CFO Involvement
Thirty years ago, managers didn’t need to know how to operate a keyboard. There were secretaries to type letters and agreements that formalized phone conversations. Times have changed. In addition to understanding business, today’s managers need to develop a working knowledge of the software tools that are designed to make their job easier. The CFO is not exempt.
Over a quarter (27%) of CFOs say they’ve become more involved in their company’s operations over the past three years, and 15% say specifically that they’ve become more involved in IT according to a recent report by Robert Half Management Resources survey of 1,400 CFOs. There has been plenty of information and hype about cloud computing with a strong shot of technical jargon thrown in.
Cloud Software, IT, and the CFO
Some IT professionals are threatened by the perceived notion that the cloud will make their jobs obsolete. The reality is that IT jobs will change, but will not be eliminated. IT personnel will become more involved in the business and less involved in the day-to-day management of servers and software updates.
Some CFOs are worried that the Cloud limit the control they have over data. As the steward of the organization’s financial well-being, the CFO has the responsibility to understand the current transformation in IT and provide guidance. With a predicted increase in IT spending of 7.1 percent over 2010 (worldwide IT spending is forecast to total $3.67 trillion in 2011) according to Gartner’s 2011 Q2 update, there is a lot at stake.
Just as IT needs to understand more about the business, CFOs and COOs need to understand more about software options available to them. Getting smart about the cloud is becoming easier with a proliferation of objective articles and white papers. Some ERP Cloud News articles discuss
ERP cost comparisons,
security issues, and
2011 predictions.
More Information for CFOs
Recently the ERP Software Blog published a white paper targeting CFOs who want to get smart about the cloud.
This paper gives CFOs the foundation ask educated questions and lead discussions about moving ERP software to the cloud.
You can read the white paper on the ERP Software Blog at
www.erpsoftwareblog.com/cloud-erp.