SYSPRO surveyed CFOs and finance leaders in a variety of industries and learned that they’ve had to undertake a more flexible role than in previous years. The tumultuous trading climates of 2020 and 2021 have necessitated agility, and a need to spearhead strategic, innovative, and risk-based financial focus. To stay competitive and support the modern CFO, organizations must invest in their financial leaders’ skills and competencies. Here are some of the major growth opportunities identified by survey respondents:
1. Operationalizing digitization and automation
According to 57% of our global respondents, the modern finance leader must have the knowledge and proficiency to create an effective plan to transition into a digitalized and automated business. With manual processes inviting the risk of inefficient or misaligned financial information, it comes as no surprise that respondents ranked digital transformation and over-reliance on spreadsheets as some of the top priorities to address this year.
2. Making the case for smart technology investments
While going to bat for investing in technologies that will move the business forward, CFOs today must simultaneously balance the risks of these efforts and create funding paths for the projects. Which technologies and digital transformation initiatives are worth fighting for? According to CFO survey respondents, here’s what they plan to invest in over the next five years:
- Warehouse automation
- On-premises to cloud data migration
- SMART technologies
- Business intelligence
- eCommerce
3. Identifying ROI beyond the spreadsheet
While building the business case for technologies, a clear ROI must be achievable. Today’s CFOs must be able to monetize the benefits and ROI of digital acceleration, requiring a deeper understanding beyond top-line growth into operational efficiencies to be gained. 36% of survey respondents around the globe agree that improving visibility into performance and operations is key to staying competitive in 2022 and beyond. Therefore, it is critical to have an ERP software solution that can be the vehicle that not only drives strategy throughout the organization but pushes actionable insights to users to follow through on that strategy.
The CFO 4.0 is faced with many challenges as they help navigate their manufacturing or distribution business through the pandemic, but with challenges come opportunities. Download SYSPRO’s 2022 CFO survey report to learn more about how the role of the CFO is rapidly evolving across all industries.
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