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Remember when artificial intelligence was just a movie with the “Sixth Sense” kid? Now it’s a technology that is being applied to transform large scale operations and routine tasks. As a CFO, you may already be incorporating AI investments into your budget - but you may not fully grasp how much it’s going to change how each employee in your company works. Even you.
Don’t worry, your job isn’t going anywhere. In fact, most jobs aren’t going anywhere, according to the American Economic Association. This is because while AI makes producing “knowledge work” as easy as physical tasks, its main use is taking repeatable tasks off of our to-do lists to make room for higher level thinking.
As part of my role as an executive coach, I advise those dealing with shifting expectations, particularly when expectations include changing the actual content of a role. That can be an uncomfortable stretch for some. No role has changed more than that of CFO over the last two decades: once counted on to “count the beans,” the CFO is now a strategic business advisor to the CEO. Here’s a peek at what the future holds:
You’ll be asked to be more involved in non-financial decisions
Being a Chief Financial Officer used to be pretty straightforward: you ran the numbers, kept your eye on cashflow and profitability, and worked with your investment advisors. You created or consolidated budgets, and weighed in on where capital should be invested. Most of the role was crunching the numbers and overseeing the accounting team.
While you will still be in charge of financial reporting for the business, AI will take over data mining and report generation. Your job will be to take that information and and understand the implications for the business. AI will be the tool you use to pinpoint the most promising and impactful action items.
CFOs are being asked to make, rather than advise on business decisions and strategic investments like commercial real estate or expansion into emerging markets. Your role is more significant than ever and you will be immersed in the business like never before. You will have increased accountability and visibility.
Get ready to steer technology investments
Companies are making huge investments in technology to improve margins and control risk. Although the title might not be official, you may be serving as the Chief Risk Officer now. It is not a stretch to imagine CFOs as a significant player when it comes to technology investments.
You won’t need to get deep into the systems, but you must know the right questions to ask since choosing the wrong hardware, software, or vendor, can be a disaster. I was talking to a CEO yesterday who walked into the office the morning of flipping the switch on an ERP conversion to find that they “turned the switch”...and nothing happened. Their website and ecommerce portal were down for almost two weeks with a huge impact on the bottom line.
Meet with your CTO and their team on a regular basis. Talk about how they make decisions, what they are worried about, and where future investment will be needed, Set up regular meetings with your tech leads both in-house developers and key vendors. Ask questions about things you don’t understand. In this area moving at warp speed, no question is a stupid question...and don’t hesitate to keep asking until you understand the answers and what isn’t being said.
In the future, you may find yourself at the helm of large projects and providing strategic advice on those in which you aren’t directly involved. Your responsibility is to stay informed, current, and relevant. Buckle up. It’s going to be quite a ride.
Gail Meneley is Co-Founder & Advisor at Shields Meneley Partners.