The Redesigning Business Summit - How companies are changing
In this session of The Redesigning Business Summit, Terry Back, Partner, Media and Entertainment, Grant Thornton, explored how 400 senior business leaders feel about their business models and how these should change.
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Accountability in Marketing - Linking Tactics to Strategy, Customer Focus a...
Darrell Sansom became Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of AXA UK in April 2017. After a review of his role, however, he was renamed Chief Customer and Innovation Officer to signal his strategic role in the business. As with the ‘chief growth officers’ at Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s Company and Mondelez International, his new title reflects the wider range of responsibilities now being assigned to marketing chiefs.
In addition to their outward, customer-facing activities, marketing executives are working more closely with chief executives to help fulfil strategic targets, deliver innovation, and focus on using data and analytics to segment and target the consumer base. They are also increasingly accountable for overall business growth.
However, a lack of visibility across both tactical and strategic activities is undermining the ability of marketing chiefs to meet their goals, according to a survey of 250 CMOs and senior marketing executives across Europe.
![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/default/files/styles/featured_thumbnail/public/WLTbg_0.png?itok=jKjBXtlr)
Sufficiently efficient: 4 ways marketers achieve efficiency by doing more w...
With the proliferation of communication channels and shrinking budgets, how are marketers boosting efficiency and meeting changing demands? View infographic>>
More from Marketing Efficiency Series![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/default/files/styles/featured_thumbnail/public/TE%20Reader%20Cities-06.jpg?itok=aQFZ2o28)
Lost in transcreation
When it comes to symbols, the smile reigns supreme. Its one connotation—happiness—is undisputed the world over. Yet despite the smile’s universal appeal, research suggests that culture affects our perceptions of it in unexpected ways... Read full article >>
The meaning of subtle symbols like smiles and colours varies between Asian and Western cultures. What should marketers bear in mind when launching global campaigns? View infographic >>
How climate change will drive business innovation
This video is one of the selected highlights from experts in leadership and strategy, as part of The Big Ideas Project. Steve Evans, Professor of Life Cycle Engineering, shared his views on "defining success or failure".
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Accountability in Marketing - Linking Tactics to Strategy, Customer Focus a...
Darrell Sansom became Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of AXA UK in April 2017. After a review of his role, however, he was renamed Chief Customer and Innovation Officer to signal his strategic role in the business. As with the ‘chief growth officers’ at Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s Company and Mondelez International, his new title reflects the wider range of responsibilities now being assigned to marketing chiefs.
In addition to their outward, customer-facing activities, marketing executives are working more closely with chief executives to help fulfil strategic targets, deliver innovation, and focus on using data and analytics to segment and target the consumer base. They are also increasingly accountable for overall business growth.
However, a lack of visibility across both tactical and strategic activities is undermining the ability of marketing chiefs to meet their goals, according to a survey of 250 CMOs and senior marketing executives across Europe.
![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/default/files/styles/featured_thumbnail/public/WLTbg_0.png?itok=jKjBXtlr)
Sufficiently efficient: 4 ways marketers achieve efficiency by doing more w...
With the proliferation of communication channels and shrinking budgets, how are marketers boosting efficiency and meeting changing demands? View infographic>>
More from Marketing Efficiency Series![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/default/files/styles/featured_thumbnail/public/TE%20Reader%20Cities-06.jpg?itok=aQFZ2o28)
Lost in transcreation
When it comes to symbols, the smile reigns supreme. Its one connotation—happiness—is undisputed the world over. Yet despite the smile’s universal appeal, research suggests that culture affects our perceptions of it in unexpected ways... Read full article >>
The meaning of subtle symbols like smiles and colours varies between Asian and Western cultures. What should marketers bear in mind when launching global campaigns? View infographic >>
Steven Carver - Leadership and Strategy Community
This video is one of the selected highlights from experts in leadership and strategy, as part of The Big Ideas Project. Stephen Carver, Lecturer at Cranfield School of Management, shared his views on "defining success or failure".
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Steering through collaboration: CFOs driving new priorities for the future
It is well established that the modern CFO has a more strategic role to play in a business, but a clear action plan to achieve this is lacking. A key element of this is helping the business to deal with change. Some changes are planned: launching a new product or service, setting up operations in a new region or acquiring a competitor. Others may be unexpected: a major disruption to supply-chain operations, the emergence of new regulation and legal reporting requirements or the unpredictable impacts of global economic uncertainty.
