SF Magazine: Improving Business Resilience

“Business resilience involves both taking advantage of unexpected opportunities and mitigating the damage from new threats. Organizations may need to modify their business models by engaging differently with customers and suppliers, realigning their workforce, accelerating their digital capabilities, and optimizing their asset base through divestitures or acquisitions. Financial structures may also need to be modified as credit markets change and public sector relief resources and incentives become available. In short, individual companies are in dire need of guidance on how to make timely decisions to survive the crisis and foresighted decisions to thrive afterward.”

In navigating the complex terrain of business resilience, digital transformation emerges as a crucial enabler. The adoption of innovative technologies, such as a digital business card and digital twins, becomes pivotal in not only weathering unforeseen challenges but also capitalizing on new opportunities. Digital twins offer businesses the capability to create virtual replicas of their operations, providing a comprehensive understanding of assets, processes, and potential vulnerabilities.

Companies, seeking to enhance their resilience, can leverage solutions provided by pioneers in the field like Remsense.com.au. By integrating digital twins into their strategic framework, businesses gain the ability to visualize, analyze, and optimize various aspects of their operations in real-time. This not only facilitates better decision-making during times of crisis but also positions them to proactively identify and capitalize on emerging trends and opportunities, ensuring a resilient and adaptive trajectory for the future. Seeking professional services liquidation advice can further enhance strategic planning and financial management, providing invaluable insights for navigating challenging situations.

Read More at SF Magazine >

CFO Dive: 5 CFO trends to watch in 2021

Real-time data makes the list, again, in trends for CFOs to pay attention to this year. Here are all five trends from Jim Tyson:

1. Increased pressure to adopt ESG metrics

2. The countdown to LIBOR’s end will grow louder

3. Targeted, AI-assisted zero-based budgeting will outlast the pandemic

4. CFOs will try to expand use of real-time data

5. CFOs will try to find the best post-pandemic balance of remote and in-office work

Read More at CFO Dive >

SF Magazine: Strategic Life-Cycle Analysis: The Role of the CFO

“Any accounting-based control system, however useful at higher levels in the organization for ROI measurement, confronts a “crossover” problem at lower levels in the organization where process (not accounting) variables are the logical measurement tools to facilitate productivity gains. So, there is a need to have an in-house learning culture for the finance organization in order to make steady progress in dealing with company-specific performance measurement issues related to intangible assets.”

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CFOs are Best Positioned to Drive Digital Transformation

“Research from Accenture identifies that 77% of CFOs surveyed believe it is within their purview to drive business-wide operational transformation. Yet, a reliance on antiquated tools can stand in the way of digital reinvention, which could lead to missed opportunities or inaccurate forecasts that undermine performance.”

Read more on LinkedIn >

How CFOs Have Evolved to Support Innovation

CFOs and finance teams play an increasing role in enterprise innovation, and the ones with a solid foundation of enterprise technologies are already ahead of the competition. Most companies view innovation as essential to survival. But without the right leadership and direction from finance, enterprise innovation plans inevitably fall flat or divert precious resources away from worthy projects. Supporting innovation is one of the new challenges for finance, but one that is important for CFOs and their finance teams to get right.

Read More at CFO Magazine >

What Makes A True Data Analytics-Driven Organization?

Advanced analytics enable businesses to gain insight from data and to better perform in fiercely competitive markets. Most companies today see advanced analytics as the key to drive down costs, improve decision making, and increase customer value. But the challenges of a data analytics implementation can hinder these plans. A business looking to develop advanced analytical capabilities and become data-driven must have the right tools, culture, data, and people to support managerial decision making throughout the use of analytical technologies. Implementing analytics shouldn’t be viewed as “just another IT project.” It’s a fundamental change in the way that organizations do business.

Read More at The Association of Accountants and Financial Professionals in Business >

Smart Automation: The Framework for Dynamic Digital Operations

The Hackett Group defines smart automation as “the optimization of structured work, knowledge work, and interaction work through the adoption of emerging robotic process automation (RPA), smart data capture, conversational interfaces, cognitive automation, and agile orchestration technologies.”

For finance, this means applying new technologies to improve effectiveness, efficiency, and user/customer experience, while providing operational insights. Because digital transformation and innovation are disrupting the way businesses operate and increasing competition, smart automation solutions are an important part of the finance function’s future.

Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >

Digital Technologies Are Re-Imagining Financial Reporting Capabilities

Many finance leaders see their reporting practices as a monotonous task that requires many charts and spreadsheets that show several different versions of how the business is performing. A Deloitte survey reported that the majority of finance leaders spend almost half of their time creating and updating reports, and only 18% communicating results to the business. While some companies are using standardization to gain efficiency and insights quickly, many are applying point solutions to traditional reporting processes to help improve specific capabilities. A handful of digital technologies are providing modern businesses with a fully-automated end-to-end reporting process that makes real-time insights accessible.

Read More at The Wall Street Journal >

How Agile Technology Drives Supply Chain Innovation

Change and uncertainty are inevitable in manufacturing. While effective production planning can support manufacturing processes, there will always be uncontrollable factors that are difficult to manage. Manufacturers are dealing with an increased pressure to meet customer demands quicker and more cost-effectively. Visibility of where manufacturers are within the production process is a key driver and control for an organization. Companies that have a detailed overview of every step of the production process are enabling machine integration with business applications. Without this integration, there is potential for reduced machine utilization, less effective enterprise resource planning, reduced consistency in product quality, and failures in many business performance fundamentals. The right technology enables agile and responsive supply chain management.

Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >