I attended the Association of Financial Professionals ( AFP) conference in San Diego on October 14th - 17th. It was my first time at the AFP conference and it was a wonderful experience to hear the latest developments in finance and treasury. It was great to network with people who have similar issues in their companies and hear how they are approaching to solve the problem, integrating new technology and preparing for the changes in future.
Finance needs to start adapting to technology and partnering with IT on the future technology strategy of the company. No company today can work in isolation from these changes and all its functions - finance, HR, sales & marketing , manufacturing etc are being impacted by these technologies. Finance function is being looked on more and more to answer not only the question of what happened but what should we expect going forward and why - it becomes imperative for the the future finance leader to understand the language of technology and work hand in hand with information technology experts to shape the technology strategy of the company for the future. The technology strategy should line with the goals of the business, deliver value and be a united outlook for the company with the ability to be agile ( change the course as needed).
Big data for example is not just the domain of finance - but also for marketing, supply chain, R&D etc. Thus a company's strategy for data assets should not be based on the needs of one department but the holistic needs of the company itself so we get one version of truth from the data asset.
Companies need to develop a 3 -5 year information technology strategy and finance has important part to play in this strategy development to help understand the value in technology investment.
How is your company / organization adapting to the new technology and planning for a technology strategy ?
There was so much new technology that was showcased during the conference. AFP mindshift was a new row of exhibitors as well as speakers that particularly showcased how these technologies are being commercialized and used. Some of the ones that stood out particularly are blockchain, robotic process automation, artificial intelligence, predictive modeling, big data and analytics. New startups definitely have an edge up in adopting such technologies as they are not tied down by legacy systems. But one of the main issues holding back companies in investing in such technologies are existing legacy systems. Companies have invested millions of dollars in existing ERP systems that are the back bone of their businesses and with changes happening so quickly around us it becomes difficult to develop a clear technology strategy for the financial function.
Finance needs to start adapting to technology and partnering with IT on the future technology strategy of the company. No company today can work in isolation from these changes and all its functions - finance, HR, sales & marketing , manufacturing etc are being impacted by these technologies. Finance function is being looked on more and more to answer not only the question of what happened but what should we expect going forward and why - it becomes imperative for the the future finance leader to understand the language of technology and work hand in hand with information technology experts to shape the technology strategy of the company for the future. The technology strategy should line with the goals of the business, deliver value and be a united outlook for the company with the ability to be agile ( change the course as needed).
Big data for example is not just the domain of finance - but also for marketing, supply chain, R&D etc. Thus a company's strategy for data assets should not be based on the needs of one department but the holistic needs of the company itself so we get one version of truth from the data asset.
Companies need to develop a 3 -5 year information technology strategy and finance has important part to play in this strategy development to help understand the value in technology investment.
How is your company / organization adapting to the new technology and planning for a technology strategy ?
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