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.
Phil McGriskin is CEO and co-founder of Vitesse, the trusted financial infrastructure connecting the global insurance ecosystem. With more than 20 years of fintech and payments experience, he leads the company's global strategy, focusing on fund transparency and control, efficient claims operations and business growth.
McGriskin co‑founded Envoy Services in 2006 and led it through acquisition by Worldpay in 2011, later serving as Worldpay's chief product officer and head of Worldpay Futures. In 2014, he launched Vitesse, alongside Paul Townsend, to address inefficiencies in insurance payouts and liquidity management.
Under his leadership, Vitesse has processed billions in claims, including £4 billion in the past year—and secured major backing, most recently a $93 million Series C led by KKR to fuel U.S. expansion.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phillip-mcgriskin-521a2b1/
Steve Abbott is head of public policy and government affairs at Gusto.
Agim Emruli has over 20 years of experience in software development, architecture, and leadership, working with different technology-oriented companies in various industries, such as finance, banking, insurance, government, healthcare, and retail. He is passionate about creating and delivering innovative and scalable solutions that address complex business challenges and enhance customer experience. As the CEO of Flowable, he leads the development and growth of the open-source Intelligent Business Automation platform that combines case, process, and decision support into a single solution. He also oversees the strategic direction and operations of Mimacom, a global software development and consulting company with a focus on agile methodologies and web services.
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.
