When I speak to my peers, I realize that CFOs, especially now, are being called upon to help respond to today\u2019s challenging economic environment.<\/p>\n
From inflation, the energy crisis and rising labor costs, all are putting a squeeze on both the top and bottom line. With so much continuing fluidity, we as finance leaders are being asked to find ways to optimize costs while prioritizing investments that will drive the most powerful business outcomes.<\/p>\n
At the same time, we are also looking at ways to mitigate external risks. This includes tackling increasing cybersecurity threats, ensuring compliance with an ever-evolving legislative landscape and meeting the expectations of stakeholders who are increasingly discerning when it comes to ESG reporting.<\/p>\n
A <\/span>white paper<\/span> we <\/span>recently <\/span>publishe<\/span>d <\/span>called <\/span>the<\/span> <\/span>2023 <\/span>Future of Finance Trends Report<\/span><\/span><\/a> shows 80% of finance leaders believe they\u2019re being increasingly challenged to add value beyond their traditional responsibilities. Some 79% believe that they and their teams must play a significant role in driving business innovation and overall business transformation.<\/p>\n With all of that said, it\u2019s little wonder that I\u2019m seeing CFOs now at the helm as their organizations shift to the cloud \u2013 the foundational step to becoming data-led and driving innovation. CFOs leadership here stands to reason, as the financial benefits of this transformation directly map to our priorities.<\/p>\n Embracing the cloud represents a shift from CAPEX to OPEX, lowers financial risk, optimizes cash flow, and can unlock new business value. According to an IDC report<\/a>, organizations moving to the cloud have seen an overall cost-savings of 37%, with a 30% reduction in hardware costs and a 16% savings on facilities and utilities. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n As companies move to the cloud it creates the opportunity to unlock new business value. For the finance department this includes using AI tools and data in new ways to help provide insights to optimize cost savings and reinvest for growth. Some 82%<\/a> of finance leaders cite AI and automation as being very important in helping their teams play a bigger role in supporting the strategic goals of the organization.<\/p>\n At Microsoft, we\u2019re using AI-powered automation tools to equip our finance teams with timely, accurate data and free people from time-consuming manual processes.\u00a0The technology our finance team has created \u201cin house\u201d has saved us 977+ hours of manual labor annually, provided $25 million in savings<\/a> and <\/em>has boosted our teams\u2019 productivity levels.<\/p>\n It\u2019s super important to note that you don\u2019t have to be a technology company \u2013 or a tech expert \u2013 to drive innovation as you look to automate and become data-led. In fact, with low code technology you can empower members of your team to develop their own innovation.<\/p>\n At Bayer<\/a>, two citizen developers on the finance team \u2013 with zero IT background \u2013 developed their own app that provided a centralized dashboard for financial data.\u00a0\u00a0This tool eliminated the need for the finance team to manually track KPIs across multiple online and manual reports.<\/p>\n One of the developers, Portfolio Manager Matthias Eisenack stated: \u201cThe Power BI dashboard is a game-changer for us. It enables self-service for our CFO for overseeing the business, and also to present financials in real time to stakeholders, such as the board.\u201d<\/p>\n Innovation is also helping us deal with increasing business complexity.\u00a0Meeting sustainability goals, ensuring compliance with all local EU-level regulations, and meeting the changing expectations of workers are just a few variables at play here.\u00a0So, how do we as CFOs ensure we continue accurately forecasting and assessing risk?<\/p>\nToday’s CFO is becoming data-led<\/h2>\n