According to Getronics research reveals that CFOs’ predictions on the changing nature of the CIO’s role.
The role of the CIO in its current capacity will not exist in five years’ time according to research findings revealed by Getronics today. The survey of 203 key financial decision makers in companies of 1,000 employees or more, found that almost one in five CFOs (17%) believe that the role of the CIO as it currently stands is in jeopardy. A further 43% of financial decision makers believe that the role will merge more with finance and a third (31%) believe that CIOs will come from a non-technical background.
The changing role of the CIO:
The role of the CIO has already been subject to a number of changes in recent years, with 77% of CFOs and Financial Directors claiming that they have already assumed greater responsibility for IT decisions over the past 1-2 years. Indeed, respondents revealed that 38% of businesses that have rolled out a cloud computing solution had the project initiated directly by the finance department, rather than IT. A further 39% stated that they had been directly involved in cloud projects, but only after the IT department had initiated it. This trend can be attributed, in part, to the attractive utility model of cloud services, where companies avoid long-term contracts and can track ROI and costs far more accurately.
Finance and the cloud:
The research also reveals that CFOs and other financial decision makers are increasing their technology understanding, with only 2% admitting they “were not aware of the term cloud computing”, whilst the majority were able to provide a meaningful description of its use. This reveals the increasing efforts from finance to truly understand technology and can be seen to be creating opportunities for the CIO to gain companywide buy-in for cloud services as business requirements evolve.
CFO and CIO integration:
When it comes to understanding of their own roles, two out of five (38%) CFOs and Financial Directors believe that CIOs do not hold a good level of financial understanding. Surprisingly, 40% also believed that their CIOs need a greater understanding of the IT function itself. Compounding this lack of understanding of both roles, more than half (56%) of the CFOs and Financial Directors surveyed believe that a lack of integration between finance and IT limits the impact on cost savings achievable from IT projects within their business. This reveals the need for greater integration between the two departments which is a growing development in business with nearly half (48%) citing a trend towards closer integration. Simultaneously, however, some businesses are at the opposite end of the scale with 35% of businesses citing a decrease.
CFO concerns for IT spending:
The research also revealed the top IT spending concerns for CFOs and Financial Directors. Maintenance of IT infrastructure was the key concern, with two-thirds (64%) of respondents claiming this was an ongoing challenge for their businesses. A further 48% stated that they were concerned by the level of expenditure paid to consultancies, whilst 47% stated that licence payments for software was a major headache. As the CIO role continues to evolve, it is likely that the consultancy for businesses will be driven internally with outsourced consultancy decreasing.
“The role of the CIO has often been a point of contention within many organisations since its very inception,” says Mark Cook, CEO, Getronics UK. “Some of us in the industry will remember when the first IT roles were created in business and that these were predominately always within finance. It’s only in recent years that we’ve seen IT as a standalone department and we’re now seeing it come full circle, with one crucial difference: the CIO today is responsible for greater levels of innovation than ever before. We’re seeing CIOs moving away from previous years of having to lead on daily IT operations and maintenance into that of a provider of strategic consultancy to finance and the wider business. Only by freeing up CIOs from the day-to-day burden of managing assets will organisations be able to truly realise the value that a CIO can bring to their business.”
The full findings of the research are unveiled today in a new Getronics report, The Changing Role of the CFO, which is available for download at http://getronics-uk.com/. 203 key financial decision makers working in the UK for companies with 1,000 or more employees were interviewed for the survey.
Showing posts with label CFO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CFO. Show all posts
Monday, February 27, 2012
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Motorola ex-CFO sues for firing him
Motorola Inc's former chief financial officer (CFO) has sued the company for firing him, claiming that it was a "retaliatory discharge."
Paul Liska sued the maker of telecommunications equipment in county court in Chicago on February 20, a day after he was fired. The suit is under seal, and no further details were available. Liska did not return calls for comment, and the company did not return an email.
A "retaliatory discharge" usually refers to an employee being fired for doing something that's in the public interest, like being a whistleblower.
Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola said in early February that Liska was leaving after less than a year of service. It didn't specify a cause, but Chief Executive Greg Brown implied on a conference call that it was connected to the delayed spin-off of the company's cellphone unit. Liska, a former partner at private equity companies, was seen as a restructuring expert.
However, Motorola revealed in a filing this week that it had terminated Liska "for cause," depriving him of his signing bonus, stock options and severance payment. It didn't specify the cause.
The Wall Street Journal quoted Liska as saying he had been told he been terminated on January 29 without cause. There was no explanation for the discrepancy in dates on when Liska was terminated.
Agencies
Paul Liska sued the maker of telecommunications equipment in county court in Chicago on February 20, a day after he was fired. The suit is under seal, and no further details were available. Liska did not return calls for comment, and the company did not return an email.
A "retaliatory discharge" usually refers to an employee being fired for doing something that's in the public interest, like being a whistleblower.
Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola said in early February that Liska was leaving after less than a year of service. It didn't specify a cause, but Chief Executive Greg Brown implied on a conference call that it was connected to the delayed spin-off of the company's cellphone unit. Liska, a former partner at private equity companies, was seen as a restructuring expert.
