In what ways will technology prove a key differentiator and be leveraged to add meaningful value to an ever changing, fast paced, competitive and complex business landscape?
Growth of this kind and scale generates particular requirements and CFOS are increasingly demanding more accurate, detailed and relevant information to be delivered faster. This is to enhance confident and effective decision making. As financial organisations grow and the number and complexity of the transactions passing through their systems increases, CFOs require systems that provide greater financial control via effective reporting and meaningful metrics.
One of the key foci for the future is the building and application of capability. Reflecting this, a shift from outsourcing of technology solutions to third part vendors, toward a model of blending small, hand-picked vendor and business teams – each au fait with the requirements of the business – is expected. Rather than invest the greatest percentage of resources into the gathering and preparing of information, CFOs are also likely to push for the generation of value add output – the extraction of meaningful and interpreted data – since this is where greatest strategic and competitive advantage for the business resides.
Some organisations are better poised to achieve this than others. The level of prior investment and the extent to which the technology and its leaders are integrated into the business determines the extent to which the CFO can leverage the information its organisation’s financial systems contain to quickly reach timely business decisions. Understanding the business requirements and designing systems with them in mind will thus play an increasingly important part of creating value.
The future looks set to be one in which a small number of vendors work alongside internal consultants to develop integrated, bespoke systems that allow the intellectual capital invested in and derived from them to remain in house. The impact on vendor relationships is likely to be significant but the understanding and dialogue between the business and its technicians is likely to improve and place the focus firmly on delivery and ongoing information yield.