52% of CFOs also see data accuracy as the biggest obstacle to doing their job, nearly all (94%) say they will need more IT expertise in the next three years.
25th June 2014
A new report published today (June 18th) by The Economist Intelligence Unit, Beyondspreadsheets: How the new breed of CFO makes decisions, shows that CFOs are expanding their responsibilities beyond financial functions but inaccurate, out-of-date data is slowing them down.
The report, sponsored by Qlik (www.qlik.com), is based on a survey of 100 Asia-based senior executives with responsibility for company finances.
According to the survey, 63% of respondents say their job entails analysing all available information, yet 47% say their decision making is slowed down by information overload.
Data features prominently on the list of obstacles executives face. 52% say data accuracy is the biggest hindrance to doing their job, while 46% point to access to real-time data and 43% say integrating complex data from different sources is a problem.
Being able to process greater volumes of information is an increasing focus for CFOs.
74% of survey respondents say data analysis will be useful in the future when making long-term strategic decisions. Nearly all respondents (94%) feel they will need more IT expertise in the next three years.
However, they generally feel that IT tools do not meet their needs: 44% of respondents feel IT vendors are not interested in making their analytics tools simple or easy to use.
Charles Ross, the editor of the report, said:
“This report paints a picture of CFOs having to make decisions but getting bogged down by the data analytics that they feel are needed to make those decisions. But instead of a big revamp in technology, CFOs are looking at additional training and multiple small investments to help generate insights from data.”
Source: Director of Finance Online