Either way, when asked about the biggest challenges they face in executing their day-to-day activities, change is a recurring theme, according to a new survey of 800 CFOs and senior finance executives, conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit. Managing unexpected changes to financial forecasts and adapting finance processes to rapidly evolving business models are top of mind.
Managing unexpected changes to financial forecasts and adapting finance processes to rapidly evolving business models are top challenges finance executives face in executing their day to-day activities.
Finance executives are also concerned with identifying how to align strategic, financial and operational plans towards common objectives and meaningfully analysing data across business units and regions. “All functions are working to meet these challenges and, as a finance head, we have to have visibility across all functions, how they are progressing [towards meeting goals] and ensuring that their direction is in line with overall strategic goals,” says Lalit Malik, CFO of Dabur, an Indian consumer goods manufacturer. It is incumbent upon CFOs therefore to be prepared not only to help their own function navigate uncharted territory, but the rest of the business too. That means breaking down the silos that commonly exist in organisations, in order to collaborate closely across functions, sharing information and data in the pursuit of common objectives.
All functions are working to meet these challenges and, as a finance head, we have to have visibility across all functions, how they are progressing [towards meeting goals] and ensuring that their direction is in line with overall strategic goals - Lalit Malik, CFO of Dabur, an Indian consumer goods manufacturer.
The clear custodian of collaboration
There are a number of reasons why the role of leading cross-company collaboration around steering should fall to the CFO and their team. First, through the activities of budgeting, the finance function is the custodian of the clear, quantitative expression of management expectations and determines how resources such as cash and people will be allocated in order to achieve them. In our survey, 90% of respondents say that finance should facilitate collaborative enterprise planning to ensure that operational plans are aligned with financial and strategic plans.
Second, through performance management, the finance function is the gatekeeper for critical data that illustrate how well—or otherwise—the company is rising to the challenge of change. That includes data relating to sales, supply chain and delivery, which need to be reported back to the business in ways that help drive improved decisionmaking. Our survey reveals that companies in which finance executives feel empowered to drive strategic decisions across business functions are more likely to report a higher financial performance in fiscal year 2016/17 and 2017/18 and anticipate higher growth rates for 2019/20.
Download Complete Executive Summary PDF
![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/default/files/styles/featured_thumbnail/public/Governance%202.png?itok=dtZFQkUW)
Transforming data into action
As businesses generate and manage vast amounts of data, companies have more opportunities to gather data, incorporate insights into business strategy and continuously expand access to data across the organisation. Doing so effectively—leveraging data for strategic objectives—is often easier said than done, however. This report, Transforming data into action: the business outlook for data governance, explores the business contributions of data governance at organisations globally and across industries, the challenges faced in creating useful data governance policies and the opportunities to improve such programmes. Learn more by downloading our whitepaper below.
![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/default/files/styles/featured_thumbnail/public/growthcrossingsbg%20%281%29.png?itok=Q_2iV79T)
Rethinking professional services in an age of disruption
Sir George Cox and Robin Bew
In this video, Sir George Cox and Robin Bew discuss the challenges and opportunities facing business, debating why and how design can help businesses address these, presenting the examples of companies that are best at strategic design.
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Fostering exploration and excellence in 21st century schools
![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/default/files/styles/featured_thumbnail/public/Untitled%20design%20%281%29_1.png?itok=8XibbmRO)
The giving chain: How philanthropy is driving progress in Asian education
Education is widely seen as the main driver of long-term social impact in Asia, and educational philanthropists are increasingly targeting innovative projects that help marginalised and deprived communities.
How to contribute wisely to education in Asia? Read the report >>![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/default/files/styles/featured_thumbnail/public/shutterstock_372847501%20%281%29%20%281%29.jpg?itok=hDyJCW8F)
Sparking economic progress through education
Through Q&As with luminaries in a number of sectors across the world, interviews aim to surface insights for policy makers, business leaders and other stakeholders as they consider actions to improve the quality of, and access to, education, to fortify their country’s economic, social and geopolitical fabric.
The series is supported by The International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity, which just presented a report urging governments to expand access to education to the UN Secretary-General, Mr Ban Ki-moon, and the Commission Co-Convenors during the UN General Assembly in New York.
