By Matthew Stibbe.
The combined forces of mobile, cloud and big data analytics are changing the role of the CFO in dramatic new ways. Technological innovation is necessary for success, but it’s not sufficient – the CFO needs to take the lead in converting these IT investments into tangible business results.
Bad data, bad business. Increasingly, companies use financial and operational data to drive business planning, discover new market opportunities and improve administrative processes, reports American Express. This puts the chief financial officer (CFO) in the perfect position to release the value of mobile, cloud and big data analytics.
The ends and the means
There’s certainly no lack of interest in these technologies. Forty six percent of CFOs surveyed by Oracle Chairman Jeff Henley cited mobile as the technology they believe will deliver the most business value to their organisations, followed by cloud computing (33 percent) and big data analytics (14 percent).
Combining technology proficiency and a business outlook means that CFOs have a vital interest in getting more value from their data, reports ZDNet, with 95 percent agreeing that their business needs to do more.
Actual investment plans, however, don’t live up to their intentions. While four out of ten US and UK senior finance executives surveyed by American Express are planning to increase IT spending this year by at least 10 percent, most of this is going into mobile technology, with comparatively little going into cloud computing and big data analytics.
Making more of mobile
CFOs feel most familiar with mobile technology and believe, rightly, that it brings real value to the business by providing employees with improved data access and the ability to share data and make better real-time decisions but, even so, very few CFOs report having a definite mobile strategy.
The problem, therefore, is that these three technologies are being treated in isolation and approached without an integrated plan. Mobile, cloud and big data analytics are natural partners and need to be implemented in concert to reap the benefits.
The agile business
Together, these burgeoning technologies facilitate a more agile business with greater mobile productivity, better data access and accuracy and, ultimately, better decision-making.
Mobile technology and cloud-based software-as-a-service applications allow workers to access, update and share data and information – whether relating to human resources or purchasing –empowering anytime, anywhere working. And improved data analytics and business intelligence technology allow business leaders across all departments to then translate this data into more informed decisions and valuable business results.
It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it
So, while CFOs understand the importance of these new technologies and have a clear desire to deploy them, they are uncertain about how to actually put them to use, with organisational shortcomings, such as lack of internal leadership, data security issues and lack of IT capabilities seen as barriers to success.
The vital issue, as Gartner points out, is not the technology itself but how it’s actually converted into business results, which requires integrated business and technology leadership.
The CFO takes the stage
This is where the CFO comes in. CFOs are the natural owners of big data projects and the implementation of these technological innovations, says MIT Sloan Professor Andrew McAffee. They have the most insight into the business and wider economy and gathering and interpreting data is second nature to the finance function. The CFO is fast becoming a more connected, strategic member of the business.
Indeed, more than 20 percent of CIOs around the world now report directly to the CFO, according to Gartner research, broadening the remit of the CFO.
It’s companies with these connected CFOs that excel at both business insight and finance efficiency, says IBM. They report greater revenue growth and a higher return on invested capital. This research signals the need for a more united c-suite, driven by the CFO, collaborating to release the full potential of these three growing technologies. So, in this brave new world, CFOs must play the part of unifier-in-chief and business owner of IT-driven change.
About the Author
Matthew Stibbe is CEO of Articulate Marketing, a specialist agency with clients including Microsoft, HP, Symantec and LinkedIn. He is also founder of Turbine, an online purchasing, time off and expenses management tool.
Source: businessvalueexchange.com
