Archive for the ‘Robert Parker’ Category
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011
On the 6th of April, I had written a blog “Importance of people in a transformation journey”. Taking reference from the IBM study “Journey to a value Integrator”, I had highlighted the importance of people and culture as a crucial mix for success in any organization spanning across continents.
Further deep dive into that study and trying to implement some of the key factors in my finance organization, I find some interesting revelations and hence am keen to share this with my CFO peers.
When companies consider transformation, it is very natural to concentrate on the processes, infrastructure and applications involved because they are integral parts of making a change. However, a transformation cannot be successful without buy-in from everyone in an organization, especially those at the top, and a willingness to keep improving. If no one accepts the transformation or if there is little desire to keep making things and people better, then all the effort applied to the task will have been for nothing.
The transformation of Finance is no different. The 15 value integrators profiled in IBM’s study, Journey to a Value Integrator, indicated that transforming Finance would not have been possible without strong resources, a full-time core implementation team, relentless execution and an evolving culture of continuous improvement. In the study, this combination of factors was summed up in simple equation: Success = People + Culture.
This equation underscores the importance of having a dedicated and talented team that focuses on both execution and continuous improvement. In a time when competition for the best minds and top talent is fierce, you might be wondering how to accomplish this. The answer lies in a combination of career and leadership development and business alignment.
For example, you could establish a rotational program for new hires where they spend time in both the finance organization and the business for a specific period (for example, three years). For leadership development, you establish individual development planning and annual reviews of the progress of your top 100 employees by your CEO.
Another idea is to orient your finance resources process with an emphasis on service to the business. Along with formal recognition and succession programs, you create a performance program that identifies the top services your finance organization provides. You then take this list of services and ask the business to evaluate the performance of your finance organization in these areas to help identify performance gaps.
These are the kinds of activities that not only attract and develop the best minds and the greatest talents but also encourage continuous improvement. The key to success is being aware of the type of leadership and talent that you have, so that you know when to develop from within or when you have to look outside your organization for what you need. You should also investigate the various methodologies for continuous improvement. The value integrators in the IBM study, for example, have found success using approaches such as Kaizen and Six Sigma.
When you have the right talent, unwavering leadership support and a relentless dedication to success and improvement, your organization can achieve the level of operational dexterity and analytical maturity necessary to outperform in today’s complex and volatile business environment. Combine that with an excellent business case, a structured, achievable playbook and a partnership with your CIO and you will be well on your way to becoming a Value Integrator.
Questions to consider:
How do you plan to obtain clear, continuous commitment and unwavering support from your leadership during planning and implementation of your transformation?
How will you identify your best people and dedicate them full-time to transformation?
What are some programs you could implement to develop current and new hires?
What steps can you take to ensure a culture of continuous improvement in your organization?
I am keen to seek your further views and opinion.
Ref : IBM companion study “Journey to a value integrator”
Tags: CFO, CFO IBM, CFO India, cfospeak, IBM, IBM India, Robert Parker, value integrator
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Wednesday, June 15th, 2011
Year 2011 is very significant for IBM. We are celebrating our centennial. Not only looking back with admiration of what we have achieved till now, but to take an inspiration of many more things that we can do for many more years. I was really impressed with Mr. Sam J Palmisano’s, Chairman, CEO and Managing Director of IBM Corporation centennial lecture at HEC Paris Business School on the 2nd of March 2011 and encourage you to see a video footage of this great lecture at http://www.ibm.com/ibm100/us/en/lectures/mar2011paris.html.
I am taking this opportunity to highlight a few perspectives from Sam’s highly motivational lecture and quote liberally from his lecture.
The first secret that Sam shares is codifying and sustaining the core values of the organization. “In IBM’s case, the need for continual forward movement is part of our business model. IBM’s value proposition is to create and provide innovative solutions to our clients –solutions they can’t get from anyone else. And because the frontier of what is truly innovative keeps moving, that compels us not to sit still. It is a constant reminder never to define ourselves by the things we make, no matter how successful they are today”, says Sam. And this is especially true when the world is changing so rapidly in a globalised environment, with work flowing seamlessly across geographies; people need something to hold them together.
