It’s time for CFOs to embrace frontier tech!
Anders Liu-Lindberg
Leading advisor to senior Finance and FP&A leaders on creating impact through business partnering | Interim | VP Finance | Business Finance
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To future-proof the role of finance in a rapidly changing world, successful CFOs are using frontier technologies to build value in their business partnering. The role of finance relies on the collection of data, its authentication and verification, and its interpretation to deliver valuable decision-making insights.
The frontier technologies we have examined in this series, Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, and Blockchain, are the tools we need to make this happen. Specializing in new areas of technology will become a strength of the finance function, bringing in revenue-generating and business partnering opportunities for CFOs and businesses who choose to embrace them.
We are on the cusp of a paradigm shift in the role of finance, re-defining the essentials of value creation and establishing a partnership between humans and machines. This is not vanity but a necessity. The volume of data to which we have access is doubling every two years, and without moving forward we risk being submerged. To continue to add value, new tools are essential.
The golden triangle
The key frontier technologies we have reviewed form a natural three-way relationship. They are all effective, but stronger together, and CFOs need to understand how each complements the other in driving value creation.
There are other technologies running alongside these, of course. A clear understanding of cybersecurity is an essential part of delving into data and the digital realms. The emergence of the Metaverse and the role of virtual and augmented realities will have an impact upon data collection and interaction with customers. Crypto assets in all their forms will become increasingly important. A CFO who embraces frontier technologies will take these in their stride.
Over to you!
Professional accounting and finance bodies are already training their members to adopt a digital mindset. Members can access courses on IoT, AI, and Blockchain through most CPD providers, part of the industry’s drive to meet the challenges of fast-moving business environments.?
What does the future hold for you? Have you already adopted that digital mindset? Do you consider yourself a data native? Have you started the transformation of your finance function to deliver better business partnering through new technology? Please share your experiences, and help all of your peers to embrace frontier technology as a driver for successful business partnering, now and in the years to come.
This was the tenth and final article in my latest series "Frontier Technologies for Finance". You can read the previous ones below. Remember to click subscribe to be notified about future articles.
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Anders Liu-Lindberg ?is the co-founder and a partner at the?Business Partnering Institute ?and owner of the largest?group dedicated to Finance Business Partnering ?on LinkedIn with more than 10,000 members. I have ten years of experience as a business partner at the global transport and logistics company?Maersk . I am the co-author of the book “Create Value as a Finance Business Partner ” and a?long-time Finance Blogger ?on LinkedIn with 70.000+ followers and 150.000+ subscribers to my blog. I am also an advisory board member at?Born Capital ?where I help identify and grow the next big thing in #CFOTech.
Writer / Optimist / Servant Leader / Quality / Controlling Specialist / Manufacturing Expertise / Experiences in Sales / Father / Husband / Lover of Life ??
2 年Hi Anders, we as a larger broad organization are trying to implement this. Within certain divisions they are faster than others. I am trying to push this from the bottom up and trying to also help with making this change. I have found that it is difficult to get this culture shift sometimes. I try to push even a low technology tool like PowerBI by using an intern and teaching, and allowing him to make a new model, to help show others that we should be embracing new technology. The absolute difficulty though is this change needs to be made from the top, as we need experts in both these new technologies so that we have a position that is focused on this shift as opposed to employees that have the skills to help build these programs. I think companies realize this. I work in manufacturing and we tend to spend a large amount of capital on new machinery and expansion, because it is easy to do an IRR to really show how well we can recoup money. It is much more difficult to do an IRR to show how hiring a new person or position will help Finance reduce costs in a plant as the savings sometimes are not concrete to people that are so used to seeing concrete things.
Director Wharton FP&A Certificate Program | Corporate FP&A Trainer | ex. P&G, Unilever, Squarespace | 100k Finance Audience
2 年What can't be stressed enough is that CFOs need to make sure not to be left behind with embracing AI, IoT, and blockchain tech. Take RPA (Robotic Process Automation) as an example. It has been around for over 20 years. And yet, I witnessed even large, multinational companies only starting to roll it out in the last 5 years. As a result, competitors easily out-innovated them because they had all the additional time on their hands. Great food for thought. Thanks for sharing Anders.
Helping FP&A Professionals provide value to their businesses | Founder of The FP&A Guy | Host of 3 popular Finance podcasts | Microsoft MVP
2 年Anders, thanks for sharing this post, and I agree adopting frontier technologies is important. The three technologies you mentioned are all growing rapidly and have the ability to drive efficiency and streamline the way the finance department of the future works. Driving these efficiencies through technology will free up time for resources to focus on driving value for the business.