Workday shares top priorities for CFOs in 2022
Due to substantial social and economic challenges, CFOs of organizations are partly responsible for finding a way forward for their organization. This comes with complex issues. How do you recruit talent with the right skills in this tight labor market? How does finance get a better grip on the diverse data sources it needs? And how can CFOs move with the new expectations of transparency and compliance?
Workday lays out the key challenges facing CFOs in 2022 – and how to deal with them:
1. A new type of finance team on the rise
The role of finance executives and their teams is changing with the growing importance of storytelling, data and analytics. CFOs will therefore need to reshape team roles and hone required skills as new hires are made. This will create a new type of finance team with a greater focus on strategic business knowledge, expertise around emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, knowledge of ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) and compliance, and deeper understanding of data storytelling and analytics.
2. CFOs become more active in data governance
Obtaining high-quality data is one of the biggest challenges facing CFOs and finance teams. The role of the CFO increasingly requires access to financial, employee and operational data to drive the organization and make faster and more informed decisions. But without clean data, you can’t build a predictive model that delivers the accuracy needed. It will therefore become a priority for CFOs to establish a solid data foundation, with a single source of truth and advanced analytics capabilities.
3. Investments in cloud and AI/ML remain important
Traditionally, finance has been good at processing and analyzing data to produce reports and insights that a CFO can use to support the business. But machines are actually better at it. They can process and analyze much larger amounts of data and then return actionable insights. According to the 2021 Workday CFO Indicator Survey, 60% of CFOs are therefore investing in cloud technology and AI and ML. A development that will continue for some time.
4. Non-financial data presents a significant challenge for finance teams
Sustainability, social responsibility and corporate governance (ESG) and diversity and inclusion (D&I) are becoming critical business priorities – even more so than security or cryptocurrency. CFOs will need to develop solutions to monitor and report on performance.
5. Company culture is at the top of the financial agenda
CFOs are increasingly getting involved in company culture as the battle for talent makes it harder for many companies to keep top employees on board. The link between company culture and success is undeniable. CFOs must recognize that engaged, productive employees and lower turnover are essential to achieving strategic goals. As such, they will need to prioritize investments that support improvements in the employee experience and company culture.
“Investments in company culture are crucial for talent management,” says Rob Cools, Finance Transformation Specialist at Workday. “CFOs can not only contribute in that discussion with data and financially savvy arguments, but also push the organization to do things differently and actually foster innovation.”
Article written by Rob Cools, Finance Transformation Specialist at Workday.
