About 480 million car rides have been completed via mobile apps; $2.35 billion government payments took place through the government marketplace; there are 1.17 billion wireless phone subscribers, and 560 million internet users.

Tech-led innovation forms the crux of digital applications. This has opened out access to emerging markets and empowered customers. It has also simplified many government processes. Even traditional business models are undergoing a sea-change to be part of the digital journey. 

“CFOs [chief financial officer] are best placed to drive digital transformation in an organisation. They have touch points with every function in the organisation, know the systems and processes and understand the business. No doubt the CFO’s conventional role still remains and is extremely important, still CFOs need to step-up and drive transformation in a business,” said Pradip Kanakia, managing partner, South India, PwC.

This can happen by leveraging the power of the digital medium to build differentiating capabilities. Hence, traditional financial functions need to be digitised to allow CFO’s to spend more time in productively engaging with the business. CFOs need to leverage the vast flow of data that organisation is generating. This needs to be bifurcated into data that is of immediate requirement and long-term use.

“We live in an era of disruption where global forces are changing how we live and how we work. Companies that are agile, flexible and adaptable will thrive and the rest will perish. In today’s environment, supply is far in excess of demand. New business models are forcing companies to innovate, adapt and transform for a digital customer-first world,” explained Suresh Senapathy, chairman, Honeywell Automation Ltd.

Digitisation is now a realistic goal for the finance operations to maximise profits. The board, regulators and audit team are all under the CFO’s wing. This gives the CFO a sharp focus on the statistics. With this, an important aspect is that technology has transformed the way business is done. Every industry, every process, every task is being reconsidered, disrupted and rebuilt from the ground up due to the power and potential of digitisation.

“CFOs today spend only 45 per cent of their time on traditional financial management; 14 per cent on specialty finance, and 41 per cent on other important functions such as risk management, performance management, regulatory compliance, strategy and now more importantly on IT, cyber security and digitisation,” explained Aman Choudhari, Chairman CII Karnataka.

CFOs, long seen for their role in tracking performance and efficiency, are now charged with top-to-bottom strategy for growth. Transformation needs to be done incrementally and the key is to start with analyzing the integrity, accuracy and quality of data. CFOs need to begin with financial functions to understand where efficiency can be achieved and then reach out to the layers of corporate strategy. “Many of these changes can happen in an organic manner. This includes making the necessary changes, transforming businesses, people and skills. Organisations can also look at acquiring startups and adding more strategic investment in technology,” said Senapathy.

In this digital disruption, the CFO is a catalyst for change. “CFOs must not only maintain their firm’s current financial standing, but serve as change agents as well. They need the foresight to incorporate technology effectively. They should have the wisdom to reframe technology from being a nice-to-have capital expenditure to an operational expense,” pointed out Ganesh Shenoy, CFO, MTR Foods.

Along with the CFO, the audit team needs to be involved right from the inception of the digital journey in order to achieve the desired results. The audit professionals should be re-skilled so that the organisation builds a digitally grown talent pool to move with the times. Analytics are being embedded into various audit functions. Chatbots now give payment status.

The speakers shared their views at the CII CFO Conclave 2019. ‘Tech CFOs’ was the theme of the event, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). 

About 480 million car rides have been completed via mobile apps; $2.35 billion government payments took place through the government marketplace; there are 1.17 billion wireless phone subscribers, and 560 million internet users.

Tech-led innovation forms the crux of digital applications. This has opened out access to emerging markets and empowered customers. It has also simplified many government processes. Even traditional business models are undergoing a sea-change to be part of the digital journey. 

“CFOs [chief financial officer] are best placed to drive digital transformation in an organisation. They have touch points with every function in the organisation, know the systems and processes and understand the business. No doubt the CFO’s conventional role still remains and is extremely important, still CFOs need to step-up and drive transformation in a business,” said Pradip Kanakia, managing partner, South India, PwC.

This can happen by leveraging the power of the digital medium to build differentiating capabilities. Hence, traditional financial functions need to be digitised to allow CFO’s to spend more time in productively engaging with the business. CFOs need to leverage the vast flow of data that organisation is generating. This needs to be bifurcated into data that is of immediate requirement and long-term use.

“We live in an era of disruption where global forces are changing how we live and how we work. Companies that are agile, flexible and adaptable will thrive and the rest will perish. In today’s environment, supply is far in excess of demand. New business models are forcing companies to innovate, adapt and transform for a digital customer-first world,” explained Suresh Senapathy, chairman, Honeywell Automation Ltd.

Digitisation is now a realistic goal for the finance operations to maximise profits. The board, regulators and audit team are all under the CFO’s wing. This gives the CFO a sharp focus on the statistics. With this, an important aspect is that technology has transformed the way business is done. Every industry, every process, every task is being reconsidered, disrupted and rebuilt from the ground up due to the power and potential of digitisation.

“CFOs today spend only 45 per cent of their time on traditional financial management; 14 per cent on specialty finance, and 41 per cent on other important functions such as risk management, performance management, regulatory compliance, strategy and now more importantly on IT, cyber security and digitisation,” explained Aman Choudhari, Chairman CII Karnataka.

CFOs, long seen for their role in tracking performance and efficiency, are now charged with top-to-bottom strategy for growth. Transformation needs to be done incrementally and the key is to start with analyzing the integrity, accuracy and quality of data. CFOs need to begin with financial functions to understand where efficiency can be achieved and then reach out to the layers of corporate strategy. “Many of these changes can happen in an organic manner. This includes making the necessary changes, transforming businesses, people and skills. Organisations can also look at acquiring startups and adding more strategic investment in technology,” said Senapathy.

In this digital disruption, the CFO is a catalyst for change. “CFOs must not only maintain their firm’s current financial standing, but serve as change agents as well. They need the foresight to incorporate technology effectively. They should have the wisdom to reframe technology from being a nice-to-have capital expenditure to an operational expense,” pointed out Ganesh Shenoy, CFO, MTR Foods.

Along with the CFO, the audit team needs to be involved right from the inception of the digital journey in order to achieve the desired results. The audit professionals should be re-skilled so that the organisation builds a digitally grown talent pool to move with the times. Analytics are being embedded into various audit functions. Chatbots now give payment status.

The speakers shared their views at the CII CFO Conclave 2019. ‘Tech CFOs’ was the theme of the event, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).