A classic example is while IBM introduced the IBM PC in the year 1981 and the IBM ThinkPad in 1992, which became extremely popular, we divested that business in the face of emerging computing model and commoditization of the PC industry. The decision was welcomed in the organization not because of economics or strategy perspective but because it was consistent with IBM values.
The second secret that Sam shares is about continuity. What if the founder of the organization is no longer around? A company that has been built around the persona and charismatic leadership of the founder will find it a challenge perpetuating that culture through time. As Sam says “Two forces that will drive change in the world for the foreseeable future are technology and the re-balancing of economies”.
“You miss this if you see technology merely as a succession of gadgets, websites and next big things. It’s much more. It’s the way our world works. And therefore today’s leaders – those who want to keep moving to the future – have an obligation to understand it – not its mechanics, but its implications – and to incorporate it into how they build their organization – not just processes, but culture”, says Sam
The third secret is effective global integration. It is not about companies setting up replicas in different countries, but about setting up globally integrated enterprise where all functions like sales, marketing, finance, HR and research are centrally integrated.
IBM has significantly lowered their operational center of gravity by relying more on local geographies for decision making rather than taking a central decision. But being centrally integrated helps local geographies with vital formation which facilitates better decision making.
As Sam says – “It’s about where you locate expertise and decision-making – not concentrated in corporate headquarters, but globally networked. And it’s also about where you integrate your company – for us, at the point of client interaction”.
As Sam articulates about IBM’s learning through the years – “I would suggest that its lesson is this: If you want long-term success, you have to manage for the long term.
Of course, everyone pays lip service to that, but if you take it seriously – if you make long-term thinking a management approach – then it produces some clearly identifiable behaviors and choices.
It determines how and where you invest and allocate resources. It takes a kind of institutional patience to invest in R&D. The payoff, if it ever comes, can take years. It shapes your view of talent development. To develop talent that can lead the enterprise generation after generation takes money, time and patience.
And this is not just about people at the top – it’s about developing future leaders broadly and deeply throughout the organization. It shapes the way you see your company’s role in its industry, and in society.
Tags: CFO, CFO IBM, CFO India, cfospeak, HEC Paris Business School, IBM Centennial, IBM CEO, IBM Chairman, Robert Parker, Sam Palmisano
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Friday, May 27th, 2011
I was very fortunate recently to attend a CFO evening at Bangalore and talk on how finance is taking the initiative of “value integrators” to the next level.
To be successful today and in the future, finance organizations need to transform themselves into value integrators, excelling at two capabilities: finance efficiency and business insight. Finance transformation has a good chance of success if you take a page out of the playbook of the 15 value integrators profiled in IBM’s study, Journey to a Value Integrator. Value integrators focus on cross-functional integration that is enabled by standardization and analytics.
The companies in the study demonstrated a consistency of approach to finance transformation, using five enablers—technology; process; operating model; data and analytics; and people—and many began by addressing technology.
Optimizing and simplifying technology is an excellent starting place for transformation because it can create a strong foundation for the other enablers and because a finance organization has most likely accumulated a number of different solutions that often run on different platforms and create “islands” of data that are difficult to access. A big part of transformation playbook will be to integrate these disparate solutions into a workflow-enabled, single interface financial system.
A “value integrator” is adept at integrating cross-functional operations to provide the much needed thrust for organization growth. I had written a blog earlier “Adding science to the art of marketing” where I had highlighted how important it is to partner successfully with the Chief Marketing Officer. Now I am going to mention how critical it is for finance to partner successfully with the CIO.
