Let’s face it: being a CFO these days is not what it used to be. The role of the chief finance function has evolved beyond the narrow financially-centric viewpoint. Today, it involves providing strategic visionary leadership alongside the CEO.
Financial tools that once worked are now falling short for meeting these changing needs, which now include deeper insights into business intelligence, metrics, reporting and analytics all in real time and at your fingertips.
So what are your options? Sound investment and selection of the right ERP solution is a game changer for this new brand of strategic CFO. It can provide a powerful way to gain sharper insights that drive both the company’s growth and bottom-line agenda.
Here are a few of the benefits that accrue from having the right ERP solution:
- End-to-end company visibility – Of all key fundamentals: financials, inventory, operations, sourcing/supplies, service/support obligations and statuses, etc.
- Decision-making support – Access to data, metrics and reporting provides the ability to act on all of this critical information quickly and with favourable profit and cost ramifications.
- Customer/market responsiveness – Trends, issues and/or sales or service opportunities are quickly identified and made actionable.
- Business Process Automation – removing manual processes and inserting standardized alerts on key performance indicators can be the difference between running in the black or the red.
- Auditable compliance with government/industry/financial/customer/partner regulations – This can range from legal regulatory reporting to product recalls and adherence to contract terms.
In these uncertain economic times, today’s financial heads are increasingly aware that their effectiveness is extremely compromised without a comprehensive and highly-integrated set of technology tools at their fingertips. A strong, integrated technology foundation that is created by the right choice of ERP can assist manufacturers and distributors to rise to the next level of growth.
