'Collaboration, communication necessary between CFOs and tech leaders for chasing growth'

The collaborative efforts between CFOs and technology leaders were deemed essential for organisations aiming to be future-proof in this dynamic business landscape, according to finance and tech leaders.

Speaking at a panel discussion at the ETCFO Leadership Summit, Raghupati Mishra, CFO of a Global Steel Major, underscored the diverse stakeholder management that CFOs undertake, stating, "CFOs have different kinds of stakeholders management to do and so they will have a multilinear perspective unless he has the luxury of being unidimensional."

Kiran Komatla, Group CTO at Restaurant Brands Asia, emphasized the role of CIOs and CTOs, noting, "The role of CIO or CTO is more to get a right, sustainable, scalable and secure solution to anything he brings to the table."

Vishal Haikerwal, Digital Transformation Evangelist at Oracle India, highlighted the collaborative aspect, stating, "The relationship between CIOs and CFOs enhances by establishing collaboration, communication, and then chasing growth."

CM Grover, MD & CEO at IBSFINtech, observed the changing trend among CFOs, stating, "The CFO breed is changing, they are becoming tech-savvy and they're telling the CIOs what tech they need."

Democratising data

Kamini Shah, CFO at Birlasoft, stressed the need for democratising data within organisations. "A very important aspect that CFOs should look at is to democratize data that is within the organization already," she said.

Sanjay Agarwal, CFO at Jyothy Labs, proposed that CFOs should function as alarms, saying, "CFOs can become more of an alarm to the CEOs and board, and look upon where the disruptions may come from."

Ramesh Bafna, CFO at Zepto, urged a founder's mindset, stating, "The mindset of a CFO has to be of a founder's mindset, ownership mindset."

Aneesha Menon, Group CFO at CarTrade Tech Limited, emphasized the CFO's transition, stating, "As a CFO, you have to advance from being outside the court to inside the court and you have to believe it is your game."

Kartik Pasumarti, Chief Solutions Officer at Zaggle, highlighted the quest for future-proofing, stating, "In this dynamic era, CFOs or businesses are looking to be future-proof ready."

Ramkumar Subramanian, ED-Financial Services at Grant Thornton, encapsulated the CFO's role, as he said, "The crux of CFO is to strategize, energise and adopt."