However, Motorola revealed in a filing this week that it had terminated Liska "for cause," depriving him of his signing bonus, stock options and severance payment. It didn't specify the cause.
The Wall Street Journal quoted Liska as saying he had been told he been terminated on January 29 without cause. There was no explanation for the discrepancy in dates on when Liska was terminated.
Agencies
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Yahoo CEO ushers out CFO in executive shake-up
After spending six weeks diagnosing Yahoo Inc.'s troubles, new Chief Executive Carol Bartz started to prescribe a cure on Thursday with a management shake-up that will usher out the Internet company's chief financial officer.
Besides pushing CFO Blake Jorgensen out the door, the overhaul will expand the responsibilities of Yahoo's chief technology officer, Ari Balogh, and the company's top advertising executive in the United States, Hilary Schneider.
Bartz also created two jobs: a chief marketing officer and her own chief of staff.
Elisa Steele, who has been working at NetApp Inc., will join Yahoo as chief marketing officer on March 23, while Joel Jones, a former McKinsey consultant who has been Yahoo's corporate strategist, becomes Bartz's chief of staff as of Thursday.
With the new pecking order, Bartz hopes to speed up Yahoo's decision-making and have a senior team that supports her strategy for turning around a company struggling with three years of declining profits _ a downturn that had battered its stock price well before the market's overall decline.
Although Bartz still hasn't specified how she intends to get Yahoo back on track, she has left no doubt about her resolve to recapture the Internet pioneer's glory days.
``I'm singularly focused on providing you with awesome products. Period,'' Bartz wrote in a blog posting Thursday addressed to Yahoo's 500 million worldwide users.
Yahoo's previous two CEOs, co-founder Jerry Yang and former movie studio mogul Terry Semel, also attempted to revive Yahoo in recent years by reshuffling executives, but those moves never paid off. Bartz's reorganization is meant to last two to four years.
Investors appear to be betting that Bartz will deliver on her promises. Yahoo shares gained 50 cents, or 4 percent, to close Thursday at $12.98.
Yahoo hired Bartz, 60, last month to replace Yang, who exasperated many investors and employees with his wishy-washy management style. Yang also infuriated stockholders last year by turning down an opportunity to sell Yahoo to rival Microsoft Corp. for $47.5 billion, or $33 per share, well above the price of $19.18 just before the software maker announced its initial bid.
Although Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has repeatedly said he no longer wants to buy Yahoo in its entirety, he has indicated he still wants to explore a possible partnership that would involve Yahoo's online search engine, the second most popular behind that of Google Inc.
Bartz so far has been lukewarm to the idea in her public remarks, but Jorgensen expressed an interest in working with Microsoft in a Wednesday presentation at an investor conference.
In a Thursday research note, Barclays Capital analyst Douglas Anmuth said he didn't consider Jorgensen's departure a sign Yahoo is any less interested in working with Microsoft.
But Anmuth wondered about the wisdom of letting Jorgensen go, given that Bartz came to Yahoo without any previous Internet experience. Jorgensen also was somewhat of a novice, having joined Yahoo in June 2007, but Anmuth thought he would at least provide Yahoo some stability.
Jorgensen will remain CFO until Bartz can find replacement. His departure isn't a total shock because he was an ally of former Yahoo President Susan Decker, who resigned last month after Bartz beat her out for the CEO job.
But Jorgensen provided no inkling he might be headed out the door when he met with USB analyst Benjamin Schachter earlier this week, Schachter wrote in a Thursday note.
``While we were fans of Blake, Bartz is clearly going to be leading the charge here,'' Schachter wrote.
Jorgensen is paid a salary of $500,000, according to Yahoo's most recent disclosures about executive compensation. The terms of his severance package weren't disclosed Thursday.
Besides changing CFOs, Yahoo also appointed a new leader to expand its service on to mobile devices. David Ko, already part of the mobile team, was promoted to the top job in the division to replace Marco Boerries, who is leaving the company after a four-year stint.
Bartz mainly wants to root out bureaucracy with her new chain of command.
``People here have impressed the hell out of me,'' Bartz wrote Thursday. ``They're smart, dedicated, passionate, driven, and really nice. There's so much great energy and frankly lots of optimism. But there's also plenty that has bogged this company down. For starters, you'd be amazed at how complicated some things are here.''
In hopes of simplifying things, Bartz is placing all of Yahoo's products under Balogh, who joined the company a year ago. The shift appears to lessen the authority of Ash Patel, who had been overseeing most of Yahoo's products.
Schneider's job is being expanded to include oversight of advertisers and partners in Canada, not just the United States. Bartz intends to hire another executive to steer Yahoo's advertising relationships in Mexico and overseas.
Finally, Yahoo is creating a new division to handle complaints from frustrated users and advertising customers.
Agencies
Besides pushing CFO Blake Jorgensen out the door, the overhaul will expand the responsibilities of Yahoo's chief technology officer, Ari Balogh, and the company's top advertising executive in the United States, Hilary Schneider.