To get a good head start on this undertaking, engage your CIO. With technology simplification being the most common starting point and the prevalent path being to achieve transparency first and then insight, partnering with your CIO clearly makes sense. The 2011 IBM Global CIO Study shows that today’s CIOs increasingly help their public and private sector organizations cope with complexity by simplifying operations, business processes, products and services. In this study, CIOs cite key success factors for major implementation initiatives to be having IT and business talent in place, managing beyond line responsibilities, creating the right conditions before starting and building support that spans the company. These factors are very similar to the enablers of finance transformation. So, you can use this common ground to begin your partnership.
In addition, collaborating with your CIO can help you take an integrated and synchronous approach to transformation, implementing multiple transformation enablers simultaneously to realize the benefits of being a value integrator quicker. The CIO study introduces four mandates that CIOs identified as being prevalent in their workplaces—leverage, expand, transform and pioneer—and each of these mandates has an IT element that can be used to help you make your transformation. The sooner you become a value integrator, the sooner you can enjoy the advantages, the innovation and the insight.
Questions to consider:
What do you see as the starting point in the transformation of your finance organization?
What challenges do you need to overcome to achieve finance efficiency and business insight?
What do you require to integrate your disparate finance solutions into a single, workflow-enabled system?
What steps can you take to partner with your CIO to enable finance transformation and enterprise value creation?
Which mandate do you think your CIO is following for your company and how can you incorporate those activities into your transformation process?
Tags: CFO, CFO IBM, CFO India, cfospeak, CIO Study, IBM, IBM India, Robert Parker, value integrator
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Tuesday, May 24th, 2011
The year 2010 saw an explosion in the rise of social media. Facebook crossed more than 500 million users in 2010. By March 2010, more than 10 billion tweets had been sent since twitter became active in year 2006. And by July 2010, the number of tweets doubled to 20 billion!
Social Media is a very unique channel. It is under the control of the user and not the sender. It is about a collaborative experience and dialogue. So is social media the jackpot when 88% CEOs across the world said that getting closer to the customer is the most urgent need? So here are some facts from an IBM report “From Social Media to a Social CRM”:
- Consumers all over the world, across all generations, are swarming to social media, but most interact only occasionally. Only a fraction of consumers – 5% are regular and post original materials
- Social Media is about friends and family and not brands. In fact more than half of consumers don’t even consider engaging with business. 70% use social media for connecting with friends and only 23% engage with brands
- Perception v/s reality gap. The smaller percentage of consumers who do engage with brands, expect tangible returns in exchange for their time, endorsement and personal data. This is direct contrast with what businesses perceive
- Nearly 70% of executives say that their companies will be perceived to be out of touch, if they don’t engage in social media
- Most businesses believe that social media will increase advocacy – but only 38% consumers support this fact. More than 60% consumers believe that passion for a business or a brand is a pre-requisite for social media engagement
From a consumer perspective – every social media user seeks some form of gratification – whether it is developing friendship, relationship, sharing knowledge, collaboration and this need will be there as long as they receive social acknowledgement and are socially engaged. Enhancing the experience of social acknowledgement and engagement among consumers is what organizations would be keen to achieve.
How about providing on-line interaction forum? Knowledge exchange? Virtual seminars and registration through social media sites? Virtual thought leadership jams ?
And what do organizations gain? Enhanced relationship, advocacy, trust and above all providing content that has value to consumer.
I would be keen to know your experiences and do send in your thoughts and comments.
Reference and notes from: IBM report “From Social Media to a Social CRM
Tags: CFO, CFO IBM, CFO India, cfospeak, IBM India, Robert Parker, social media
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Friday, May 13th, 2011
In today’s operating environment, the external and internal drivers of change are a constant. Factors such as mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, crisis and survival and new leadership shake up organizations and require them to make significant changes. A critical step in becoming a value integrator as defined in Journey to a Value Integrator, an IBM study of 15 successful value integrators, is transformation of Finance. However, many organizations are resistant to making these changes for a number of reasons—unsuccessful attempt in the past, fear of the unknown, rigid organizational cultures, uncertainty about execution and, probably most importantly, concern about how change will affect expenses, revenues and profit.
