Guest speakers share their knowledge and experience with participants at the IBM Finance Forum 2014 on June 12 in Ha Noi. According to IBM's recent study, 82 per cent of the surveyed CFOs recognised the value of integrating enterprise-wide data, but only 24 per cent believed that their team was ready for the task. — VNS Photo Lan Dung

The announcement was made by Duong Cong Minh, business analytics manager of IBM Vietnam, at the IBM Finance Forum 2014 on June 12 in Ha Noi. He stated that besides macroeconomics and market factors, technology had played an important role in defining the market of chief financial officers (CFOs).

Recently, IBM's Institute of Business Value had conducted face-to-face interviews with 576 CFOs all over the world that revealed the CFOs' expectations of their finance team and their views on technology.

An infographic of the study's result. — Photo courtesy of IBM Vietnam.

The result presented that 82 per cent of the surveyed CFOs recognised the value of integrating enterprise-wide data, but only 24 per cent believed that their team was ready for the task. Compared with a similar survey in 2005, the gap between the importance of data and the ability to exploit its value increased 205 per cent, showcasing a critical divide in the skills and capabilities of today's finance teams.

In addition, the study indicated that the critical way of using data could determine the success of CFOs. While an average number of CFOs relied on spreadsheets and intuition for 66 per cent of their work, 44 per cent of the CFOs with high effectiveness in work combined internal and external data to produce insights. As such, the latter were more effective at conducting various forms of analysis, including tracking and forecasting supply-chain financial data, planning and predicting resource capacity as well as conducting industry and competitor analysis.

Attending the forum, Ling Ling Ng, CFO of IBM Vietnam, noted that enterprises required standard platforms, standard systems and standard process to acquire better data. "Data have always been in the centre of a CFO's job responsibilities, and CFOs now understand how insights from big data are helping their company become more competitive," she noted. "CFOs have duties to anticipate the future and discover new areas of revenue growth. We think this will spur a new strategic alliance between the CFO and chief marketing officer as they partner to drive the corporate growth agenda."

Ling added that advance technology, such as predictive analytics, will assist CFOs to not only maintain accounting records but also make smarter decisions based on their understanding of big data.

Steve Player, managing director of Beyond EPS Advisors, stated that Vietnam, as a developing country, has the ability to move forward. He recommended companies to use data visualisation as simple methods to summarise data and move beyond prediction to stimulation to recognise risks and how to react to them.

Moreover, Player referred to tools to help CFOs make faster decisions fast and take advantage of social media. He predicted that Vietnam took five to ten years to catch up with the aforementioned applications and tools. — VNS