CFOs confident in cloud, but lack confidence around their access to critical sales and operational data

Adaptive Insights, the recognised leader in cloud corporate performance management (CPM), today released its global CFO Indicator report, which explores the confidence levels of today’s CFOs relative to data, technology, and their efforts to implement a “single source of truth” (single system for accurate financial and operational data) in their organisation. Just three years ago, according to CFO respondents, only 33 percent trusted the cloud for financial data. Today, 73 percent of CFOs trust the cloud for financial data, reflecting a significant technology shift for Finance, one of the last functions in the enterprise to embrace cloud technology.

“The cloud enables a level of data access that Finance teams need in order to meet the demand for accurate, real-time information from across the enterprise,” said Robert. S. Hull, founder and chairman at Adaptive Insights. “This quarter’s report validates that CFOs are embracing cloud technology for their financial data. However, despite this shift, the majority of CFOs still do not have a single source of truth for their organisation, delaying decisions. This lack of agility results in documented losses in revenue and business opportunities.”

The report shines a light on the continued challenges CFOs face as they take a greater role in data governance for their organisations.

Key findings in the report show that:

• CFOs expect an increase of 25 percent to 50 percent in data volume, on average, over the next five years. Stakeholders will look to Finance to track down an increasing number of data points to make their decisions, and many of those data points will reside outside of Finance
• Only 35 percent of CFOs are confident they have access to the financial and operational data they need to make critical business decisions in a timely manner. Reliance on legacy technologies like spreadsheets results in siloed data that must be manually collected and aggregated. This creates distrust in the numbers and leaves little time for the analysis. This involves sales data, and a host of operational data from critical HR and customer data to supply chain, facilities, and external market data
• One in five CFOs (21 percent) are not currently working on a single source of truth, and this is up from 17 percent two years ago. CFOs cited expense, legacy solutions, and data sources as reasons, but without a holistic view of the organisation, CFOs will be challenged to deliver the business insights expected from Finance

For additional information, download the report: “Jumping Hurdles: Finance’s Race to a Single Source of Truth,” read the blog, or view the infographic.