A solid business case for change can overcome resistance if it includes a balanced mix of strategic, operational and financial goals. It can help organizations set the right priorities from the start and it is an indispensible tool for dealing with pushback and keeping organization focused on results. The key to developing a successful business case is making sure that it aligns to overall enterprise strategy and that it shows how the company can achieve operational cost savings and better business outcomes that go far beyond the walls of Finance.
To get started preparing a business case, what is needed first of all is to assemble a team to establish the high-level strategic, operational and financial goals. Strategic goals should include providing greater transparency, mitigating structural complexity, supporting scalability, enhancing controls, managing risk, improving customer satisfaction and building skills and competency. Operational goals should include improving the performance of finance, reducing costs, driving greater efficiency and productivity and improving cash flow. Financial goals should be specific to the company’s overall finance needs.
The corresponding business plan also needs performance indicators to stay on track. Examples include discounted cash flow, net-present value, internal rate of return and payback analysis for each initiative and across an entire finance transformation program. It is also a good practice to re-forecast when a major milestone is achieved.
Most importantly, the business case needs to be realistic. Here a CFO’s leadership is needed to consider and plan for milestones and for some of the indicators and tactics to change as the company changes over time. As the company develops strategic, operational and financial goals, the CFO should factor in the effects of globalization, growth by acquisition, business mix change, demand for external transparency, risk management, regulatory or industry change, new business and organic growth.
Questions to consider:
How well is your organization able to sense or anticipate the need for change?
What are the driving forces for change in your organization?
What overall enterprise goals can transformation of Finance help you meet?
What financial benefits do you believe your company can achieve by transforming Finance?
Tags: CFO, CFO IBM, CFO India, cfospeak, Finance, IBM, IBM India, Robert Parker, value integrator
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Friday, April 15th, 2011
I prefer to be driven in Bangalore. Not because I don’t drive, but it’s much easier on my nerves, when I am not behind the wheel. The jostling for space by man and machine is unique here and I often wonder, if I would have been able to reach point A from point B within a limited span of time. I owe a lot to Raju who is an expert in dodging the Bangalore traffic, not mentioning the innumerable cows and occasional elephants, like an expert skier in a coniferous forest.
62% of New Delhi said that traffic woes have negatively affected work or school performance, compared to a global view of 29%. 96% of New Delhi said that traffic has affected their health compared to a global average opinion of 57%. (Ref: IBM Global Commuter Pai survey 2010. http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32017.wss)
The top ten issues pointed out by global motorists are 1) commuting time, 2) time stuck in traffic, 3) price of gas is already too high, 4) traffic has gotten worse, 5) start-stop traffic is a problem, 6) driving causes stress, 7) driving causes anger, 8 ) traffic affects work, 9) traffic so bad driving stopped, and 10) decided not to make trip due to traffic.
In New Delhi 40% respondents have said that they will work more as an option compared to a global average of 16%.
So, if I sum up the key issues, they are:
- Decrease of road to traffic ratios – which can be due to explosion of number of vehicles in India and squatting and illegal encroachment on road sides or construction related bottlenecks that hold up traffic.
- Poorly managed traffic – standard norms like faster vehicles on the right lane and slower ones on the left are rarely seen or implemented. Also India is a unique country where about 17 different types of vehicles ply the roads.
- Overloaded vehicles – leading to creation of bottlenecks.
- Insufficient public transport systems.
- Insufficient training for traffic management personnel.
- Poorly maintained traffic management systems like signals.
- Poorly trained drivers.
- Non existence of technology.
There is no quick fix solution here – but a wider acceptance and implementation of technology can mitigate the immense challenges.
- Implementing a real time centralized traffic monitoring system will allow traffic monitoring personnel to have a fair idea of the bottlenecks and take appropriate actions. Nowadays RFID tagging of vehicles is a very low cost solution
- Implementing real-time traffic prediction systems via advanced analytics systems can help traffic monitoring team to take appropriate actions before advent of the issues.
