FEATURE
REDEFINING THE FINANCE FUNCTION WHY DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF THE FINANCE FUNCTION IS KEY TO DRIVING BUSINESS RESULTS IN TODAY’S UNCERTAIN TIMES.
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n today’s turbulent business world, there is an increasing pressure on CFOs to contain costs, improve liquidity, and steer business strategy in new directions. The actions and choices of the CFO will have a far-reaching impact on the business recovery efforts as we transition toward the new normal. Finance leaders now have a bigger role to play in shaping the business strategy. One of the ways to steady business operations post-crisis period is to seize this opportunity to transform finance function through digital technologies. In the wake of Covid-19, which presents 18
CXO INSIGHT ME
JUNE 2020
unprecedented challenges, the CFO and the finance team can bring some rigor to the business by embracing digital capabilities and making the finance function more efficient, data-driven and automated. “The digital age and rapidly evolving market conditions present opportunities and threats to many current business models – to survive and thrive, organisations have to be increasingly agile,” says Aarti Mohan, ERPM Strategy Leader – ECEMEA, Oracle. “CFOs in the current times need to build finance and operational resiliency to support their teams and stakeholders efficiently for
driving growth. Companies need to be able to make informed decisions swiftly about how to adapt to rapid changes and swiftly implement new strategies. “ One of the top reasons prompting CFOs to consider digitisation and automation is time and cost, according to Bhaskar Sahay, Associate Partner, Advisory services, KPMG Lower Gulf. “There is constant pressure on the finance function to reduce the time to report, as well as the cost of reporting. Based on our experience, many CFOs in the GCC are striving to achieve a cost reduction by 2025, sometimes as aggressive as 30%-40%.”
