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.
Dev Nag is the founder and CEO of QueryPal. He was previously on the founding team at GLMX, one of the largest electronic securities trading platforms in the money markets. He was also CTO and founder at Wavefront (acquired by VMware) and a senior engineer at Google, where he helped develop the back end for all financial processing of Google ad revenue. He previously served as the manager of business operations strategy at PayPal. He also launched eBay's private-label credit line in association with GE Financial. Dev received a dual-degree B.S. in mathematics and B.A. in psychology from Stanford.
Bryan Robertson is a seasoned commercial insurance professional with over 15 years of extensive experience in the industry. As a 5th-generation Central Floridian, he brings a deep connection to the region, understanding the unique challenges and opportunities that businesses face. Throughout his career, Bryan has demonstrated a complex understanding of risk management, coverage negotiations, and client relationship management, helping middle market and larger corporations secure comprehensive insurance solutions tailored to their unique needs. In the fall of 2020, Bryan, along with two partners, acquired Hatcher Insurance.
Under their leadership, the company has experienced significant growth, expanding from a team of 5 to over 30 employees. This rapid expansion reflects their commitment to excellence and their ability to adapt to the evolving needs of the market. Rooted in the rich family heritage of Central Florida business owners, Bryan is committed to contributing to the growth and prosperity of his community through his business.
Bryan is recognized for his leadership and mentorship abilities, having led teams to achieve record industry new business growth. Leading to recognition by the Orlando Business Journals' class of 2022 – Top 40 under 40.
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.