The report, entitled "The Learning Generation: Investing in Education for a Changing World,” underscores the importance of quality education to address the social, economic, and security challenges of our time. For more on the report please go to educationcommission.org
The Risk Summit 2010 - Business is changing
As part of The Risk Summit 2010, the panelists of this sessions presented enlightening insights on changing consumer attitudes, new businesses, emerging markets and new technolog
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Steering through collaboration: CFOs driving new priorities for the future
It is well established that the modern CFO has a more strategic role to play in a business, but a clear action plan to achieve this is lacking. A key element of this is helping the business to deal with change. Some changes are planned: launching a new product or service, setting up operations in a new region or acquiring a competitor. Others may be unexpected: a major disruption to supply-chain operations, the emergence of new regulation and legal reporting requirements or the unpredictable impacts of global economic uncertainty.
Either way, when asked about the biggest challenges they face in executing their day-to-day activities, change is a recurring theme, according to a new survey of 800 CFOs and senior finance executives, conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit. Managing unexpected changes to financial forecasts and adapting finance processes to rapidly evolving business models are top of mind.
Managing unexpected changes to financial forecasts and adapting finance processes to rapidly evolving business models are top challenges finance executives face in executing their day to-day activities.
Finance executives are also concerned with identifying how to align strategic, financial and operational plans towards common objectives and meaningfully analysing data across business units and regions. “All functions are working to meet these challenges and, as a finance head, we have to have visibility across all functions, how they are progressing [towards meeting goals] and ensuring that their direction is in line with overall strategic goals,” says Lalit Malik, CFO of Dabur, an Indian consumer goods manufacturer. It is incumbent upon CFOs therefore to be prepared not only to help their own function navigate uncharted territory, but the rest of the business too. That means breaking down the silos that commonly exist in organisations, in order to collaborate closely across functions, sharing information and data in the pursuit of common objectives.
All functions are working to meet these challenges and, as a finance head, we have to have visibility across all functions, how they are progressing [towards meeting goals] and ensuring that their direction is in line with overall strategic goals - Lalit Malik, CFO of Dabur, an Indian consumer goods manufacturer.
The clear custodian of collaboration
There are a number of reasons why the role of leading cross-company collaboration around steering should fall to the CFO and their team. First, through the activities of budgeting, the finance function is the custodian of the clear, quantitative expression of management expectations and determines how resources such as cash and people will be allocated in order to achieve them. In our survey, 90% of respondents say that finance should facilitate collaborative enterprise planning to ensure that operational plans are aligned with financial and strategic plans.
Second, through performance management, the finance function is the gatekeeper for critical data that illustrate how well—or otherwise—the company is rising to the challenge of change. That includes data relating to sales, supply chain and delivery, which need to be reported back to the business in ways that help drive improved decisionmaking. Our survey reveals that companies in which finance executives feel empowered to drive strategic decisions across business functions are more likely to report a higher financial performance in fiscal year 2016/17 and 2017/18 and anticipate higher growth rates for 2019/20.
Download Complete Executive Summary PDF
![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/default/files/styles/featured_thumbnail/public/Governance%202.png?itok=dtZFQkUW)
Transforming data into action
As businesses generate and manage vast amounts of data, companies have more opportunities to gather data, incorporate insights into business strategy and continuously expand access to data across the organisation. Doing so effectively—leveraging data for strategic objectives—is often easier said than done, however. This report, Transforming data into action: the business outlook for data governance, explores the business contributions of data governance at organisations globally and across industries, the challenges faced in creating useful data governance policies and the opportunities to improve such programmes. Learn more by downloading our whitepaper below.
![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/default/files/styles/featured_thumbnail/public/growthcrossingsbg%20%281%29.png?itok=Q_2iV79T)
Rethinking professional services in an age of disruption
How to collaborate to solve business’ biggest problems
In this session of the Redesigning Business Summit, Nick Jankel, Chief Executive Officer, wecreate, spoke about how technological and social trends are opening up new possibilities for companies to solve problems, breeding new types of competitors.
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Steering through collaboration: CFOs driving new priorities for the future
It is well established that the modern CFO has a more strategic role to play in a business, but a clear action plan to achieve this is lacking. A key element of this is helping the business to deal with change. Some changes are planned: launching a new product or service, setting up operations in a new region or acquiring a competitor. Others may be unexpected: a major disruption to supply-chain operations, the emergence of new regulation and legal reporting requirements or the unpredictable impacts of global economic uncertainty.
