by Felicien | May 28, 2019 | Education
CFOs & Technology
The CFO role continues to evolve. CFOs used to be considered fairly powerless scorekeepers or merely chief bean counters, but today the role has taken on more responsibility as well as prominence.
Of course, any CFO will tell you that the old role is not unimportant, and it has not gone away. The expansion of the CFO into strategy, decision-making, and even IT oversight creates a capacity problem. How can the CFO meet all the new responsibilities without neglecting the old? Technology can assist in a number of ways.
Before we dive into how technology can assist CFOs in their expanding job functions, let’s look at what some of those expanding job functions are. Depending on where your organization is in its digital transformation, you may have already taken on some of these. If not, this overview will give you insight into what may be added to your plate in the coming months and years.
New CFO and Finance Responsibilities
The CFO has traditionally focused on finance and accounting, and these responsibilities remain both significant and important. New areas of responsibility are developing, though, including these.
Technology
The CFO role has an increasing responsibility for overseeing technology decisions and spend, along with the CIO. The entirety of the business is dependent on technology, and good choices in this area lead to dynamic transformation. Bad choices can have catastrophic results.
Future Focus
CFO and finance responsibilities are evolving from sole focus on the past (compliance and reporting) to include a future focus. CFOs are partnering with managers around the company to improve operations, and they often work with the CEO and the board to help plan company strategy.
Financial data and analytics have helped in this aspect of transformation. Another team may be responsible for analytics, but when it comes to the financial aspect of analysis, the CFO and finance team are an essential part.
Partnering with CEO
Today, CFOs partner with CEOs to develop strategy more frequently than they did in years past. While the roles remain distinct, the line is more blurry than it used to be, and the level of partnership and collaboration is much greater.
Partnering with Division Leaders
It’s more frequent than it’s ever been for the CFO to partner with division leaders or line-of-business leaders. These leaders necessarily have other focuses than finance, and they may need or seek guidance from the CFO. This guidance is sometimes finance-related and other times more generally related to business vision. The CFO also plays a role in teaching division leaders to accept financial guidance from the finance group.
How Technology Can Assist Today’s CFOs
Savvy CFOs will leverage technology to assist them in their expanding capacities. Here are a few technologies empowering CFOs and finance teams.
Big Data and Analytics
Data is more powerful than it’s ever been, and CFOs will benefit from technology solutions in this area. Powerful customer data can drive major insights into financial trends as well as business trends. Use analytics to make better-informed predictions on the future of sales. You can often get a better picture of what the customer wants by analytics than you can by traditional means like focus groups or customer surveys. These are powerful tools that can solve many problems and speed up many tasks for the CFO and the finance team.
Embrace the Cloud
Cloud-based apps can lower IT infrastructure spend as well as the need for maintenance. Many if not all the major IT applications needed by the finance team are available in cloud format, including ERP and CRM systems as well as planning and reporting systems.
Using cloud-based applications and systems allows your company to expand without having to consider infrastructure improvement. With the cloud, you’ve outsourced the infrastructure completely.
Finance leaders and CFOs are sometimes wary of the cloud, and this is understandable. Cloud-based services have had their fair share of highly publicized leaks and breaches. These have led some to question whether the cloud is really the right solution for sensitive data, whether financial or privacy-related.
The answer to this concern is twofold. First, the track record of these cloud apps is astoundingly good. Second, take a step back and review the landscape. Do you really trust that your in-house IT or infosec team is as skilled in protecting you from an internal breach as the team at a cloud service is? Your business is broad, and IT infosec is only one small component. For the cloud service, it’s nearly everything. One breach and they’d be out of business.
Mobile Technologies
While mobile technologies are most visible on the sales force and other customer-facing services (like your website), mobile can improve the quality of life for the CFO and finance teams, too. Selecting cloud apps that allow for mobile access gives additional flexibility to where and how work is done and data is displayed.
Need A Great IT Company Who Works With Top CFOs
This is just the surface of what technology can do to empower CFOs in their expanding roles. For more, or for help implementing solutions, contact us today.
by Felicien | May 28, 2019 | Education
According to the American Bar Association, it is crucial for attorneys and e-discovery professionals to define the rules of engagement instead of leaving those details to the IT department. Attorneys are being held to much higher standards of knowledge when it comes to technology, especially in terms of electronic discovery. ABA Model Rule 11 states that attorneys bear a duty to provide competent representation for their clients, and translated into today’s language — that means a firm understanding of technology and all of the various implications. Fortunately, there are advanced tools already built into Microsoft Office 365 that can help support the needs of law offices as they create a proactive e-discovery strategy for their offices and for their clients.
E-Discovery in a Digital World
E-discovery is increasingly complex as you bring globalization and mobile platforms into the conversation. The ability for mobile phones and tablets to access even the most sensitive personal and legal data is an ongoing challenge, not to mention the ability of clients to easily share information that should have remained confidential. SMS text messages, social media chats, in-app notes — these types of interactions must all be appraised for potential inclusion in legal matters in the future. However, the information that is shared between attorneys, clients and other external parties can be more easily managed with tools from Microsoft Office that are already available to your e-discovery team.
