How CFOs can lead digital transformation (2/2)

The previous article mentioned four roles CFOs can take on to help their companies with digital transformation. The first of these was described in more detail; now we will look at the remaining three possibilities.

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2. Assessing the viability of new business models

Established businesses, as they follow ongoing disruptions, are trying to think ahead in digital terms. For CFOs, this is an opportunity to drive growth and participate in developing new business models, enabled by digitisation.

Relevant markets will look different. There may be new revenue streams. CFOs should collaborate with colleagues from different departments to help them properly evaluate the possibilities.

3. Promoting cross-functional digital innovations

CFOs can estimate potential financial returns from cross-functional data sharing and re-engineering of processes. Digital transformation across business functions may bring much higher benefits. For example, for transforming customer experience, finance professionals can help marketing, sales, or even product development departments to understand the value of analysing customer behaviour across all customer touchpoints.

4. Advice on IT operations

There are many cloud computing providers today (Amazon, Microsoft, Google and several others). An increasing number of companies are getting their work done in the data centres of these companies. Spending on cloud services continues to grow. CFOs can therefore help CIOs decide whether a shift to cloud services makes financial sense.

Finance professionals can prepare a rigorous economic case for where digital business processes and IT infrastructure should be located. It is not merely about cost reduction but also the capacity to provide high quality, data-intensive details of customer experiences. Should the business use some cloud options? CFOs can help with the economics of such a decision. This is the conclusion of cfo.com.

-jk-

Article source CFO.com - US website for financial managers
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How CFOs can lead digital transformation (1/2)

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How CFOs can lead digital transformation (2/2)