In general, we associate the figure of the CFO as that of the ‘custodian’ of finance, although the reality is that his or her role has evolved in recent years towards the performance of increasingly strategic functions, where technology has been the main ‘responsible’ for this conversion.
In this regard, the development of new analytical technologies has enabled the possibility of capturing and managing an ever-increasing amount of data, giving the CFO access to analyse it, a transformation that represents a fundamental change in financial leadership.
We must not forget that its ‘traditional’ function has always been to explain the past in the organisation, mainly through financial analysis and reporting, something that data analytics transforms, because it allows us to convert and understand large volumes of information in real time, and thus not only to better manage the present, but also to position the organisation for the future.
Focusing on what's next represents the most significant change in the CFO's role, where data analytics is no longer an option but an imperative, identifying trends and relationships in business data that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to detect.
It is data analytics that enables the conversion of large volumes of operational data into information for decision making and thus anticipating possible changes in the market, which represents a fundamental asset for the creation of value in the organisation.
However, this transformation requires new professional competencies, such as the combination of financial and technological skills, which must be carried out by the CFO, through the management and coordination of multidisciplinary teams, where financial knowledge must be combined with statistical modelling and data visualisation.
At the same time, not only technology-related obstacles must be faced, but also cultural ones, where the assimilation of change by people represents the most difficult challenge to achieve, because if it is not ‘assimilated’ as such, the future application of everything related to data analytics will be directly or indirectly affected.
However, achieving maturity in data management allows the company to be more agile in taking on new challenges and adapting to changing times, as well as more resilient in dealing with future crises, no matter what type of crisis they may be.
Therefore, fostering collaboration between areas, ensuring that they are ‘aligned’, is an extremely important task that every CFO must carry out, together with promoting internal training in the organisation, which allows it to remain competitive over time, a task that is not easy to achieve, given the ‘speed’ at which changes occur, and even more so when we are talking about incorporating new technology.
At the same time, converting data into ‘actionable’ insights allows the CFO to better assess and manage the risks that can be assumed in the company, where through the use of different statistical models and technological solutions, he/she can foresee disruptive events with an impact and thus design the best strategies to mitigate their possible effects, protecting the financial stability of the company at all times.
Having a treasury management platform provides a key layer of visibility into the financial position in real time. This enables the CFO to not only react to changes, but to anticipate them with reliable, structured and up-to-date information. The ability to connect projections with execution, supported by robust data, transforms treasury into a strategic pillar of the decision-making process.
In this way, a correct analytical management of the data, allows to anticipate in time the resolution of the risks that arise, where a task that today is generally performed by the CFO in a reactive way, can become a predictive process, based at the same time, in a quantitative way.
It is therefore digitisation itself that enables the CFO to become the primary ‘custodian’ of corporate data, with the potential not only to describe the present, but rather to anticipate what is to come.
Mastering this new ‘digital balance’ reinforces the figure of the CFO as a key ally in the company's strategic decision-making, strengthening his position as a ‘natural partner’ of the CEO, while at the same time collaborating transversally with the rest of the company's areas.
In short, the CFO's combination of financial, technological and analytical skills will be critical not only to their individual success, but also to the success of their organisation, where good use and management of data will be more than essential in a world that is becoming increasingly digital.