Advanced Document Analysis in Microsoft Office 365
The electronic discovery tools available in Microsoft Office 365 are increasingly detailed and include the ability to identify content that is a near duplicate, perform predictive coding and consolidate information across email threads. While you may still need a dedicated e-discovery platform for more detailed analysis, Microsoft’s cloud-based productivity platform has many advanced features baked into the base functionality. Microsoft has been boosting their e-discovery chops with additions to the platform that will provide professionals with more of the tools that they need to wrangle and report on data and communications that will impact their various cases. Massive regulatory cases are not the only ones whose outcome may depend on a single email — there are also thousands of smaller cases that can be solved more quickly and accurately with access to the correct information gained through intensive e-discovery.
Collecting and Preserving Crucial Electronic Data
The ability to easily share information is a boon for attorneys and clients alike, as people are increasingly ready to work from remote locations and while on-the-go. Law offices must take additional measures to ensure the security and consistency of data due to these additional pressures, and Office 365 can create clean transfer records across various mobile platforms, desktops and email. Attorneys and their staff must have a firm understanding of the flow of information throughout their various systems to take full advantage of the ways they can collect and preserve this crucial electronic data.
Investing in advanced e-discovery software may be necessary, but there are many ways that law offices are able to streamline their data structures and workflow by leveraging the advanced functionality that is already available within Microsoft Office 365. Speak with your local technology professionals to better understand Microsoft’s options for improved security and deeper data insights.
by Felicien | May 28, 2019 | Education
Today’s quick tech tip covers one of the basic functions in Microsoft Excel.
Watch the video below or click here.
Here’s how to copy cells in Microsoft Excel, plus one of the advanced copy and paste features available in the application.
Step 1: Select the Cell or Cells You Want to Copy
If you want to select a single cell, you simply need to click on it. If you want to select a range of cells—whether that’s a partial or full column or row, or a wider range—click and hold on one of the cells you want to copy and drag to the other end of the range.
You can also select an entire column or row in one click by placing your cursor outside the grid, on top of the letter or number corresponding to the column or row. Your cursor will change to a rightward or downward arrow. Click to select the entire column or row.
Step 2: Copy
To copy the selected cells, click the “Copy” button in the Clipboard section of the ribbon. In your default view, the Clipboard section is in the upper left. You can also use a keyboard shortcut to copy: press Ctrl + C on a PC or Command + C on a Mac.
Step 3: Select Destination and Paste
All that’s left is to click on the cell where you want the copied information to go and paste. If you’ve copied a single cell, simply click on the cell where the copied content needs to go. If you’ve copied a range of cells, you don’t have to select an identical range of cells to paste. Simply select the cell that’s in the upper left corner of your range.
To paste your content, click the “Paste” button in the Clipboard section of the ribbon, or use a keyboard shortcut. This time, the keyboard shortcuts are Ctrl + V (PC) or Command + V (Mac). Your content will appear in the new location, and you’re ready to move on to the next task.
A Few Notes
Now that we’ve covered the basics, here are a few warnings and advanced tips.
Formulas
If you copy a cell with a formula in it, Excel will automatically copy that formula to the destination. If this isn’t what you want, click the down arrow below the Paste button. Excel gives you a dozen or so special methods of pasting. If all you want is the raw number, no formula attached, then use “Paste Values” instead.
Overwriting Content
If you copy a range of cells, be aware that pasting that range will overwrite anything in the destination range. Make sure you have enough space there and won’t lose any important data.
by Felicien | May 28, 2019 | Education
In today’s tech tip, learn how to make the most out of your Microsoft Teams meetings by showing PowerPoint slides directly in the virtual meeting window.
Watch the video below, or click here.
Microsoft Teams is a powerful collaboration tool with a deep, rich feature set. One of the great features in Microsoft Teams is the ability to turn calendar appointments into virtual video or audio meetings directly in the app. We’ve covered how to do this before, but did you know you can show Microsoft PowerPoint slides right inside your Teams meeting? We’ll show you how in today’s tech tip.
Step 1: Launch or Join a Teams Meeting
To launch or join a meeting in Teams, click on the Meetings tab (on the desktop app, this is on the left side of the app). If your organization uses the Outlook calendar, Teams will pull that data into the Meetings tab. You should see a list of meetings here.
If you’re joining someone else’s meeting, you should see it in the list. Simply click “Join”. If you’re launching your own, click “Schedule a meeting” at the bottom of the column. Fill in the relevant details and pick a time. (It can be right now, if you need.)
Bonus tip: If you’re the one scheduling the meeting, make sure to invite the relevant teams or people. Use the Scheduling Assistant to see when your participants are free.
Step 2: Find and Click the Share Button
Once you’ve joined a Teams meeting (either as host or participant), you’ll see a set of buttons whenever you move the mouse. The video camera and microphone are fairly self-explanatory, but the button that comes next is a little less obvious. It looks like a rectangle with an up arrow in it. This is the Share button. Click it to bring up the Share menu.
