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.