Research paper describes key skills needed from manufacturing CFOs for successful digital transformations
A new research paper has been released by Siemens Financial Services (SFS), describing ‘CFO 4.0’, which is the new breed of chief financial officer in the manufacturing industry that needs to drive and enable the digital transformation process.
The survey, which involved interviewing more than 60 manufacturers and expert management consultants, identified five key competencies that the CFO 4.0 needs to exhibit to enable successful digital transformation in manufacturing:
- A comprehensive understanding of available financing options that can enable a commercially sustainable transition to Industry 4.0
- The ability to introduce relevant financing options at an early stage of the strategic Industry 4.0 process, in order to access and take advantage of the full range of potential solutions
- Specific Industry 4.0 knowledge and expertise — related to financial, technology, operations and market analyses — in order to accurately assess digitalisation opportunity vs digitalisation risk
- The capability to build predictive Industry 4.0 business models, return-on-investment metrics and performance monitoring processes
- The proficiency to create an effective phased plan to operationalise the business’s move to Industry 4.0
“The CFO 4.0 is now ensuring that financing options are considered right at the start of digital strategy development,” commented Brian Foster, head of Industry Finance at Siemens Financial Services in the UK. “Using smart financing techniques, usually from specialist and expert financiers, firms can often find that their range of affordable technology options widens considerably — and that can make the difference in gaining significant competitive edge in your marketplaces through digitalisation and transition to Industry 4.0.”
In previous research, the company highlighted that new-generation digitalised technology is providing measurable improvements in manufacturing productivity. The Digitalization Productivity Bonus whitepaper was a global qualitative study by Siemens, examining the potential of digitalisation as an important evidential starting point for the transformation of a business that can deliver significant returns. For pharmaceutical manufacturing the bonus equated to returns of between $0.9–$1.8 billion.