- Congestion charging is another way to ensure that private vehicles have limited entry is high congestion zones.
- Investing in a good network of public transport system, which is efficient and economical.
I am quite excited that the Bangalore Metro rail is coming up and promises to be a great experience for commuters. New Delhi has already shown the way how a huge amount of carbon emission has been prevented.
Ref: IBM Global Commuter Pain Survey 2010
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32017.wss
Tags: CFO, CFO IBM, CFO India, cfospeak, IBM, IBM India, Robert Parker, Smarter Traffic
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Monday, April 11th, 2011
After watching ten advertisements of toothpastes and an equal number of ads on life insurance, the mind gets numb and confused on what aspect of teeth to protect and whether the life insurer really wants me to stay alive – everyone promises an excellent afterlife!
Jokes apart, it is a fact that 75% of people don’t believe that companies tell the truth in advertisements. Consumers demand relevant and authentic content, specific to their needs, delivered over the channel of their choice.
Do we really need to advertise in xyz media? Where do these billions of dollars of advertisement and marketing money go? Who benefits ultimately from the advertisements, and if yes, how much and how soon? These questions become shrill especially when sales are suboptimal. If I stand on a conventional CFO’s pedestal and have a look at these issues, I may not be able to fathom the black hole that swallows the marketing dollars.
And this is where I think, a CFO can take lead to partner effectively with the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) not only to review the effective utilization, but also help the CMO take better decision with respect to Return on Investments.
88% of CEOs say that getting closer to the customer is a top priority and yet only 6% of marketers rate their online and digital marketing capabilities as excellent. All of which means that, getting to know customers better, require adding a lot of science to the art of marketing. By science, I mean bringing in measuring factors that will account for effective utilization and monitoring on an ongoing basis for each dollar spent.
So let me ask a few questions:
1. How do we build marketing insights?
2. What level of analytics are needed to build effective marketing insights?
3. How do we segment markets based on insights?
4. How do we position product mix for the markets?
5. How do we keep in touch with clients in an ongoing basis?
6. How do we excel in marketing execution and ensure a good return on investments?
Many organizations feel comfortable by saying that they have an effective CRM (Customer Relationship Management) which “takes care” of customers. And this is where, I think lies the danger of getting into a comfort zone or trying to defend investing hard earned dollars into a “CRM”.
Customers are changing, their buying behaviour is changing and during downturns we saw entire business models changing. Being in touch with clients in effective ways is a top organization priority and hence working in a “departmental” mindset is perhaps not the best approach. My ways of looking at it are:
1. Invest in relationships – there is no substitute to a good relationship
2. Evolve effective nurturing strategies to deepen relationship
3. Develop agile systems to support investment in relationships
4. Good content that is thoughtful, relevant and useful is more important for striking the right chord with customers
5. Developing campaign mindset is more important than tactical initiatives
6. Invest in effective systems to measure and report
I would be keen to seek your views and comments.
Data reference: IBM white paper – Bringing science to the art of marketing
Tags: CFO, CFO IBM, CFO India, cfospeak, IBM, IBM India, Robert Parker
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Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
Recently, I was reading the newly released IBM paper - “Journey to a value integrator”. What I was very impressed was the importance of people in a continuous journey of transformation in an organization. The report says that:
- Increased productivity and focus on analysis and managing outcomes allow human capital resources to contribute more value to the company
- This aspect can lead to improved job experience, satisfaction and career progression for employees
- This benefits the company with lower attrition rates, a greater ability to attract and retain talent and improved leadership development
The report also states correctly that this does not come automatically and the transformation approach much incorporate new designs for job role, responsibilities, career paths and performance assessment criteria. And a big focus here is on analytical skills development. The new skills in question, should align with the vision for technology, process, analytics and operating model design.
