. However, this takes them out of a very important loop at their companies – the loop that provides data upon which their company makes decisions, for better and worse.

What can a CFO do to better understand IT?

Knowledge is power. CFOs may not need to be an IT master, but they certainly need to understand where IT is going, how it affects their business and how it impacts their finance team. Staying up to date and current in the fast paced changing world of IT can be difficult. It requires reading, speaking with peers, listening to vendors and industry experts.

How does a CFO find the time to stay on top of all things IT?

A CFO makes the time. Like most successful CFOs, they are efficient and effective in how they get the best value from their available time. Finding an excellent conference that can allow you to learn from experts and speak with your peers (with an additional benefit of finding time to network) can be a very effective solution.

So where does a CFO find an all-encompassing conference like this?

One conference that can meet a CFOs need for all things IT is PROFORMATECH 2013 on March 20, 2013 in San Francisco. This conference is geared for Senior Finance Professionals like yourself who need to stay on top all things IT.

Even if you’re not on the West Coast, I recommend you make the time to attend this conference. It will certainly be worth the cost, because the conference is FREE (which is the right price for most CFOs).

Don’t delay. Register today!

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Note: I am an Advisor with Proformative and a Topic Expert. There is no compensation for these roles, unless you consider that I usually win the $25 Amazon Gift certificate each month for most popular blog on the site. 🙂

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CFOs and The Cloud

In my last blog, CFOs, Information, and IT, I wrote about why IT is important to the CFO, and what the CFOs today need to understand about IT.

The Cloud is a hot topic for many in IT today. This is an important topic for CFOs to be understand, because as I mentioned in my previous blog, CFOs today need to be aware of ongoing changes in IT and the impact it can have on them.

What is the Cloud?

“The Cloud” is short for “Cloud Computing”, which Wikipedia defines as the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, where shared resources (software and data) are provided to computers and devices over the internet.

To get a better understanding of the options when it comes to the Cloud, I went to my fellow CFO Intellectual Exchange Network member Laura Mikovsky, HANA Solution Partner at SAP.

Mikovsky explained that there are 2 options when it comes to the Cloud.

Software as a Service (SAAS) – this is a licensed (per user) model, hosted by a solution provider.

Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS) – this lesser known Cloud solution is more appropriate for larger companies. Essentially, the company is responsible for managing and installing the applications and data they use on remote computers and storage that is running remotely.

 “It is important for an organization to define which option is best for them.” says Mikovsky.

 What are challenges that CFOs face with the Cloud?

To find out what these challenges were, I spoke with Yehuda Cagen from XVand Technology in Houston. Cagen’s company services small and mid-sized companies in Texas and around the US. Cagen says, “There are two types of challenges CFOs face with the Cloud. The first is that they know what the Cloud is, but are not sure where to start. The second type of CFO isn’t sure what the Cloud is, but their problems can be solved in the Cloud”.

What are some of the benefits of the Cloud?

Less worrying about IT – Cagen quotes one of his CFO clients who, after implementing a Cloud solution from ISUtility, said “I don’t talk about IT anymore”.

Cost and Cash Effectiveness – Paying per user allows for paying for what you need and use, as well as spreading IT costs over a period of time, without making an upfront investment in hardware and implementation. SAAS counters the ongoing uncontrolled costs of upkeep on an IT system installed on premises.

Self-Service – Mikovsky says the working with the Cloud allows the business user to have more control over their IT needs, and be less reliant on the IT department. (This is good news for anyone that has ever waited for IT to deal with a mission critical finance technology issue).

The Mobile CFO – The Superstar CFO: After the Crisis published by CFO Publishing in partnership with SAP, refers to The Mobile CFO. Most CFOs will admit that a lot of work does not happen at the office anymore. Having access to their data and information in the Cloud allows a CFO (and the finance team) to be more mobile, and possibly more effective.

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity – Stuff happens. Earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural disasters can have a strong negative impact on a business. Moving to the Cloud can allow for a business to continue in unfortunate times. Cagen recommends looking at how this impacts the business, as well as how potential Cloud providers are set up to ensure this continuity.

 There have to be downsides to the Cloud. What are they?

Implementation risks – “Garbage in, Garbage Out” applies. We have all seen the impacts of a bad implementation. Becoming involved with the needs analysis and planning of implementation should lead to reducing implementation risk when it comes to the Cloud.

Security – Finance people are often able to better understand what they can see. Not having your computers and systems on-site can feel uncomfortable to a CFO. If the computer equipment is all locked up in a room, CFOs feel more secure. But this may not necessarily be the case. It is possible to have better security off-site than on. Asking the right questions can lead to better sleep patterns – at least about IT. Cagen recommends that CFOs put their potential Cloud providers in the hot seat and ask them the tough questions about security.

Backup Recovery – Systems work. Most of the time. Sometimes they fail. Ensuring recovery via testing of backups is critical to any system implementation. The Cloud is no exception.

As CFO, you should not expect to be an IT expert. Understanding key IT concepts, such as the Cloud, will allow you to understand how you can better access the data and information you need to make more appropriate decisions.

Have you moved some or all of your systems to the Cloud? How has the Cloud impacted your finance team and organization?

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CFOs, Information, and IT

CFOs are not expected to be IT experts.

CFOs are expected, however, to know all aspects of the business, and use available information, internally and externally, to the company’s best advantage.

To be “all knowledgeable”, CFOs not only need access to the data, but more importantly, have the right information gleaned from that data on a timely basis to be able to help their company make the best decisions possible.

Since I started my working career over 20 years ago, the information landscape has certainly changed quite drastically, in a good way, to benefit those who are willing to make the right investments in time and money to get the information they need.

The challenge CFOs face today can be defined as having access to too much data and not enough information. Regular blog readers know that I put a lot of emphasis for CFO Success on their ability to manage their relationships (See Road Map to Successful CFO Relationships). When it comes to relationships they have with IT (or the CIO), CFOs face a continuous challenge.

In smaller companies, the CFO is ultimately responsible for IT, either directly, or by having IT report to him or her. When this is the case, the relationship is less of the issue, but making appropriate IT decisions can be.

In larger companies, the CFO works with the CIO/IT to make sure that they have access to the data as well as being able to get decision capable information when needed.

One thing is for certain. The CFO of today can no longer ignore IT as they may have done 20 years ago (or even 10). Today’s CFO must have access to the information they need to be able to help their business make the best decisions.

CFOs today need to be able to understand:

1. The current and ongoing changes affecting Information Technology,

2. How these changes affect where, when and how they access their information.

3. The impact of these changes on the budgets and expenditures for IT and other departments.

4. The value that these changes are supposed to bring, and how to ask the right questions to ensure the promised value is actually delivered.

As CFO, what do you need to understand better when it comes to information, and the technology that provides it?

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Contact Information

You can reach Samuel by:

Telephone
San Francisco: +1 (415) 738-2070
Montreal: +1 (514) 907-0925

Email: [email protected]