Finance Innovation and Excellence Part IV
This four part series covers the 8 key themes at the 4th annual Finance Innovation and Excellence Summit (FInEx Summit). The Summit tackled eight of today’s most pressing challenges facing Chief Financial Officers and other accounting, finance and treasury leaders. The expert speakers on each panel are global leaders in their field who deliver great messages tailored to the worldwide CFO community.
Part IV covers Technology Empowering the CFO and The CFO Tech Stack
Technology Empowering the CFO
Host, Zeeshan Umer, welcomes guest speakers Tomasz Smaczny, COO at Ergo Group AG and Karthikeyan Baskaran CPA, Financial Controller at Arabian Industries SAOC to this FInEx Summit panel, to discuss the impact of technology on the finance and accounting profession.
The panelists emphasize the essential skill sets and initiatives required for finance professionals to fully utilize the benefits of technology. They stress the importance of collaboration between the CFO and CIO in selecting technology that aligns with functional and non-functional requirements and integrates business and technology requirements. Cross-functional teams and collaboration are crucial in delivering solutions and driving transformation.
The panelists also address the challenges of implementing continuously changing standards and regulations. They emphasize the need for collaboration between functional departments and technologists to figure out what is needed, advocate for agile and interactive delivery methods, and highlight the relevance of the business case over the return on investment. The implementation of regulations can be challenging due to lack of clarifications and unknowns, requiring a robust plan and people’s support for success.
Furthermore, the panelists discuss the evolving role of the CFO, which now includes reshaping business models and providing timely information from other processes in the organization. They stress the importance of selecting the right tools for financial and operational processes based on industry and company-specific needs and collaborating closely with IT teams to improve efficiencies and determine cost-saving measures.
Overall, the panelists highlight the importance of technology as a catalyst for change in organizations and emphasize the CFO’s role in leading and driving technology-enabled transformation. They stress the need for collaboration, understanding business drivers, and having a clear business case to successfully leverage technology for greater efficiency and improved financial outcomes.
“The CFO offices cannot just look at systems for financial information. This has to be augmented with accurate and timely information from the other processes within the organization to provide a unified holistic overview.”
— Karthikeyan Baskaran
Here is the link to full video presentation, Technology Empowering the CFO
The CFO Tech Stack
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In this FInEx Summit panel, Zeeshan and Steve are joined by Brad Eisenhuth, CEO of The Outperformer, to discuss the CFO Tech Stack. They delve into the importance of understanding an organization’s needs and goals when setting up a tech stack. The starting point and desired destination determine the game plan and roadmap for the CFO.
The panel emphasizes the CFO’s critical role in assessing and connecting different technologies within the organization. They stress the importance of aligning the technology stack with business and finance strategies, digitization goals, and financial automation objectives. It is crucial for the CFO to have a holistic view of resource allocation and prioritize investments that drive value.
The discussion highlights the challenges faced by finance functions when prioritizing improvements to the tech stack that benefit the entire organization. The panel urges CFOs to think about investments holistically and align them with the business strategy. They emphasize the need to validate investments to ensure they genuinely impact the business and create a compelling business case for technology investment.
The panel acknowledges the complexity of designing and deploying solutions but stresses the importance of assessing cost-effectiveness and carefully evaluating technologies. They highlight the necessity of considering trade-offs and accepting that all technologies have strengths and weaknesses.
Overall, the panel emphasizes the importance of having a clear vision, reverse engineering a roadmap, and right-sizing technology investments based on desired outcomes and overall business priorities. They urge CFOs to challenge their technology teams and prioritize stability, sustainability, and agility in technology investments.
In conclusion, this panel provides valuable insights into building a CFO tech stack that aligns with the organization’s needs and goals, and emphasizes the CFO’s crucial role in connecting and assessing different technology solutions.
“If you’re not considering the leverage of technology, then you probably shouldn’t be in the room.”
— Brad Eisenhuth
Here is the link to full video presentation, The CFO Tech Stack
Review the first 3 parts of our series here:
Finance Innovation and Excellence Part I The CFO in Crisis and Digitization, Automation and AI
Finance Innovation and Excellence Part II Maximize the RIO of Your Digital Journey and Integrated Business Planning
Finance Innovation and Excellence Part III Building a World Class CFO Operation and ESG Challenges
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