Culture is also a very important part which is often neglected. Today multinational organizations span across continents and hence employees belong to several cultures. Balancing people development in a cross cultural environment is often not an easy task. What is needed is to develop an organization culture to emulate the deep cultural ethos. What results out of this is the very best across cultures. Trust, teamwork, execution focus, continuous improvement, empathy etc. gets built within the organization, which contribute to leadership building within the organization.
I had written an earlier blog in June last year – “Mergers and Acquisition- the human side” http://www.cfospeak.com/2010/06/ where I had referenced an article – “The impact of culture on M&A” by Mercer UK, where I had strongly agreed with them that the valuation of any company is perhaps the people and the culture of that organization. If you lose the people, then perhaps you have walked into an M&A disaster. My esteemed CFO colleague and my linkedin friend – Mr. Subramanian, who was then the VP Finance of Mahindra Satyam had so rightly commented on the that blog that “People are not bonded to organization for just money or incentives. It is also passion, self respect and independence on decision making”. He also says “The value drops to naught if talents and customers go away. It takes quite a time to rebuild. A leader and integrator are two different players and both have to play a role simultaneously so that value is not lost and common goals met”
Hence, my views are:
- Transformation journey is a human resources led journey and hence need to address the critical aspects of development, growth and career satisfaction
- While a transformation journey is measured by new markets acquired, consolidation in existing markets, deeper penetration through product mix, enhancing and securing revenue streams – it also needs to measure career development, new leadership skills, new skills to address new markets and promotion of an inclusive organization culture.
I look forward to hear your views.
Reference: IBM report “Journey to a value integrator”
Tags: Attrition, CFO, cfospeak, Culture, Human resources, IBM, IBM India, Robert Parker, Transformation journey, value integrator
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Thursday, March 31st, 2011
Going into 2011, I was fortunate to interact with several CFOs in the recent past. I can clearly discern the sense of excitement as 2011 promises to be a great year for business – at least for India. We now know very well that we have a domestic driven growth which can be better with the support of export let growth. CFOs have a great job ahead to ensure that not only shareholders expectations are met but critical organization initiatives are underway and there is sufficient provisions to reap in the upswing and as well as there is a fair balance between cautious optimism and business exuberance. So here is my documentation of some top CFO concerns based on my best understanding:
1. Regulatory, Policy and Corporate Governance
2011 is an interesting year as we will see roll out of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). While this will be a phased rollout over the next 4 years, the large organizations have a mandate to ensure start of this standard. While almost all large organizations are very confident, it is something like going into a world cup cricket match - one is very well prepared but it is still a match out there. There could be some initial hiccups but things should straighten out from the second half of this year.
GST rollout has been postponed for next year, but am sure this will gather a lot of steam towards the end of this year. This will have a lot of implications on how supply chain will pan out and if the supply chain gets a good boost, I can safely conclude that this was one of the best policy initiative in India. However, implementation of any new policy does have a few roadblocks initially and I would be happy to see that this fits in well – sooner the better.
Corporate Governance – as CFOs and custodians of the best financial practices we take pride in not only following the Government norms but instill a great deal of value and ethics in the business. But pure wish and determination is not sufficient – it needs to be implemented through rigorous organization policy and processes. It needs a lot of effort on creating an awareness and education and training to ensure that upkeep of corporate governance starts from individual efforts.
2. Risk Management
This is not only limited to financial risks but also about business risks. How do we ensure new projects are identified and executed with lower risk ? What are the critical risks in certain mergers and acquisition? How well are the business continuity plans for the organization tuned for year 2011? The answers are not simple and even constructing a response is not fraught with risk elements. With economy showing up – one thing I am certain about is that there will be more elements of risks involved. But are we asking the right questions now?
