Predicting the effects of new technology can be a challenge

Although it’s still early days, from a long-range historical point of view, the cloud has actually hovered above our various computer-powered preoccupations for a good few years now. Adoption rates for this game-changer motor ever forward, with bugs being identified and addressed, and capabilities being increasingly celebrated.

But it’s worth noting that we remain far from an end point in our understanding of, and appreciation for, this paradigm-shifting newcomer to our daily lives. The Microsoft-produced white paper, The Economics of the Cloud (TK), offers some insight on how this new age might evolve, and urges its proponents to take the long view and see the underlying economics as having the biggest impact on long term take-up rates.

What are the Future Prospects for the Cloud?

It’s always instructive to refer back to other examples of revolutionary design to gain a sense of the way a new advancement might unfold. The world’s first automobiles were described as “horseless carriages,” and they were designed just as their equine-powered predecessors had been—complete with whip holders—in spite of the revised absence of such requirements. “Engineers initially failed to understand the new possibilities of the new paradigm,” the paper points out, “such as building for higher speeds, or greater safety.” Just as in the early days of the car business, it’s difficult to predict where this novelty will take us, but it’s critical not to be hemmed in by restrictions that no longer apply.

Technical complexities and adoption hurdles steal most of the ink these days in literature covering the cloud, as was highlighted in our previous blog entry Calming (Mis) Conceptions about the Cloud. The Microsoft white paper points out the detriment to users’ exploitation of the technology such misinformation creates. Historically, however, it’s been underlying economics that have in fact had a much stronger impact on the direction and speed of disruptions, as technological challenges are resolved or overcome through the rapid innovation to which we‘ve become accustomed.

The cloud allows core IT infrastructure to be brought into large data centres that take advantage of significant economies of scale in three areas: supply-side savings (amortizing costs across multiple servers), demand-side aggregation (reducing variability) and multi-tenancy efficiency (amortizing costs across multiple customers).

Making the Most for your Business – Cloud Flexibility

Capitalizing on these economic benefits is the trick. Just as engineers had to fundamentally rethink design in the early days of the car so too will developers have to rethink their approach to this new era of application design. The concepts of multi-tenancy and demand-side aggregation will represent a formidable challenge for developers and IT departments after all; whatever their level of sophistication. And if you screw up, you could find yourself enjoying only some of the savings on offer, or, even paying more for application development than you currently do.

Onwards and upwards, then. And leave the whip holder in the dust.

It was an account of a recent study, an annual report on CFOs from global business process outsourcing company WNS, in which analysts spoke breathlessly of the looming sea change for the chief financial officer’s role on the corporate stage.

The concept of a revised version of this essential corporate functionary is interesting to me, particularly as it relates to the question of how 360 Visibility might support it.

The rumblings are of a redoubled commitment to those conventionally identified CFO priorities, newly resurfacing from a global economic shakeup that wildly rewrote job descriptions in the process.

Resurfacing in the centre of day-to-day operations, the reinvented CFO is less concerned with achieving sales growth and long-term development, and more with effective decision-making and ensuring that those decisions are aimed at securing the success of the business overall (versus, say, a short-term revenue hike).

Certainly the challenges facing today’s CFO are significant.

From taxing market conditions to new competitor threats to a more demanding customer base, the scene CFOs face requires more effort than ever to preserve a competitive edge. Add to that the increasing presence of the Internet, a slew of environmental and sustainability issues, and an investor community that’s insisting on an accurate tally of a company’s long-term economic value and you’ve got a serious pressure cooker on the go.

The globalization of economies in recent times has also left its mark on the CFO position. Finance functions often reside now with individuals remote from the business, plucked from a new, global talent pool. This trend also influences people’s educational habits, with many CFO types adopting courses of study to secure international finance qualifications.

The good news is that the new CFO landscape includes the considerable assistance of some very sophisticated technology, including that whose installation and maintenance we oversee at 360.

Time it was that a CFO needed to wade through manual ledgers and across multiple, unlinked platforms to make sense of his firm’s goings-on. Today’s technology reduces the burden around the basics. The fundamental, end-to-end transactional flows inside a company will be streamlined; the need for manual intervention eradicated.

Much can be done on screen today, freeing up the finance function to focus on value creation, strategic decision-making, tactical determinations, effective budgeting and analysis forecasting.

And so the CFO is down on the field now, helping to drive the game, moving the players around in a bid to position the organization to capture future business success.

The CFO of tomorrow is no longer just the finance man.

He’s a businessperson, with wicked communication skills, a powerful grasp of project management and some pretty serious stick-handling prowess.

Today’s CFO is less about keeping the books and more about being dynamic, about living in the heart of the corporation, about throwing his back into helping fellow executives drive the business forward.

Today’s CFO is primed for tomorrow.