Beyond CFO 3.0 — Valuing the Invaluable

This article was written in collaboration with Sage. You can read their full CFO 3.0 report here.

With all the hype surrounding the FinTech (Financial Technology) industry I often find myself getting a bit too caught up in the Tech part of FinTech. It’s easy to do! I love tech and there are so many awesome advances such as Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning, Automation, Blockchain and Distributed Computing that one can’t help get swept away with the excitement of the ever-expanding possibilities tech affords us. The techies and CTO’s were the rock stars of the early FinTech movement but that is starting to change now with the evolving role of the CFO and Finance as a whole.

95% of finance leaders say their role has significantly changed over the last five years, with over two thirds of CFOs (70%) having full responsibility for digital transformation.

If you have not already read the CFO 3.0 report by Sage I’d recommend doing so. The traditional view of the Finance Department and the role of CFOs is outdated. At the CFO 1.0 level, finance was often a quarterly reporting and budgeting function — a department that looks into the rear-view mirror and comes up with reports and statements. That has evolved to where we are at today, with the help of automation and AI, where a CFO 2.0 can and should provide up-to-date…