Either way, when asked about the biggest challenges they face in executing their day-to-day activities, change is a recurring theme, according to a new survey of 800 CFOs and senior finance executives, conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit. Managing unexpected changes to financial forecasts and adapting finance processes to rapidly evolving business models are top of mind.
Managing unexpected changes to financial forecasts and adapting finance processes to rapidly evolving business models are top challenges finance executives face in executing their day to-day activities.
Finance executives are also concerned with identifying how to align strategic, financial and operational plans towards common objectives and meaningfully analysing data across business units and regions. “All functions are working to meet these challenges and, as a finance head, we have to have visibility across all functions, how they are progressing [towards meeting goals] and ensuring that their direction is in line with overall strategic goals,” says Lalit Malik, CFO of Dabur, an Indian consumer goods manufacturer. It is incumbent upon CFOs therefore to be prepared not only to help their own function navigate uncharted territory, but the rest of the business too. That means breaking down the silos that commonly exist in organisations, in order to collaborate closely across functions, sharing information and data in the pursuit of common objectives.
All functions are working to meet these challenges and, as a finance head, we have to have visibility across all functions, how they are progressing [towards meeting goals] and ensuring that their direction is in line with overall strategic goals - Lalit Malik, CFO of Dabur, an Indian consumer goods manufacturer.
The clear custodian of collaboration
There are a number of reasons why the role of leading cross-company collaboration around steering should fall to the CFO and their team. First, through the activities of budgeting, the finance function is the custodian of the clear, quantitative expression of management expectations and determines how resources such as cash and people will be allocated in order to achieve them. In our survey, 90% of respondents say that finance should facilitate collaborative enterprise planning to ensure that operational plans are aligned with financial and strategic plans.
Second, through performance management, the finance function is the gatekeeper for critical data that illustrate how well—or otherwise—the company is rising to the challenge of change. That includes data relating to sales, supply chain and delivery, which need to be reported back to the business in ways that help drive improved decisionmaking. Our survey reveals that companies in which finance executives feel empowered to drive strategic decisions across business functions are more likely to report a higher financial performance in fiscal year 2016/17 and 2017/18 and anticipate higher growth rates for 2019/20.
Download Complete Executive Summary PDF
![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/default/files/styles/featured_thumbnail/public/Governance%202.png?itok=dtZFQkUW)
Transforming data into action
As businesses generate and manage vast amounts of data, companies have more opportunities to gather data, incorporate insights into business strategy and continuously expand access to data across the organisation. Doing so effectively—leveraging data for strategic objectives—is often easier said than done, however. This report, Transforming data into action: the business outlook for data governance, explores the business contributions of data governance at organisations globally and across industries, the challenges faced in creating useful data governance policies and the opportunities to improve such programmes. Learn more by downloading our whitepaper below.
![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/default/files/styles/featured_thumbnail/public/growthcrossingsbg%20%281%29.png?itok=Q_2iV79T)
Rethinking professional services in an age of disruption
Redesigning Business Summit - Tools to change your business
In this video, part of the Redesigning Business Summit, Jonathan Sands, Chairman, Elmwood, introduced a toolkit that could change your approaches to complex business challenges using design to become more competitive.
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![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/all/modules/contrib/lazyloader/lazyloader/image_placeholder.gif)
Steering through collaboration: CFOs driving new priorities for the future
It is well established that the modern CFO has a more strategic role to play in a business, but a clear action plan to achieve this is lacking. A key element of this is helping the business to deal with change. Some changes are planned: launching a new product or service, setting up operations in a new region or acquiring a competitor. Others may be unexpected: a major disruption to supply-chain operations, the emergence of new regulation and legal reporting requirements or the unpredictable impacts of global economic uncertainty.
Either way, when asked about the biggest challenges they face in executing their day-to-day activities, change is a recurring theme, according to a new survey of 800 CFOs and senior finance executives, conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit. Managing unexpected changes to financial forecasts and adapting finance processes to rapidly evolving business models are top of mind.
Managing unexpected changes to financial forecasts and adapting finance processes to rapidly evolving business models are top challenges finance executives face in executing their day to-day activities.
