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5 Questions CIOs and CFOs Need to Ask to Prepare for IoT

  • 5 Questions CIOs and CFOs Need to Ask to Prepare for IoT-

    Automation

    How much of your financial technology process is automated?

    Inputting transactions, handling account reconciliation and managing revenue are a few of the most time-consuming tasks for any finance department. As customer bases and data from the IoT both grow, it will be crucial to automate these processes as much as possible to ensure that the business can scale with its growth effectively.

    Your financial processes need to be automated so they can quickly and accurately handle any new business requirements that come your way. The faster you can close books, the more time and money your organization will save; you will also be able to provide financial insights faster to management, auditors and investors.

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5 Questions CIOs and CFOs Need to Ask to Prepare for IoT

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  • 5 Questions CIOs and CFOs Need to Ask to Prepare for IoT-4

    Automation

    How much of your financial technology process is automated?

    Inputting transactions, handling account reconciliation and managing revenue are a few of the most time-consuming tasks for any finance department. As customer bases and data from the IoT both grow, it will be crucial to automate these processes as much as possible to ensure that the business can scale with its growth effectively.

    Your financial processes need to be automated so they can quickly and accurately handle any new business requirements that come your way. The faster you can close books, the more time and money your organization will save; you will also be able to provide financial insights faster to management, auditors and investors.

There is a lot of hype around the Internet of Things (IoT), but make no mistake, the IoT is here to stay and will have a transformative effect on businesses of all kinds. According to a 2015 report from McKinsey, over the next decade the economic impact of the Internet of Things will be as much as $11.1 trillion per year. Ensuring that your IT processes and technologies are prepared for the changes the IoT will bring will be crucial. Investments in infrastructure, security solutions and analytic capabilities are musts for any organization.

Business models are changing too. With the rise of the service economy — a concerted effort by many businesses to focus on developing revenue from their existing customer base (e.g., subscription services, recurring billing, professional services and product/service bundling) — companies are shifting from being product-oriented to service-oriented. Although IoT-inspired business models have not hit the masses, many C-level executives are already evaluating how the IoT may change the way they deliver, measure usage, and ultimately bill for products/services. Sensors and wearables will soon be used to measure how much of a given product or service is used, and businesses will charge accordingly. Recurring revenue is increasingly becoming a key tenet of any business; however, first there needs to be a financial system to support it. When the IoT goes mainstream, will your business be able to perform?

In this slideshow, Kevin Roberts, director of platform technology at FinancialForce, outlines the five questions CFOs and CIOs need to ask themselves to better prepare their infrastructure to support an IoT-centric model.