CFO Magazine: A CFO’s Guide to Business Transformation

“Inconsistency across an organization may not seem to be problematic if tasks get completed, but lack of standardization may mask larger issues.  For instance, inconsistent financial processes and cost coding can provide results that cannot be consolidated and compared without significant effort. Standardizing processes and technology is less confusing for employees, and also ensures external stakeholders have a consistent approach.”

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CFO Dive: CFOs Flag Staffing, Digital Transformation as Top Growth Challenges

“Companies with more resources or more established financial teams are more likely to focus on digital transformation, however. The study found 47% percent of firms with between $51 million to $100 million in annual revenue, stated digital transformation was a top challenge when it came to fostering future growth.”

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CFO Journal: 3 Dynamic Finance Scenarios for CFOs

“The principles of Dynamic Finance can help finance transform from business function to dynamic capability—while still performing its steward and operator duties—for adapting to external forces with speed, strength, stability, and flexibility.”

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CFO Magazine: 3 Ways Finance Is Armoring Up for a Future of Disruption

“Most leaders, though, are using outdated tech — if any. Over half of the respondents rely on manual spreadsheets and have no financial close, corporate performance management, or business intelligence tools. Eighty-three percent said their technology and tools need to be more sophisticated to respond effectively to new market opportunities and threats.”

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CFO Insights: Welcome to the “no normal”: Exploring The Transformation Myth

“Long a core strategic financial and planning capability, scenario planning has regained currency in an ultra-dynamic environment. By applying digital intelligence to scenarios, they are no longer static renderings that CFOs file away, only to resurrect them if a company stumbles on a serious threat.”

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CFO Magazine: Finance Transformation: Unleashing the Potential of Data

“The key to success in finance transformation is to understand and make the most of all the ways a fully integrated data solution can take charge of routine processes from front to back. While managing the routine, the solution also will generate better data, more rapidly for the higher-level analytics that finance uses in budgeting, forecasting, planning, and other key operations. Getting the “how” right will help to optimize decision-making, operational efficiency, and ultimately profitability.”

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CFO Magazine: Growing Pains: Stuck on Excel

“But “Excel is not a good tool when you’re seeking to coordinate the operation of a multinational company,” said Bruce Lynn, managing partner of The Financial Executives Consulting Group (FECG). “I have my spreadsheet, you have your spreadsheet, everybody else has their spreadsheets, and none of them talk to each other.”

Still, many finance departments are reluctant to let go of Excel even when more powerful purpose-built applications are available.”

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SF Magazine: Change Management in Disguise

“The success of an analytics transformation depends on the success not only of the technical solution, but also the change management. In other words, organizations need to both drive the business and understand how to go from hindsight to foresight.”

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CFO Journal: Common Traits, Challenges of Transformational CFOs

CFOs: Consider these questions when assessing your own transformation-leading qualities:

1. Am I willing to rethink ROI?
2. Can I introduce new metrics?
3. Am I comfortable provoking my peers?
4. Can I convey a sense of mission and a set of values to employees, customers, and other stakeholders?

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