Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY), a leader in enterprise cloud
applications for finance and human resources, today released its
global Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Indicator Survey, “Finance
Digital Transformation,” which reveals a direct link between
finance digital transformation and agile business practices, better
decision-making, and more efficient reporting, planning, and
financial operations—all of which organizations will need to thrive
in the new COVID-19 normal.
The research, conducted during the period that COVID-19 was
declared a pandemic and many companies were forced to rapidly shift
to remote work, reveals that while nearly half of CFOs have not
completed any digital transformation initiatives in finance, 34
percent expect to prioritize it in one year—during recovery from
COVID-19. The study shows that those who do will reap benefits. The
54 percent of CFOs who have implemented some or many digital
transformation initiatives pre-pandemic consistently perform better
on agility, enhanced insights, and improved efficacy.
“CFOs were thrust into uncharted territory when the pandemic
hit, underscoring the need for them to be able to make data-driven
decisions to adjust, plan, and then continuously re-plan as
conditions rapidly changed,” says Michael Magaro, senior vice
president, business finance and investor relations, Workday. “This
survey validates CFOs’ shifting priorities as they look to a
combination of new skills and technologies to give them greater
visibility and agility. And, while finance has been slower to
embrace digital transformation, it's clear the pandemic has become
both a catalyst and imperative for change.”
The new CFO indicator report was done in partnership with
Longitude Research and includes responses from 225 global CFOs on
key challenges and priorities as they manage through the pandemic.
Key survey findings show that:
- Digital finance transformation yields greater agility,
efficacy, and confidence for CFOs. Digital accelerators,
companies that have implemented some digital transformation
initiatives in finance, are more agile and proficient at efficient
reporting, planning, and financial close than digital novices,
companies that have yet to implement digital transformation into
the finance function. The accelerators are also more confident in
the accuracy of their two-year profit and loss (P&L) forecast
(73 percent) vs. digital novices (43 percent).
- Roadblocks to finance digital transformation are within
the CFO’s control. Lack of technology skills and internal
resistance to change are the two greatest challenges to digital
transformation in finance. Lack of budget was the lowest rated
challenge.
- Finance teams are challenged to deliver insights to the
wider business at a time when it is needed most. Nearly
half of CFOs surveyed believe that critical business decisions are
delayed because finance is not proficient in delivering meaningful
insights from data. More than a third (34 percent) of CFOs cite a
shortage of skills needed to work with emerging technology as a key
challenge to generating these insights.
- CFOs prioritize visibility
and risk mitigation skills in today’s challenging
environment. Top skills that CFOs need to urgently add to
their team, through both hiring and reskilling, are predictive
modeling/scenario planning and the ability to identify and manage
risk. The lowest ranked skill is spreadsheet proficiency.
Overcoming Obstacles to TransformationDigital
transformation in finance can help transform the entire
organization, the report notes. Steps CFOs can take are to
prioritize technology investments that provide greater
forward-looking visibility, identify and address technology skills
gaps, incorporate key performance indicators (KPIs) to overcome
resistance to change, and consolidate data into a single source for
truth and clarity.
The report is available now and additional insights are shared
in the blog, “How finance digital transformation is saving
businesses—and preparing them for the future.”
MethodologyThe findings in this research are
based on a survey of 225 CFOs conducted March through May 2020. The
majority of participants are located in the U.S. (60 percent), 30
percent are located in the UK, and the remaining 10 percent are
based in a range of countries including Singapore, Australia, and
Canada.
Participating CFOs work for companies across sectors, including
financial services, consumer, energy, industrials, and pharma. The
sample was evenly split among CFOs that work for small (<500
employees), medium (500–3,500), and large (>3,500 employees)
organizations.
About Workday Workday is a leading provider of
enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources,
helping customers adapt and thrive in a changing world. Workday
applications for financial management, human resources, planning,
spend management, and analytics have been adopted by thousands of
organizations around the world and across industries – from
medium-sized businesses to more than 60 percent of the Fortune 50.
For more information about Workday, visit workday.com.
Workday Forward-Looking StatementsThis press
release contains forward-looking statements including, among other
things, statements regarding the expected performance and benefits
of Workday’s offerings. The words “believe,” “may,” “will,”
“estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “seek,”
“plan,” “project,” and similar expressions are intended to identify
forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are
subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. If the risks
materialize or assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could
differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking
statements. Risks include, but are not limited to, risks described
in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”),
including our Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2020,
and our future reports that we may file with the SEC from time to
time, which could cause actual results to vary from expectations.
Workday assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to,
update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this
release.
Any unreleased services, features, or functions referenced in
this document, our website, or other press releases or public
statements that are not currently available are subject to change
at Workday's discretion and may not be delivered as planned or at
all. Customers who purchase Workday, Inc. services should make
their purchase decisions based upon services, features, and
functions that are currently available.
© 2020 Workday, Inc. All rights reserved. Workday and the
Workday logo are registered trademarks of Workday, Inc. All other
brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of
their respective holders.
Media Contacts:
WorkdayDiane Orrmedia@workday.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9d043d07-693c-45e1-939b-a0311658fbcb
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