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What Role Does the CFO Play In Digital Transformation?
Digitizing key business process can save companies quite a bit of money in the long-run. But as with every new business endeavor, digital transformation costs money. Quite a lot of money, in fact. Technology industry watcher IDC predicts that between 2018 and 2021, companies worldwide will have spent a collective $5.9 trillion on digital transformation initiatives.
With so much money involved in digital transformation, chief financial officers receive a large number of sizable internal funding requests. Since digitization can’t happen without finances, CFOs play a key role in the digital transformation of their companies.
Making Wise Technology Investments
A CFO’s vital role in digital transformation involves being a value-minded investor in digital initiatives. They’re the ones who have to decide which funding requests deserve priority. They’re also responsible for determining how much to invest in each initiative, both short- and long-term.
The question in today’s business world isn’t whether or not to take a company digital. Questions that C-suite executives need to answer today involve where to digitize and how much to spend. In order to make astute investments, a CFO needs to rigorously scrutinize potential digital transformation initiatives.
Company-Wide Strategizing
In a survey conducted by CFO.com, 47% of CFOs “said it was important to use data and analytics collected across a company in strategic ways.” Not only is this information important in supporting revenue growth, but it also helps guide the CFO in knowing where to invest finances for digital technology advancement.
As CFOs work to determine whether or not different digital business models are economically viable, they’ll often collaborate with the CIO and IT department. For example, whether the company switches from on-premises computing to public clouds is both an IT and a financial decision.
Automation In Finances
Digital transformation can affect the entire company. Whether it’s investing in artificial intelligence or installing Internet of Things embedded wireless sensors, digital technology isn’t confined to just one department. Digitization and automation can, however, be particularly helpful in transforming a CFO’s own department.
Rolling forecasts, accounts payable, and many other financial tasks benefit greatly from automation. You can use automation to improve cash flow, reduce errors, fight fraud, and speed-up processing. And automating these departments doesn’t mean trading employees for computers. It means shifting manual, paper-intensive, low-value work to automation so that finance employees can focus on high-value, strategic tasks.
If you’re looking for high-quality business process automation to invest in, check out NextProcess. We offer a suite of programs that seamlessly integrates with existing ERPs to improve financial processing systems. Contact us today to schedule a free demo.