Earlier this week I came across a finance professional who called herself a Digital CFO. The obvious question that ran through my mind is, what is a Digital CFO and, if I am not a Digital CFO does that make me an Analogue CFO? In recent months we have probably all seen the market whip … Continued
Thousands of column inches of press coverage are dedicated to the ‘miracle’ of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how this technology is transforming many industry sectors, from medical diagnostics, through to autonomous vehicles and smart homes. Few doubt the impact that AI could bring, but many CFOs are only starting to grapple with its potential. Automation … Continued
The accelerating pace of technology innovation is undeniable and whether it is in the home or in business, potential users face a bewildering choice of solutions. Smart Homes may be de rigueur in our personal lives but smart technologies are also transforming business processes. Natural language processing, social collaboration, robotic process automation, machine learning and … Continued
Despite the huge interest in innovation and the thousands of column inches written in the media every day, innovation is one of those terms that defies precise definition. So rather than attempt to define it, FSN’s 2018 Innovation in the Finance Function research invited the global finance community to offer examples of what it thought … Continued
Innovation is very much in the ‘eye of the beholder’. What is innovation in one setting could be considered mainstream in another. While modern finance functions naturally seek to explore the very latest and more experimental technologies (digital assistants, artificial intelligence, natural language processing), there is a treasure trove of benefit to be gained from … Continued
For many CFOs, the term “ERP” portends a bloated and unwieldy set of manufacturing applications developed in the 1990’s for a burgeoning global economy. Indeed, FSN’s research, “The Innovation in the Finance Function”, highlights that 52% of finance professionals spent too much time managing and resolving basic transaction processing. But a new era of ERP, … Continued
There is no doubt that the union of Adaptive Insights and Workday is a good deal for both entities. Both are respected organisations and as many have said there is a good cultural fit. Both companies have an open and welcoming culture. But what are the deeper motivations and wider market implications of the deal? … Continued
Innovation is constantly on the lips of business leaders. We live in an environment where costs have been cut to the bone, price control is slipping from everyone’s grasp and growth rates are in low single digits. Against this backdrop, innovation offers a way of breaking out of the pack, delivering superior returns and gaining market … Continued
The Modern Finance Forum’s most recent research reveals a healthy degree of scepticism about the prospects for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in the finance function. In a September 2017 survey of more than 850 senior finance professionals, 56% of respondents expected to become more dependent on machine learning to drive more accurate forecasts, but only … Continued
1.Spreadsheets: The Ultimate Disruptor Spreadsheets are without doubt the accountants’ favourite tool and there is no sign of that love affair abating soon. The Future of Financial Reporting Survey from FSN highlights that just 32% of CFOs believe that finance functions will be able to move away from spreadsheet reporting by 2030. Businesses talk obsessively about disruptive … Continued