Every New Year's Eve, we promise ourselves and our immediate circle of people how to become better persons. In your role as CFO you can also help make your organization better. To do that you have to ask yourself a number of tough questions.
To what extent does your organization use intelligent robotics to automate and streamline processes?
Will robots replace humans? Hardly. However, the rapid development of robotics provides a variety of tools that can optimize operations and processes. And those who are not fast and agile enough to embrace the new opportunities will face challenges. By automating selected processes, your resources can be used for more valuable activities. It will make the organization more innovative, while the staff get more stimulating tasks.
To what extent are your processes standardized?
By standardizing processes, e.g. through Business Process Services (BPS) of certain business units, you can reduce the costs significantly. BPS have for many years been recognized as the solution for companies who want to quickly cut their costs. What we see now in the market is a more structured approach forward, where companies are using new technology to manage their rule-based data more precisely to streamline their processes to a greater extent. By identifying and separating core functions from non-core functions such as technology, business process improvements and productivity improvements, you can easily collect and implement many functions at the same time.
To what extent is your financial processes harmonized with the rest of the organization?
The first cost cutting step of your finance functions is to standardize and harmonize them across the organization. There are significant savings to be made - to cut costs by as much as 20-35% in the finance function is not impossible by implementing the first and second points in this blogpost.
Do you have the right tools to provide management with the relevant need-to-know insights?
Management reporting is a comprehensive exercise of the financial reporting. As a financial officer (CFO), you have to present high quality data to meet the ever increasing requirements. In order to make the right decisions and meet strategic goals, the ability to process information to valuable insights is absolutely crucial. And by using and communicating key figures in the right way, you can improve the organization's performance.
To what extent does your organization manage risk?
There is a strong correlation between risk management and results. Whether it is about financial services or software development, you must consider your company's risk profile based on the environment you exist and operate within, which is also key to a suitable product portfolio generating increased revenue. As a CFO, you must take responsibility ensuring that you identify, evaluate and manage risks, and thus protect your assets and promote growth.
To what extent does your company manage customer experiences based on well-defined support processes?
No matter how much the rapid spread of advanced media and new technologies challenge and change businesses, one aspect is crucial for all industries: it is extremely important to execute true customer experience. This is indeed becoming far more complex, while the benefit and potential is way much greater. By embracing strategies to create genuine customer management processes, technology savvy companies create enormous value and enhance customer experiences. The key is to get loyal customers that keep coming back.
Responsible for Cognizant’s Business Process Services in the Nordic region.
