What Does Digital Tech Mean for CFOs?
Economia took a look at how the disruptive changes brought about by technological innovation are reshaping the role of finance teams this week. With cloud computing, digitisation, analytics and robotic process autonomation (RPA) becoming ever more embedded in business, CFOs and finance teams need to be ready to adapt to the constantly evolving digital landscape – and that means getting to grips with data.
Digital technologies are becoming increasingly embedded in all aspects of business, including the finance function. Kirstin Gillon, a technical manager at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), emphasises that the digital future of finance teams will include a much stronger emphasis on data. “Finance is doing more to help businesses to make better decisions by using more data, better sources of data and more granular data,” she reports. Technology is allowing finance to shift from tracking budgets to a more strategic role. Digital reporting has enabled integration of previously siloed information, meaning better quality financial data can be easily accessed and analysed, providing more effective insight.
Dealing with digital disruption means learning from experience and being prepared to be agile – and the foundation of that is good quality data. A 2018 Grant Thornton survey, Insights on New Technologies, found that 89% of CFOs saw strong data analytics as key to digital transformation. We can’t predict the future, but an organisation with available comparable, accessible, high-quality data will be ready to quickly take advantage of innovation.
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