Witnessing Finance Transformation Across Sectors at CFO STRATECH 2024

Delegates from diverse organizations had gathered yesterday at Conrad Bengaluru to attend the CFO STRATECH conference organized by Netnex Global that was aimed at highlighting the transformation of finance in different sectors. CFOs of organizations like Schneider Electric, Alstom, Manipal Hospitals and others spoke about how the role of CFO is changing in their respective industries. They spoke about the technologies that are changing the finance landscape and also the structural changes that have emerged in the sector over the years. According to Sameer Agarwal, Group CFO, Manipal Hospitals, a CFO’s role now is nothing less than a CEO. The scenario has changed greatly over the last decade and the role of a CFO has diversified. It has associated itself with various other aspects of business operations and has become intricately involved with business growth.

Among the subjects that were discussed today the role of AI in finance, cost assessment measures for business growth and the changing role of CFO stood out among others as they perfectly demonstrated the transformation in the role of a CFO all across the business ecosystem.

AI in Finance

Operations have become faster across departments with the integration of AI technologies. Organizations that offer financial services have undergone an evolution with the usage of AI. At the conference today, Mohan Nair, MD, TMF India provided a detailed demonstration on the changing role of a CFO with the advent of AI.

“Today, CFOs are not only taking advices from individuals. They are also gathering data from AI based systems and accordingly deciding upon the assessments that need to be made”, mentioned Mohan Nair.

Cost Assessment Measures for Business Growth

A group of five CFOs from diverse organizations discussed about the cost optimization measures that modern day CFOs can take in order to boost business growth. The discussion was moderated by Debnath Mukhopadhyay, CFO, TruAlt Bioenergy and the others shared their insights according to the respective backgrounds. Here, it was discussed how a company can strategically avoid spending more capital than what is required. The area for investments were also discussed where the speakers acknowledged adapting modern technologies for total compliance.

“CFOs should invest on new technologies and also invest in innovation”, mentioned Maria Myloth, Finance Director, Schneider Electric.

The Changing Role of CFO

With the advent of modern technologies and association of the CFO with departments across an organization has brought about a revolutionary change in way finance works. When CFOs are in charge of organizations of over 2000 cr revenue and having many HNIs as investors, the pressure is not only internal but external as well. Today, a CFO’s accountability towards the growth of an organization can be more but no less than a CEO. A CFO is responsible for all kinds of internal and external audits that take place at the organization and he is one who is accountable for all the audits done by the country’s government.

“As CFOs, what we can do now is look into the future and come up with ideas that would make the organization more resilient. We are also looking into digital transformation of processes across departments”, mentioned Sameer Agarwal, Group CFO, Manipal Hospitals.