You can share all sorts of things, but PowerPoints are what we’re after here. You’ll see a section with some suggested PowerPoints. Microsoft attempts to guess which OneDrive or SharePoint files you might want, but if it fails to suggest the right ones, you can always navigate yourself by clicking “Browse”. Click on the file you want, and it will launch into the Teams meeting.
How Presenting Works
Now that you’ve launched your PowerPoint presentation, be sure to understand how presenting works. You can toggle through your slides as you move through your presentation, just like you would in an in-person meeting. If you’re not the presenter, you can even toggle backward or forward through the slide deck without disturbing the presenter. This is handy if you need to move back to a previous slide and copy down information (or see what’s coming up if you need to time a restroom break!).
Sharing PowerPoints within Teams is a great way to keep up engagement in virtual meetings. Use this tip in your next Teams meeting and increase the value to all participants.
by Felicien | May 28, 2019 | Education
Whether you are starting out or ready to upgrade, there is a lot to consider when you’re shopping for a retail POS. These topics will help accelerate your research.
In a retail business, the selection of your point of sale software and hardware is a crucial one. You need to know that your selected vendor is trusted, reliable and will be there for you — and that the POS solution will be easy to use and fully compliant with all applicable laws. With so many different point of sale systems on the market, how can you be sure you’re making the right choice for your business? There are some key considerations that you will want to keep in mind as you’re researching the various solutions such as your projected growth rate, the level of support that you can expect to receive and how the system will integrate with your current marketing or customer relationship management solutions. It’s crucial that you take the time to fully understand your options before signing a contract because a poor selection could have a ripple effect on your organization. Here’s what you need to know when you’re shopping for a retail POS system.
Review Your Budget and System Needs
There are some systems with some pretty hefty bells and whistles, but is that what you really need for your business? Just as with any technology solution, you want to “right-size” your requirements to be sure you’re considering systems that will meet your needs both now and in the future without a lot of pricey functionality that will not be used in your stores. Even if you’re just starting out in a rented space, what are your plans for expansion in the future? While that extra-fancy reporting software may be great for larger businesses, is it truly providing you with the value for the additional cost? Force yourself to justify each addition to the scope — but don’t scale back on basic requirements for your business.
Proactive Support During Onboarding is Imperative
It is all too easy to make an uninformed decision during the initial configuration of your POS system that could severely limit the way you are able to leverage the platform for your business in the future. When you’re considering a new POS system, be sure you are meeting the team that will physically do the onboarding, initial setup and training — and you need to be fully comfortable that they understand your current (and future!) business model and needs. Once your system is fully configured and operational, it can be much more difficult to change settings that are core to the utilization of the platform. While some changes are relatively straightforward (adding a new product or updating a price) others could require a significant investment in consultant time, testing and training before you can trust that the changes have been made correctly.
Aggressively Limit System Complexity
The word “aggressive” can have some pretty negative connotations in business, but it’s truly needed in this instance. Everyone from your staff to vendor sales teams will be pitching you on the relative value of additional functionality. Unless you are able to tie this directly back to a quantifiable business gain, resist the temptation to add complexity to your system. When you start with a system that is simple yet scalable, your ROI will be recognized sooner and you may even reduce employee frustration with the new system. Change is difficult for people, so anything that you can do to ease the transition will help soothe the nerves of unsettled staff members. When possible, consider a longer-term roadmap of development and ensure that your selected system will fulfill the future needs of your business as it grows.
Consider Integrations Possibilities
While it’s impossible to know what types of integrations you may want in the future, there are a few basics that you’ll want to consider such as how well your new POS system will work with your customer relationship management (CRM) software. Your customers are an integral part of your business, and capturing their purchases and needs allows you to serve them more effectively in the future. Other potential integrations include with your cloud storage solution, shipping management systems, inventory, communications and more. As you’re building the infrastructure to support your POS system, it’s important to review whether your telecommunications platforms and internet bandwidth are up for the challenge.
Robust Batched or Real-Time Reporting
Do you want to receive automatic reports about your business on a regular basis? Are you interested in configuring the reports that you receive, or are you happy with what comes out of the box? When you need new reports, will you have to engage consultants, or will you be able to do some simple report changes internally? Consider gathering copies of any current reports that you’re using or taking the time to detail the types of reporting you’ll need in the future before you begin your search. That way, you can share these details with the sales teams for your potential POS systems to determine the level of reporting that will be possible in the various systems.
Flexible Payment Processing
Have you considered all the ways that your team can accept payments, and does your POS system need to allow for tipping, printing or emailing receipts? An emailed receipt is a great way to continue a conversation with customers that started in your store. Customers want their receipt, so they are likely to give you an active email address for that reason. With proper opt-out procedures and messaging, you’ll then be able to communicate with these individuals in the future.
Finding the ideal POS system for your business may take some time, but doing the upfront work of research and to define your requirements will allow you to make a solid decision for a system that will serve you well in the future. Your POS system is a key element of your business operations, and finding a solution that is flexible, includes adequate reporting capabilities and can integrate well with other business systems will have your revenue humming!
