• How CFOs and the finance function become more supportive of business strategy
• Digitisation – what matters beyond the technology
• Connected leadership and wider societal issues (ESG)

ESG is top of mind for many CFOs worldwide. There will be more regulatory eyes than ever on businesses as they look to improve company performance in this area. It’s not just regulations that are driving this change, however. Potential employees will be looking at ESG performance so better outcomes can help drive recruitment as well as improve your brand.

As digitisation increases across businesses around the world, it would be a mistake to forget about the workforce who make your organisation a success. As organisations adopt more technology, you need to upskill your workforce so that they are able to keep realising great projects and where specialists are needed, find them as quickly as possible!

The role of the finance department has already gone through massive changes over the last decade. Now playing a role in almost all areas of the business, CFOs will have to adapt to external forces and pressures which will play huge roles in changing the definition and structure of finance teams.

With great times of disruption comes great opportunity to deliver better value and better outcomes. As CFOs become a much more important value creators, there is now huge potential to create a new finance team that delivers improved outcomes for their organisations.

It’s time to get optimistic about growth potential. While there is still plenty of uncertainty looming, CFOs can now start to look more positively about the future. However, the right targets need to be set – and communicated to the board – and the decisions need to be made about revenue streams to ensure that your business thrives.

• Why should finance leaders be optimistic about potential for growth
• How to set achievable targets for growth for the whole business
• Rebuilding revenue streams as well as building new streams to increase revenue

Building out effective processes for communication to internal and external stakeholders. Leveraging Technology to improve communication, collaboration and innovation. ERP systems that enable cross-organisational communication

Digitising at scale is no longer an optional addition. It is now fundamental to your company’s strategy. But with so many options to choose from and routes to take, it can be hard to make sense of everything through all the noise. Different tech choices will all have distinct impact on organisations’ ability to succeed so it’s vital to understand what your key issues are in your organisation and how you can improve them before you take the plunge and take the chequebook out.

• Why a first-class digital strategy is key to your business’ long-term health
• Selecting appropriate tools to increase top-line growth, efficiency and collaboration
• Build vs Buy: Which route should you take?

• What should CFOs prioritise
• How can we define the “blend of decarbonisation and digital transformation”
• Is there now an opportunity for finance professionals to collaborate globally

Business executives around the world say their understanding of the universe of strategic risk is changing. Managing risk effectively has always been a touchstone of the most successful companies. In today’s risky business environment, plans are hardly the sole reliable tool provided the complexity of unpredictable factors. Volatility of the business environment and associated risks as well as mitigation / limitation set-up actions are at the forefront of business investment expectations and a fundamental

• Transform Risk concept from theory to a practical strategic pillar
• Risk a pillar to build on future growth
• Own, master and remunerate risk

In an ever changing world, the CFO is expected to highly participate, even more so to lead the change. How to do that? What is the importance of company culture in there and how can you contribute as finance? And how can we apply that learning to any large transformation projects and in digitisation?

At EDF UK the Enterprise IT function reports to the CFO and has direct accountability for EDF UKs enabling IT services. Over the last 2 years we’ve been changing the way we provide IT with less of a focus on Capital investment and asset management and more of a focus on user experience, collaboration and productivity. One trigger for this change was a visit I made to our UK customer contact centres in Sunderland which set in train a series changes that ultimately meant the IT team were able to respond with agility and bias to action to the challenges of moving a workforce from office to home working, almost overnight, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Organizations are similar to human bodies in that they have a number of vital organs or functions that all need to collaborate to make things work. Having said that it is still very common to encounter silo organizations in which the key functions work towards their own goals and in their own way, with little to no cross-functional collaboration and alignment. Breaking down these silos and aligning the entire organization towards a common goal working as an intricate and collaborative community is one of the most important tasks of business leaders today.

The pandemic has brought to light the fragility of enterprise cost structures, lack of accurate and timely information, and a poor cash flow management. In a changing and uncertain economic environment, the challenge for finance leaders is to achieve a strategic cost transformation with a range of digital accelerators that can go beyond short-term cost savings. This actionable and pragmatic approach will enable organisations to protect margins, improve cash liquidity, and boost bottom-line performance.