Finance executives are also concerned with identifying how to align strategic, financial and operational plans towards common objectives and meaningfully analysing data across business units and regions. “All functions are working to meet these challenges and, as a finance head, we have to have visibility across all functions, how they are progressing [towards meeting goals] and ensuring that their direction is in line with overall strategic goals,” says Lalit Malik, CFO of Dabur, an Indian consumer goods manufacturer. It is incumbent upon CFOs therefore to be prepared not only to help their own function navigate uncharted territory, but the rest of the business too. That means breaking down the silos that commonly exist in organisations, in order to collaborate closely across functions, sharing information and data in the pursuit of common objectives.
All functions are working to meet these challenges and, as a finance head, we have to have visibility across all functions, how they are progressing [towards meeting goals] and ensuring that their direction is in line with overall strategic goals - Lalit Malik, CFO of Dabur, an Indian consumer goods manufacturer.
The clear custodian of collaboration
There are a number of reasons why the role of leading cross-company collaboration around steering should fall to the CFO and their team. First, through the activities of budgeting, the finance function is the custodian of the clear, quantitative expression of management expectations and determines how resources such as cash and people will be allocated in order to achieve them. In our survey, 90% of respondents say that finance should facilitate collaborative enterprise planning to ensure that operational plans are aligned with financial and strategic plans.
Second, through performance management, the finance function is the gatekeeper for critical data that illustrate how well—or otherwise—the company is rising to the challenge of change. That includes data relating to sales, supply chain and delivery, which need to be reported back to the business in ways that help drive improved decisionmaking. Our survey reveals that companies in which finance executives feel empowered to drive strategic decisions across business functions are more likely to report a higher financial performance in fiscal year 2016/17 and 2017/18 and anticipate higher growth rates for 2019/20.
Download Complete Executive Summary PDF
![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/default/files/styles/featured_thumbnail/public/Governance%202.png?itok=dtZFQkUW)
Transforming data into action
As businesses generate and manage vast amounts of data, companies have more opportunities to gather data, incorporate insights into business strategy and continuously expand access to data across the organisation. Doing so effectively—leveraging data for strategic objectives—is often easier said than done, however. This report, Transforming data into action: the business outlook for data governance, explores the business contributions of data governance at organisations globally and across industries, the challenges faced in creating useful data governance policies and the opportunities to improve such programmes. Learn more by downloading our whitepaper below.
![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/default/files/styles/featured_thumbnail/public/growthcrossingsbg%20%281%29.png?itok=Q_2iV79T)
Rethinking professional services in an age of disruption
Redesigning Business Summit - Jeff Denby
In this video, part of the Redesigning Business Summit, Jeff Denby, Chief Creative Officer and Co-founder, PACT, explained how PACT used design to understand prospective customers and rethink how a product could be developed and sold.
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![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/all/modules/contrib/lazyloader/lazyloader/image_placeholder.gif)
Steering through collaboration: CFOs driving new priorities for the future
It is well established that the modern CFO has a more strategic role to play in a business, but a clear action plan to achieve this is lacking. A key element of this is helping the business to deal with change. Some changes are planned: launching a new product or service, setting up operations in a new region or acquiring a competitor. Others may be unexpected: a major disruption to supply-chain operations, the emergence of new regulation and legal reporting requirements or the unpredictable impacts of global economic uncertainty.
Either way, when asked about the biggest challenges they face in executing their day-to-day activities, change is a recurring theme, according to a new survey of 800 CFOs and senior finance executives, conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit. Managing unexpected changes to financial forecasts and adapting finance processes to rapidly evolving business models are top of mind.
Managing unexpected changes to financial forecasts and adapting finance processes to rapidly evolving business models are top challenges finance executives face in executing their day to-day activities.
Finance executives are also concerned with identifying how to align strategic, financial and operational plans towards common objectives and meaningfully analysing data across business units and regions. “All functions are working to meet these challenges and, as a finance head, we have to have visibility across all functions, how they are progressing [towards meeting goals] and ensuring that their direction is in line with overall strategic goals,” says Lalit Malik, CFO of Dabur, an Indian consumer goods manufacturer. It is incumbent upon CFOs therefore to be prepared not only to help their own function navigate uncharted territory, but the rest of the business too. That means breaking down the silos that commonly exist in organisations, in order to collaborate closely across functions, sharing information and data in the pursuit of common objectives.
