Navigating the paradigm shift

CFOs are quickly embracing their new strategic role of driving business performance. Implementing the four key principles of navigation, mediation, resilience and connectivity is key to their success. While navigation empowers CFOs to make strategic decisions with real-time data and analytics made available through advanced technologies, mediation facilitates an interactive environment for internal and external stakeholders. The principles of resilience and connectivity are also key to a CFO’s success.

The agility to create and seize opportunities allows organisations to transform and adapt to sudden shifts and changes impacting the environment. Implementing the principle of resilience equips CFOs to increase this adaptive capacity of the organisation. It allows businesses to take advantage of opportunities and face unforeseen challenges.

Historically, the capabilities of leaders in the finance domain included instituting appropriate controls to ensure that the finance team can report accurately and on time, and develop a risk management and control framework. This, however, while being effective to a certain degree in combating internal risks, is ineffective in the handling of external risks. Changing business models, technological innovations and emerging market trends have made it necessary for the finance function to respond with agility to unfolding events. For instance, take the case of a pharmaceutical company that had to deal with the on-shelf contamination of one of its over-the-counter drugs. Quick actions such as openly destroying both tainted and untainted stock, and rereleasing the drug in tamper-proof packaging enabled the company to regain lost market share and stay ahead of its competitors.

The fourth and final principle of connectivity is important, as it is the underlying layer for CFOs to effectively use and implement the other three principles. Only with connectivity can organisations enjoy the benefits of a seamless flow of information between different teams, systems and processes, breaking silos. For example, when one of the world’s largest golf and country clubs went public, the CFO leading the effort to develop a strategic roadmap did so with the help of a cross-functional team with prior experience in finance, controls, HR and IT transformations. The principle of connectivity also enables finance teams to stay more connected to the businesses by developing a clear understanding of their needs, which in turn will help them deliver better.

As CFOs embrace their new strategic role of applying the four principles of navigation, mediation, resilience and connectivity to chart out strategies for their organisations, it is imperative that they choose the right technology platform. Choosing a platform equipped with intelligent capabilities will help optimise financial data insights enabling CFOs to experience success in their new role.