3. Business Insights
This is perhaps going to be the topmost worry for the CFOs this year. While every organization has processes for creating business insights – but the question we need to ask now is how accurate and efficient are these insights. Are these insights coming directly from the market with the least distortions? What are the levels and rigours of analytics in place to derive the insights? Again the answers are not simple. This is such an important issue that we need to delve deep into our financial structure and ask – Are my data reliable? Are my current processes reliable? Do we have the right skills? If not what are the skill gaps? How reliable and efficient is my technology? What are the levels of insights that can be built? Do these insights conform to the general business environment? Perhaps this is the right time to rejig and ensure that better quality decisions are possible in this interesting year.
4. Skills
Finance organizations in India are today many times mature than it was about a decade ago. Finance organizations today focus more on training and development of individuals on financial decision making and create leadership within organizations. Day-to-day and repetitive processes are either being fully automated or are being outsourced. While some of my CFO colleagues may disagree, I see more opportunities coming up for CFOs to focus on planning and progression activities rather than hands on execution. This environment is presenting opportunities for newer ways of looking at the finance organization and hence appropriate training and skilling of individuals as tomorrow’s finance leaders.
I would be keen to seek your views and comments on this.
Tags: Business Insights, CFO, CFO priorities, cfospeak, Corporate Governance, GST, IBM, IBM CFO, IBM India, IFRS, Policy, Regulatory, Risk Management, Robert Parker
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Thursday, March 24th, 2011
Recently, I had the honour to address a very elite group of CFOs and business leaders from Kolkata on a CII platform. The backdrop of discussion was “Transforming while Performing”. I was really impressed with my co-speakers and panelists and am taking this opportunity to share some interesting thoughts that emerged in the discussions.
I was very impressed with Mr. MR Nayak, Executive Director, Allahabad Bank who during his keynote address emphasized the need for technology capabilities and global integration as the topmost priorities for a continual transformation in current times. While India may take a consolation compared to other economies on stability, we still have a long way to go to prove that our priorities are in the right direction. He highlighted the need for leadership priorities to demonstrate sense of urgency, communicating the change vision, top down and facilitating to remove obstacles for growth. Efficient product pricing and strategy, identifying and encouraging winning teams, consolidating gains, efficient risk management and encouraging new and vibrant culture in today’s organizations were some of the necessary steps in the transformation journey.
My esteemed co-speakers were chiefs of finance from Exide, British Oxygen, Mitsubishi Chemicals, Peerless and Haldia Petrochemicals who reiterated the importance of risk management, operational efficiency, precision and business insights and becoming a value integrator in the organization. As rightly articulated by the esteemed panelists, the current role of the CFOs was also critical in the transformation journey.
Highlights of what I shared with my learned peers were that new business models and new competitors are executing business disruption. And this trend will keep on increasing. Some key questions are a. How well do we know our customers and market? b. How efficiently and in least possible time can we go to market with our offerings and services? c. How do we ensure that our clients are able to provide the best to their clients? d. How do we embody creative leadership within organization? To answer these questions we need hard data and facts to support action. We are seeing an explosion of data of all sorts – in various media and in various forms – some data are useful, some are not and some are redundant. It is the ability to collect, process and utilize the relevant information in the best possible way, in the least possible time, is what is all about being truly interconnected, instrumented and intelligent. So the transformation journey is about enhancing these factors on a continual basis which hinges on effectively integrating organization strategy, performance and technology. Leadership building within the organization is another equally important criteria in the transformation journey. Innovation is perhaps the single most important criteria to create leaders and be ahead of competition.
I received very positive feedback on the need to have more such get-togethers discuss and debate key challenges that we have in hand and find solutions.
I am keen to seek your valuable views and comments.
Tags: Allahabad Bank, Business disruption, Business Insights, CFO, cfospeak, CII, Exide, IBM CFO, IBM India, Instrumented, Intelligent Innovation, Interconnected, Mitsubishi, Mr. MR Nayak, Peerless, Performing, Risk Management, Robert Parker, Transforming, value integrator
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My name's Robert Parker, and I have been working with IBM India from April 2008 as a Vice President, Finance and Operations IBM India/South Asia. In my 23 years of career with IBM I had a wide range of financial positions within Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
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