CFOs and senior finance executives are dealing with a growing number of responsibilities and demands as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report.
The report, from consulting firm Protiviti, found that the pandemic has been a wake-up call to finance departments that weren’t already investing, or weren’t investing enough, in cloud-based systems as they have struggled to shift to the remote work environment. Eighty percent of the 1,057 finance leaders surveyed ranked security and privacy of data as a top priority, while 78 percent cited enhanced data analytics, and 72 percent cited cloud-based applications.
Holly Sraeel is SVP of strategy and content for American Banker Live Media. In her role, she leads content strategy, development and execution for American Banker's editorial rankings, including The Most Powerful Women in Banking™, The Most Innovative People in Finance, Innovation of the Year and the launch of new performance-based rankings.She also leads the development of agenda-setting programming for American Banker's live media portfolio, including its ON-CHAIN Executive Summit, The Most Powerful Women in Banking Conference and Honoree Roundtable, Payments Forum, Digital Banking, Small Business Banking, the new AI Executive Summit, as well as LEADERS and virtual summits.
An award-winning editorial director and media executive, Sraeel has covered global banking, financial services, and capital markets in various media roles for more than 25 years, most recently with an emphasis on on-chain finance, payments, artificial intelligence, risk, cybersecurity, fintech, regulation, compliance, and startups and venture capital.Follow her on LinkedIn and on X at @hollybizonthego.
Laurence Whittam is the founder of Impact Global Solutions, an independent outsourcing consultancy serving CPA firms across the United States. A nationally recognized strategist, speaker, and author, he has been named named a Top 20 Under 40 Influencer by CPA Practice Advisor, and is the co-author of the AICPA Outsourcing Toolkit. He is also the host of the Business Beyond Borders Podcast.
Al Rogers is a seasoned healthcare executive with over 20 years of experience in consumer-driven health and benefits innovation. At ECHO, Al leads the growth and strategy for Premium Payment Manager—an automated payment solution purpose-built to help brokers, TPAs, and carriers deliver ICHRAs that feel and function like traditional group plans.
Of those respondents who are CFOs and vice presidents of finance, 72 percent ranked cloud-based applications as a top priority to address over the next 12 months. Seventeen percent ranked cloud-based applications as the most important finance priority for their organizations to address, signifying a big jump from the 8 percent of respondents who indicated so in a similar survey by Protiviti last year.
“Having the right technology infrastructure and cloud capabilities is now considered a baseline in order to operate effectively and efficiently and will continue to be as organizations move into a hybrid work environment,” said Chris Wright, managing director and global leader of Protiviti’s Business Performance Improvement practice, in a statement. “COVID-19 disruptions underscored the critical nature of a truly digital finance workforce and companies without advanced technologies and digital processes faced a difficult transition to remote work. We’re now seeing an increasing number of boards and CEOs tap their finance leaders for guidance about whether their organization is allocating enough resources to their technology infrastructure.”
Labor models are changing, in part as a result of the pandemic, with 18 percent of the finance leaders surveyed saying their organizations are relying on managed services providers, while 29 percent are augmenting their staff to handle financial planning and analysis with greater speed and agility.
