Futurist CFOs: the key to business agility

Brian Montgomery at Workday describes how CFOs should adopt a “futurist” mindset to drive business agility through emerging technologies like AI, RPA and cloud analytics

New technologies reshape the economy, businesses and the departments that run them. They also transform the roles and responsibilities of business leaders. This is particularly true for Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) who are now seeing emerging technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) reshape how they work.

The AI market is projected to reach $407 billion by 2027 and as it cements itself in the societal and economic bedrock, it’s becoming clear that CFOs can’t just be CFOs anymore; they need to be futurists, too. Boards are looking for this – for CFOs who are able to think and act holistically, their insights and decisions empowered by data, that data itself given meaning by AI systems. 

One thing hasn’t changed though. CFOs are still the guardians of an asset without which organisations would crumble: its finances. They’re at the heart of business decision making in a complex, high-pressure function. AI and other technologies can help alleviate these pressures. By embracing technologies like robotic process automation (RPA), AI and cloud analytics, CFOs can both streamline processes and unlock even more value for the business through times of uncertainty, thanks to data.

How can CFOs embrace these new technologies, drive greater business value and win over increasingly tech-minded boards by becoming true futurists?

Custodians of data

Finance and CFOs sit at the intersection of all commercial operations within a business. CFOs therefore possess a panoramic view of the flow of data in an organisation, as well as its digital infrastructure. This unique position and perspective enables forward-thinking CFOs to speed up essential processes like period-end reporting cycles and market predictions using RPA and AI.

Progressive CFOs can also unlock business insights and opportunities others miss by canvassing threats more expansively. They can take the business and finance data they have access to and feed it into analytics engines, the output being, for example, insights into business threats or market gaps. 

Increasingly, these actions are becoming the expected remit of CFOs. CFOs are still required to manage budget and risk while focusing on value creation, but what has changed is how they do that. Those who excel are the CFOs who leverage tools that automatically gather insights to present real-time data visualisations and data-driven insights to their boards.

Beyond their own role, CFOs are now also expected to be champions of data literacy across the business – that is, how capable the entire organisation is at using data effectively in their roles. The data that drives business has grown more complex, so boards are responding by cultivating a new set of finance chiefs that play a key role in enterprise agility. And in this ‘new’ role, these chiefs must impart what they know to the entire business.

Cultural exemplaries – upskilling over pure profit

It should come as no surprise that boards today often promote tech-savvy finance figures to the top. The savviest CFOs are the ones that meld AI and cultural change, positively disrupting operating models. These are the individuals who, instead of reducing headcount, use cutting-edge technology to get the best out of more people, elevating business performance to unprecedented levels. 

However, it’s not only about the tools – a modern CFO must be a compassionate futurist. They must encourage the organisation to grow and meet shifting macroeconomic conditions head-on, without alienating workers who aren’t privy to strategy or may not yet be accustomed to AI. By doing this, CFOs earn lasting authority and trust and can play the strategic role the modern enterprise needs them to. 

In other words, futurist CFOs recognise that the balance sheet goes beyond the numbers. They are increasingly focused on bolstering skills and creating a culture of continuous improvement. This sense of stewardship drives long term profitability, and enables CFOs to not just hit a quarterly target, but strengthen them over years or decades.

Futurist CFOs should focus efforts on upskilling initiatives that prepare talent for AI and other bleeding edge technologies. Our global Workday study highlights just how important this is. The research shows that while 62% of leaders welcome AI, only 52% of employees feel the same. The gap suggests leaders need to do more to showcase the benefits of AI and bring employees on the journey with them. As early adopters of AI, CFOs can take the lead here.  

The future of leadership

Workplace culture is changing in tandem with, and in response to, artificial intelligence. And it’s clear that one of the departments that will experience the most transformation through the technology is finance. This puts CFOs in a unique position to demonstrate best practices and put in place a culture that embraces data-driven work and technological upskilling.

Ultimately, a futurist CFO is one that can combine their unique operational and strategic skill sets with new technologies, all while communicating these best practices to the wider team. It’s not an easy task, but being at the centre of the business operations already, finance leaders are more than up to the challenge. With the right approach they’ll set the benchmark for tomorrow’s leadership to follow.

Brian Montgomery is Senior Director International Finance at Workday

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com and atakan