All functions are working to meet these challenges and, as a finance head, we have to have visibility across all functions, how they are progressing [towards meeting goals] and ensuring that their direction is in line with overall strategic goals - Lalit Malik, CFO of Dabur, an Indian consumer goods manufacturer.
The clear custodian of collaboration
There are a number of reasons why the role of leading cross-company collaboration around steering should fall to the CFO and their team. First, through the activities of budgeting, the finance function is the custodian of the clear, quantitative expression of management expectations and determines how resources such as cash and people will be allocated in order to achieve them. In our survey, 90% of respondents say that finance should facilitate collaborative enterprise planning to ensure that operational plans are aligned with financial and strategic plans.
Second, through performance management, the finance function is the gatekeeper for critical data that illustrate how well—or otherwise—the company is rising to the challenge of change. That includes data relating to sales, supply chain and delivery, which need to be reported back to the business in ways that help drive improved decisionmaking. Our survey reveals that companies in which finance executives feel empowered to drive strategic decisions across business functions are more likely to report a higher financial performance in fiscal year 2016/17 and 2017/18 and anticipate higher growth rates for 2019/20.
Download Complete Executive Summary PDF
![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/default/files/styles/featured_thumbnail/public/Governance%202.png?itok=dtZFQkUW)
Transforming data into action
As businesses generate and manage vast amounts of data, companies have more opportunities to gather data, incorporate insights into business strategy and continuously expand access to data across the organisation. Doing so effectively—leveraging data for strategic objectives—is often easier said than done, however. This report, Transforming data into action: the business outlook for data governance, explores the business contributions of data governance at organisations globally and across industries, the challenges faced in creating useful data governance policies and the opportunities to improve such programmes. Learn more by downloading our whitepaper below.
![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/default/files/styles/featured_thumbnail/public/growthcrossingsbg%20%281%29.png?itok=Q_2iV79T)
Rethinking professional services in an age of disruption
Managing risk with Game Theory
In this panel of The Risk Summit 2010, Hagen Lindstadt, Head of the Insitute for Managment at Karlsruhe University, shows how applying game theory to strategy could be a powerful tool for managers in the current environment, if used effectively.
Related content
![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/all/modules/contrib/lazyloader/lazyloader/image_placeholder.gif)
Steering through collaboration: CFOs driving new priorities for the future
It is well established that the modern CFO has a more strategic role to play in a business, but a clear action plan to achieve this is lacking. A key element of this is helping the business to deal with change. Some changes are planned: launching a new product or service, setting up operations in a new region or acquiring a competitor. Others may be unexpected: a major disruption to supply-chain operations, the emergence of new regulation and legal reporting requirements or the unpredictable impacts of global economic uncertainty.
Either way, when asked about the biggest challenges they face in executing their day-to-day activities, change is a recurring theme, according to a new survey of 800 CFOs and senior finance executives, conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit. Managing unexpected changes to financial forecasts and adapting finance processes to rapidly evolving business models are top of mind.
Managing unexpected changes to financial forecasts and adapting finance processes to rapidly evolving business models are top challenges finance executives face in executing their day to-day activities.
Finance executives are also concerned with identifying how to align strategic, financial and operational plans towards common objectives and meaningfully analysing data across business units and regions. “All functions are working to meet these challenges and, as a finance head, we have to have visibility across all functions, how they are progressing [towards meeting goals] and ensuring that their direction is in line with overall strategic goals,” says Lalit Malik, CFO of Dabur, an Indian consumer goods manufacturer. It is incumbent upon CFOs therefore to be prepared not only to help their own function navigate uncharted territory, but the rest of the business too. That means breaking down the silos that commonly exist in organisations, in order to collaborate closely across functions, sharing information and data in the pursuit of common objectives.
All functions are working to meet these challenges and, as a finance head, we have to have visibility across all functions, how they are progressing [towards meeting goals] and ensuring that their direction is in line with overall strategic goals - Lalit Malik, CFO of Dabur, an Indian consumer goods manufacturer.
The clear custodian of collaboration
There are a number of reasons why the role of leading cross-company collaboration around steering should fall to the CFO and their team. First, through the activities of budgeting, the finance function is the custodian of the clear, quantitative expression of management expectations and determines how resources such as cash and people will be allocated in order to achieve them. In our survey, 90% of respondents say that finance should facilitate collaborative enterprise planning to ensure that operational plans are aligned with financial and strategic plans.
