There was a time when the role of an organization’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) was limited to being the controller of the funds and the treasury of the company: tracking the cashflows, managing the accounting and financing divisions, and ensuring that the financial reports of the company were ready on time, among other finance-related responsibilities.

 This, however, was true only until the early late 2000s. Even though India escaped much of the impact of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, there has been a drastic change in the business environment since – from major regulatory shifts to an increase in competitiveness, cost, and efficiency. Adding to this is the ever-rising demand of the consumers, and as a result, increased expectations of organizations from their employees. 

At the heart of this system-wide growth has been the increasing use of technology in various organizations as a result increased penetration of digitization across the world.

 The use of technology in organizations has redefined the roles of many executives, and therefore, CFOs, too have seen a reorientation of their responsibilities. A recent McKinsey report reveals that an increasing share of CFOs today claim to have resolved issues outside the finance function and that more than half of the finance functions are at the forefront of digitization.

 However, this significant shift in the function of a CFO’s job is likely to raise many questions and concerns. McKinsey also says that among the top questions any CFO about making the leap to digital are:

 i. How do I move from a manual transaction system to something more automated, where my finance teams don’t have to invest time, but it happens in the background with accuracy?

 ii. How do I use analytics within finance? How do I use analytics to draw insights from data that I might have missed otherwise?

 iii. How do I integrate this advanced- analytics philosophy across the rest of the company?

 Therefore, despite there being intent, there is a fair amount of uncertainty about what exactly needs to be done for this transition to being in the digital environment. Given the salience that the finance function holds in any organization, it is necessary that this transition be as smooth and seamless as possible. 

To do this, the CFO must be equipped with new-age tools to enable him/her to perform the duties of as a business catalyst, something that the role has grown into.

 There is a simple answer to all these questions: BOARD Financial Planning & Analysis software. BOARD offers real-time calculations and immediate aggregations, saving valuable time. 

With separate and unlimited actual, budget and forecast scenarios and fast production of ‘what-if’ analyses, BOARD makes it easy for any user to use analytics and draw insights from existing data. Finally, with easy customizations and advanced integration with Microsoft Office, this is the only solution an organization needs to make its data-driven decision-making processes more agile and efficient.

 Using technology makes the finance function of any organization much more streamlined. Taking advantage of automation cuts-down on time spent on routine work, giving more space for innovation and implementation, while ensuring compliance. Therefore, the use of technology can also improve the organization’s performance. However, organizations have multiple departments – each of them having their plans to meet their objectives.

 BOARD connects various plans – strategic, operational, and financial – through its Integrated Business Planning (IBP) platform to avoid errors arising from using multiple platforms simultaneously. Therefore, despite the different departments of organizations working individually, the CFO has the tools to collate all the data in a single place. This helps the CFO refer to a single screen to get the bigger picture of the organization’s plan, enabling him/her to provide more actionable insights to other decision-makers. As a result, the CFO is fulfilling his/her new role, i.e. identifying opportunities for growth and profit maximization for the organization.

CFOs have always been integral in any organization’s management. This push towards digitization will only emphasize their role further. The ‘F’ in CFO will expand to stand for ‘Facilitation’ in that CFOs will facilitate the work of other decision-makers through their data-backed insights. This path is likely to be faced with uncertainty, as is the case with any overhaul of this magnitude. BOARD’s Financial Planning & Analysis software is the tool for any CFO looking to make this shift seamless.

 Do you want to make your transition to digital smooth and seamless?

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