Digital transformation… For some CFOs and FDs the term equals headaches, internal resistance or pricey solutions. But other Chief Financial Officers have found out that the better use of modern IT solutions has equipped them to fulfil their role as true partner to the CEO. During a successful and well-attended event in the Tintswalo at Waterfall hotel in Johannesburg on Thursday 11 September, finance leaders had the opportunity to chat about the topic with peers and learn from market leaders.
Hosted by CFO South Africa, the afternoon kicked off with a healthy dose of networking before Rory Headon-Weeks gave an insightful talk on behalf of Microsoft South Africa. Rory is a passionate Chief Technology Officer, who immediately admitted that technology people like himself "don't have enough conversations with CFOs and other executives". He made up for that in his presentation, touching on the latest trends in business intelligence and cloud.
To find out how he even made the latest version of Excel sound modern and sexy, you need to check back on this website next week for a full report on Rory's presentation.
A select number of CFOs then participated in a round table, moderated by CFO South Africa director and CFO-expert Melle Eijckelhoff. During the session Brett St Clair, Country manager at Google, challenged the finance leaders present. Other eye-opening contributions came from Transparent. The company has developed a revolutionary method to discover double payments, which saves companies around the world a lot of money and helps them to streamline and improve their processes.
At the same time another group of top finance professionals listened intently to a panel discussion on digital transformation. Kicked off by IBM's Lesley Plaistowe, the CFOs were challenged by a number of great panelists, including CFO of the Year Simon Ridley (Standard Bank), the best young CFO of 2014 Aarti Takoordeen (JSE Limited) and Mthoko Mncwabe, CIO at the Postbank.
After the round table discussion and panel discussion a group of over 80 finance professionals joined the event and took the opportunity to meet and greet their peers and expand their professional network at the CFO Café. Here Standard Banks Head of Mobile Banking, Magnus Taljaard concluded the official part of the evening with a presentation on the trends in digital transformation and how Standard Bank deals with these.
Next week you can read on this website what excites and what scares these top CFOs.
The slides of the presentations of the CFO Event Digital Transformation can be accessed here below.
- Presentation Microsoft - Reimagining Finance in a Digital Enterprises
- Master Class IBM - Digital Transformation and New Business Models
- Presentation Standard Bank - Digital Transformation
- For the photos of the event please have a look here.
- Make sure to block Thursday 13 November, for the last CFO Event of 2014 on Risk Complaince & Control, this time taking place in Cape Town in the amazing Cape Town Club. Please register here now.
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