CFOs were rattled out of their comfort zone yesterday during our Get Smart in 2015 event, hosted at the JSE Limited in Sandton, Johannesburg. In an extremely well-received key note speech, Martijn Aslander - from The Netherlands - told finance leaders they need to adapt or risk becoming obsolete. He talked the audience through a number of exciting innovations and disruptive developments that will change the world within the next 10 years. “In the future it is no longer about what you own or what you do, but it is about your attitude and your ability to adapt.”
Earlier, we published an article on Martijn Aslander and I asked him 5 questions. Tomorrow Martijn will chat to CFOs in Cape Town during our Get Smart in 2015 event in the Cape Town Club. Please drop my colleague Jurriën Morsch an email if you haven't registered but would still like to join us - highly recommended
Keep an eye on this website for a full report on Martijn’s speech!
In the top photo: CFOs Brett Tromp (Discovery Health), Greg Davis (Standard Bank Africa), Deon Fredericks (Telkom), KPMG's Technology sector leader Frank Rizzo and 'lifehacker' Martijn Aslander.
In the bottom photo: CFO Clifford Appel (Department of Social Development) and Lindy Bodewig, Chief Director at the National Treasury.
Martijn was also on hand after the fascinating chat on IT developments by KPMG’s Frank Rizzo. Together with a panel of CFOs, Frank and Martijn explored the way finance professionals can – and should – respond to developments like mobile and cloud. Earlier, I also asked Frank 5 questions about the “weird and strange insights” that IT can yield. We’ll also publish a more comprehensive report on Frank’s take on the 6 technology trends that are rocking the business world.
In a parallel session, Lindy Bodewig of the National Treasury chatted to public sector CFOs about the much-delayed role out of an ERP for national and provincial departments. The IFMS-project was initially designed from scratch in South Africa, with preparation starting as far back as 2004. After this project failed, the government decided to buy a vanilla ERP option from a ‘tier 1’ seller instead and a bid document went out last year. It seems to me that it will be a direct 'shoot-out' between Oracle and SAP. Implementation will start next year, with the Western Cape and Eastern Cape as lead sites. I’ll publish a thorough write-up on Lindy’s presentation later this month.
See the pictures of the event here.
Download more information on Frank Rizzo's presentation:
- The Changing Landscape of Disruptive Technologies - Global Technology Innovation Insights 2014/2015 from KPMG:
- Responsibly Balancing Risk and Reward from Emerging Technologies:
- Download the other presentations here:
- Share your ideas with the CFO Community as well with an interview or during one of our CFO events. Please contact Jurriën Morsch at [email protected]
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