In today’s tech-forward companies, CFOs are tasked with managing and overseeing an increasingly expansive domain of systems and technologies to thrive. The rise of regulatory considerations, novel market drivers and a globally connected business environment is creating an entirely new set of pressures on both the structure of the department and on leadership.
And, with these shifting market forces, we’re seeing that far too many finance leaders are finding themselves responsible for novel strategies and solutions. To make sense of these, new tools, strategies and solutions are coming online to help modern finance leaders navigate these exciting, yet uncertain times.
Modern Data Analytics Is A Must
In recent years, we’ve seen an array of data analytics and data mining solutions, designed to make intelligent business decisions based on the incredibly large — and accelerating — data sets that businesses depend on. Unfortunately, to remain competitive and draw in the data required to power a business, new financial analysis techniques around effective analytics require much more than running basic reports from a database or system of record.
Rather, today’s modern data analytics must be capable of accessing insights from multiple data sources – from on-premises and cloud data centers, data lakes and segmented data silos, to enterprise resource planning and more. And, without the ability to strategically pull on these varying disparate data sources, businesses will fall behind their competition, unable to build new unique revenue paths or meaningful analytics.
The Rise of the Insight-led Financial Leader
Financial leaders need a clear vision and focused strategy to improve operational efficiency in this new environment. In addition to embracing an environment of continual change, leaders need to support more effective decision-making that aligns growth goals and cost controls. The ability to make faster predictions by leveraging the data accessible via modern platforms – and adopting technologies, such as cloud, AI and automation – will enable the innovation and speed needed to stay ahead and deliver differentiated customer experiences in a rapidly evolving market.
Data Modernization Required Agility
So, what does this all point to? Well, one thing’s for certain: Agility is key to data modernization. The pace of innovation has accelerated, and new products and services are iterated faster than ever. Speed has become an imperative for the entire organization, and that impacts how businesses operate and how financial leaders support – and enable – everyone to run faster. As new strategies and business solutions evolve, it’s critical that financial leaders are prepared to move in an agile manner to respond to these ever-shifting and ever-evolving market forces.
Next Steps
Interested in learning more about the future of data modernization and how financial leaders can stay ahead of an ever-shifting market? Explore our eBook, Accelerating Strategic Behaviors: A Finance Leader’s Guide to Data Modernization, and learn strategies to prepare for the push for data modernization and how to enable end-to-end data analysis for business impact.