Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2024. Read them in this 16th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
3 Experts on Leadership, AI, Finance, and Data and Analytics
By Joshua
Schauer, VP of Finance, insightsoftware
While many companies are
continuing to explore where AI can be integrated in the coming year, there have
been many other trends across 2023 that will change the way we do business.
This past year saw an unusual number of layoffs, shaking up retention and
talent growth and requiring employees to do more with less. Especially in
finance, the industry has undergone a major transformation as a result. With
fewer employees, we have seen organizational leaders encourage more efficiency
across departments through better data management and automation. But what do
these initiatives mean and what changes will this lead to 2024?
In response, we at insightsoftware,
a global provider of reporting, analytics, and performance management
solutions, spoke with executives across the organization's departments (like
human resources and technology) to learn more about what these changes mean for
leadership, data, and finance teams moving into 2024:
Bernie Emsley, CTO
CTO's will need to bring even more collaboration and education to the
C-suite
Over the past few years, the CTO role has become the bridge between
the tech-savvy and the business-savvy, charged with enabling the right
solutions to create the best overall business outcomes. This comes with its
communication challenges as the CTO needs to navigate how to translate tech
into an ROI for the organization's board and C-suite. In 2024, the ability to
educate their C-level colleagues will become even more important as artificial
intelligence (AI) technologies become commonplace. The CTO will not only need
to be able to collaborate with the tech side of the business to ensure what is
realistically possible in the realm of AI but will need to communicate on a
business level its potential - both from employee productivity and product
standpoint.
Strong data engines will make financial data movement possible
Financial organizations are just starting to realize the potential
their data holds, using it for guidance in financial planning and analysis,
budgetary planning, and more. However, much of this data is still siloed, and
we have reached the point where these organizations have so much of this data,
that they need to start thinking about how it can bring value to the company or
risk losing their competitive advantage. In 2024, we will see finance
organizations seek to classify and harmonize their data across repositories to
enable new solutions. In response, data engines, data platforms, and data lakes
will be just a few tools that will become crucial to understanding and
utilizing such data effectively. As a result, we can expect to see the growth
of fintech applications to enable this aggregated data analysis, reporting, and
visualization to take place.
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Laura Hanson, CHRO
Increased focus on retaining and growing talent
In 2023, we saw an unusual amount of turnover in the tech world, from
layoffs to an increase in employees transitioning to new employers and even
careers. This means that in 2024, it will be up to employers to focus on
attracting, retaining, and growing their best talent in unique and creative
ways.
Many tech companies can hire en masse, but the focus now needs to be
on what will make them stay. This could include implementing business positions
around improved DEI and ESG, as well as the integration of new technology like
AI. Potential employees also look to companies to help broaden their skill
sets. By implementing better training programs, aimed at improving management
skills and building talent and/or domain knowledge, employees will seek to
extend their careers within the company they are at, instead of looking
elsewhere. Ultimately, the companies that will be most suited for talent
retention in 2024 will be those that look beyond just the employee's current
role, but seek to expand their education and listen to what they desire in
their company growth.
AI for Employers and Employees
We know that AI technologies can minimize manual tasks, improve
employee workloads, and allow teams to focus on more strategic initiatives.
Capitalizing on such automation will continue to be key in 2024, but it will
have a unique role for an organization's HR department. While AI can better
streamline potential employees through the hiring process and keep prospective
employees more engaged, job candidates with even just a baseline of AI
knowledge are going to be extremely sought after as organizations establish
their own AI strategies. On the other hand, job candidates will start to
analyze how employers and their organizations as a whole are using AI. People
are simply accustomed to its integration in the rest of their lives, and
they'll want to ensure they are being set up for success with these advanced
technologies in their careers as well.
+++
Jay
Allardyce, General Manager, Data & Analytics
There
will be several trends and issues that will dominate data management and
technology spending in 2024, including:
- A continual shift to cloud resources - The continued push to re-architect technology landscapes to a
cloud/SAAS approach will prevail, and many organizations who've made large
bets ($1B+) contracts on the cloud will find they can't innovate fast
enough to deliver on those commitments. Some, on the other hand, don't see
it as a migration for cost, but an opportunity to modernize and transform
how they use data in their business.
- The rise and adoption of AI - AI, like all reporting projects, is only as good as the data it
has access to and the prompts used to make a request. With the push for
AI, many are still stuck getting their data foundations established so
that they can take advantage of AI. To avoid pilot purgatory, starting
with the outcome (use case) in mind that shows a quick win and
demonstrable value vs. a one-off project is key.
- Democratizing
data - While the notion of centralized data
management is a trend, the reality is that departments still own their
data AND have domain expertise. How organizations can adopt a democratized
and open fabric but employ the right data governance strategies to support
faster innovation and adoption will be crucial. Doing so will only further
support the adoption of AI, which requires strong domain knowledge for
value to be truly extracted.
The success of companies
in the coming year will hinge on the adoption of improved technologies, like
AI, to improve employee retention, streamline workloads, and improve data
management. All leaders should start with the outcome in mind. Knowing what experiences
or business KPIs you want to impact and returning to the tools and data needed
will be critical to success.
In 2024, the focus will
be on finding strategic solutions - versus just identifying problems across the
organization. The digital transformation we're seeing is only going to
continue, and it's time for business leaders to act now, not only to be ready for
the year ahead but for many years to come.
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ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
Joshua Schauer has more than 10 years of
expertise in financial reporting and analysis, budgeting, and forecasting. As
VP of Finance at insightsoftware, Josh consolidates and analyses financial
results across multiple international entities in multiple currencies,
reporting monthly, quarterly, and annually to the parent company, lending
syndicate, and executive team. Josh is responsible for the annual budget and
weekly forecasting at a departmental and consolidated level. Josh supports
business operations through analysis of key performance indicators and trends
while providing robust modeling and reporting to facilitate executive-level
decision-making.