Second, through performance management, the finance function is the gatekeeper for critical data that illustrate how well—or otherwise—the company is rising to the challenge of change. That includes data relating to sales, supply chain and delivery, which need to be reported back to the business in ways that help drive improved decisionmaking. Our survey reveals that companies in which finance executives feel empowered to drive strategic decisions across business functions are more likely to report a higher financial performance in fiscal year 2016/17 and 2017/18 and anticipate higher growth rates for 2019/20.
Download Complete Executive Summary PDF
![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/default/files/styles/featured_thumbnail/public/Governance%202.png?itok=dtZFQkUW)
Transforming data into action
As businesses generate and manage vast amounts of data, companies have more opportunities to gather data, incorporate insights into business strategy and continuously expand access to data across the organisation. Doing so effectively—leveraging data for strategic objectives—is often easier said than done, however. This report, Transforming data into action: the business outlook for data governance, explores the business contributions of data governance at organisations globally and across industries, the challenges faced in creating useful data governance policies and the opportunities to improve such programmes. Learn more by downloading our whitepaper below.
![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/default/files/styles/featured_thumbnail/public/growthcrossingsbg%20%281%29.png?itok=Q_2iV79T)
Rethinking professional services in an age of disruption
A new risk culture
As part of The Risk Summit 2010, the panelists, chaired by Robin Bew, Editorial Director and Chief of the Economist Intelligence Unit, provide a comprehensive picture of the economic, political, business and country risks in which business operate.
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![](https://impact.econ-asia.com/perspectives/sites/all/modules/contrib/lazyloader/lazyloader/image_placeholder.gif)
Steering through collaboration: CFOs driving new priorities for the future
It is well established that the modern CFO has a more strategic role to play in a business, but a clear action plan to achieve this is lacking. A key element of this is helping the business to deal with change. Some changes are planned: launching a new product or service, setting up operations in a new region or acquiring a competitor. Others may be unexpected: a major disruption to supply-chain operations, the emergence of new regulation and legal reporting requirements or the unpredictable impacts of global economic uncertainty.
Either way, when asked about the biggest challenges they face in executing their day-to-day activities, change is a recurring theme, according to a new survey of 800 CFOs and senior finance executives, conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit. Managing unexpected changes to financial forecasts and adapting finance processes to rapidly evolving business models are top of mind.
Managing unexpected changes to financial forecasts and adapting finance processes to rapidly evolving business models are top challenges finance executives face in executing their day to-day activities.
Finance executives are also concerned with identifying how to align strategic, financial and operational plans towards common objectives and meaningfully analysing data across business units and regions. “All functions are working to meet these challenges and, as a finance head, we have to have visibility across all functions, how they are progressing [towards meeting goals] and ensuring that their direction is in line with overall strategic goals,” says Lalit Malik, CFO of Dabur, an Indian consumer goods manufacturer. It is incumbent upon CFOs therefore to be prepared not only to help their own function navigate uncharted territory, but the rest of the business too. That means breaking down the silos that commonly exist in organisations, in order to collaborate closely across functions, sharing information and data in the pursuit of common objectives.
All functions are working to meet these challenges and, as a finance head, we have to have visibility across all functions, how they are progressing [towards meeting goals] and ensuring that their direction is in line with overall strategic goals - Lalit Malik, CFO of Dabur, an Indian consumer goods manufacturer.
The clear custodian of collaboration
There are a number of reasons why the role of leading cross-company collaboration around steering should fall to the CFO and their team. First, through the activities of budgeting, the finance function is the custodian of the clear, quantitative expression of management expectations and determines how resources such as cash and people will be allocated in order to achieve them. In our survey, 90% of respondents say that finance should facilitate collaborative enterprise planning to ensure that operational plans are aligned with financial and strategic plans.
Second, through performance management, the finance function is the gatekeeper for critical data that illustrate how well—or otherwise—the company is rising to the challenge of change. That includes data relating to sales, supply chain and delivery, which need to be reported back to the business in ways that help drive improved decisionmaking. Our survey reveals that companies in which finance executives feel empowered to drive strategic decisions across business functions are more likely to report a higher financial performance in fiscal year 2016/17 and 2017/18 and anticipate higher growth rates for 2019/20.
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