Before the pandemic hit, chief financial officers were increasingly under pressure to accomplish the impossible. Fast Forward today, CFOs have a completely different perspective on what it takes to do the impossible.
Forward-thinking CFOs continue to strive to stay ahead of the latest trends while always knowing market changes in a volatile business environment. They have invested in the necessary people, processes, and technology to ensure the success of their company plan. This also entails comprehensive planning for future scenarios that may or may not happen based on market changes.
Regardless of what the future may hold, today’s CFOs have three key priorities:
Planning for Efficiency
Many professionals across the board have recently been caught off guard, with many finding that the traditional method of doing things no longer works. Flaws were discovered in our healthcare system, education system, governance, and other areas.
The CFO’s office was no exception. Several CFOs discovered that their legacy or spreadsheet-based systems couldn’t keep up when budgeting and planning cycles quickened. As the world gets more unpredictable, frequent scenario planning became increasingly critical, but many CFOs were hampered by walled procedures and a lack of accessible data.
Today’s modern CFOs have opted to make significant changes to modernize processes and technology, not just to enhance efficiency and efficacy by abandoning old technologies but also to respond with speed and agility—no matter what is required of them.
Improving the Organization’s Financial IQ
As uncertainty persists, today’s CFOs are looking for ways to help their business stay ahead of changes while improving the financial IQ of the entire organization. To be ahead of the competition, today’s CFOs must provide their employees with the latest FP&A software to help them achieve their goals faster.
CFOs may collaborate with executives from all areas of the organization to identify new possibilities and make decisions that help the firm expand, thanks to technology platforms that combine financial and operational planning and are loaded with data that informs quick decision making. It is feasible to see this immediately and show value within weeks or even days, rapidly expanding knowledge outside the financial department. This enables better, quicker, and more informed decision-making.
Increasing Growth through Agility
Amidst an unpredictable business landscape, CFOs need to help push for digital transformation to better plan for the future. Today’s modern CFOs need to be armed with better scenario planning to ensure better forecasts for the future. This entails scheduling for agility as well and constantly reviewing different business scenarios with the board.
While our daily lives and routines may change regularly, we have come to understand that this does not imply a pause in work, life, or progress toward goals. Because the future is becoming less precise, the way we plan for the future must alter.
Finance professionals used to have a clear outline of what it takes to get from point A to point B quickly. But recent events have been a distinct reminder that some things can happen at any given moment and throw you off-course. Fortunately, many finance leaders address these three primary concerns by putting the appropriate people, processes, and technology in place. These are the CFOs who are willing to take risks and face new difficulties.
If you’re looking for a future-ready FP&A tool to help support your organization, Performance Canvas Financials has all the features a modern CFO and his team would need to scale. It comes with an intelligent dashboard to help you track and measure financial KPIs and comes with better business intelligence solutions to help you stay ahead.
Get in touch with our team for a free demo today.
