"The Covid-19 pandemic has forced CFOs to abruptly assess both their organisations' and functions' current digital capabilities, and they have clearly found many areas lacking," said
Gartner's survey asked CFOs where they will spend more time in 2021 compared to 2020, and where they anticipate difficulties in achieving their goals. Among digital priorities, the top three areas for greater investment of time were all also accompanied by significant levels of doubt among CFOs, with half or more expecting it to be difficult to achieve their top digital goals.
While 82% of respondents indicated that advanced data analytics technologies and tools were a top priority, nearly as many, 78%, expected it to be difficult to successfully achieve their goals in this area next year.
"Digital must-dos" for CFOs in 2021
According to the Gartner research, many CFOs are seeking to revive stalled growth investments while optimising costs to better reflect new business realities. Chief among these realities are meeting new customer preferences shaped by the pandemic, including greater expectancy for speed, multichannel delivery and always-on availability.
"CFOs face dual demands in funding the broader digital enterprise, while also ensuring their own function is equipped with the tools, technologies and talent for successful transformation," said
Gartner says that CFOs should put a primary focus on identifying the investments that will drive positive business outcomes and enhance employee performance within new hybrid working models. CFOs will need to reassess how to measure business performance in this environment while also encouraging new business models that support digital growth.
Top digital priorities come from within finance
"Most CFOs have by now conducted small-scale experiments in either RPA, artificial intelligence (AI) or advanced analytics technologies, and they have seen the potential for significant ROI,"
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