Bartz also created two jobs: a chief marketing officer and her own chief of staff.
Elisa Steele, who has been working at NetApp Inc., will join Yahoo as chief marketing officer on March 23, while Joel Jones, a former McKinsey consultant who has been Yahoo's corporate strategist, becomes Bartz's chief of staff as of Thursday.
With the new pecking order, Bartz hopes to speed up Yahoo's decision-making and have a senior team that supports her strategy for turning around a company struggling with three years of declining profits _ a downturn that had battered its stock price well before the market's overall decline.
Although Bartz still hasn't specified how she intends to get Yahoo back on track, she has left no doubt about her resolve to recapture the Internet pioneer's glory days.
``I'm singularly focused on providing you with awesome products. Period,'' Bartz wrote in a blog posting Thursday addressed to Yahoo's 500 million worldwide users.
Yahoo's previous two CEOs, co-founder Jerry Yang and former movie studio mogul Terry Semel, also attempted to revive Yahoo in recent years by reshuffling executives, but those moves never paid off. Bartz's reorganization is meant to last two to four years.
Investors appear to be betting that Bartz will deliver on her promises. Yahoo shares gained 50 cents, or 4 percent, to close Thursday at $12.98.
Yahoo hired Bartz, 60, last month to replace Yang, who exasperated many investors and employees with his wishy-washy management style. Yang also infuriated stockholders last year by turning down an opportunity to sell Yahoo to rival Microsoft Corp. for $47.5 billion, or $33 per share, well above the price of $19.18 just before the software maker announced its initial bid.
Although Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has repeatedly said he no longer wants to buy Yahoo in its entirety, he has indicated he still wants to explore a possible partnership that would involve Yahoo's online search engine, the second most popular behind that of Google Inc.
Bartz so far has been lukewarm to the idea in her public remarks, but Jorgensen expressed an interest in working with Microsoft in a Wednesday presentation at an investor conference.
In a Thursday research note, Barclays Capital analyst Douglas Anmuth said he didn't consider Jorgensen's departure a sign Yahoo is any less interested in working with Microsoft.
But Anmuth wondered about the wisdom of letting Jorgensen go, given that Bartz came to Yahoo without any previous Internet experience. Jorgensen also was somewhat of a novice, having joined Yahoo in June 2007, but Anmuth thought he would at least provide Yahoo some stability.
Jorgensen will remain CFO until Bartz can find replacement. His departure isn't a total shock because he was an ally of former Yahoo President Susan Decker, who resigned last month after Bartz beat her out for the CEO job.
But Jorgensen provided no inkling he might be headed out the door when he met with USB analyst Benjamin Schachter earlier this week, Schachter wrote in a Thursday note.
``While we were fans of Blake, Bartz is clearly going to be leading the charge here,'' Schachter wrote.
Jorgensen is paid a salary of $500,000, according to Yahoo's most recent disclosures about executive compensation. The terms of his severance package weren't disclosed Thursday.
Besides changing CFOs, Yahoo also appointed a new leader to expand its service on to mobile devices. David Ko, already part of the mobile team, was promoted to the top job in the division to replace Marco Boerries, who is leaving the company after a four-year stint.
Bartz mainly wants to root out bureaucracy with her new chain of command.
``People here have impressed the hell out of me,'' Bartz wrote Thursday. ``They're smart, dedicated, passionate, driven, and really nice. There's so much great energy and frankly lots of optimism. But there's also plenty that has bogged this company down. For starters, you'd be amazed at how complicated some things are here.''
In hopes of simplifying things, Bartz is placing all of Yahoo's products under Balogh, who joined the company a year ago. The shift appears to lessen the authority of Ash Patel, who had been overseeing most of Yahoo's products.
Schneider's job is being expanded to include oversight of advertisers and partners in Canada, not just the United States. Bartz intends to hire another executive to steer Yahoo's advertising relationships in Mexico and overseas.
Finally, Yahoo is creating a new division to handle complaints from frustrated users and advertising customers.
Agencies
Friday, January 9, 2009
Satyam CFO attempts suicide
Srinivas Vadlamani, CFO of Satyam, who is thought to be involved in one of the major IT company's scam, has attempted a suicide in a house in Ameerpet near Hyderabad.
Significantly, in Raju's letter to Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the company's board of directors, the name of CFO is missing from the list of those who were 'unaware of the real situation'.
Meanwhile the Andhra Pradesh state police may register a suicide case today. K. Arvind Rao, Addl DG, (intelligence) declined to comment, when CXOtoday contacted him over phone. "I can't speak on this issue right now," said Arvind.
Srinivas Vadlamani, has been reported 'missing' from his home in Malkajgiri for the last couple of days. However, interim CEO -- Ram Mynampati in a press conference on Thursday said that Vadlamani had put in his papers. The decision on his resignation will be taken in board's meeting to be held tomorrow, the media had been informed.
Source: CXOtoday
Significantly, in Raju's letter to Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the company's board of directors, the name of CFO is missing from the list of those who were 'unaware of the real situation'.
Meanwhile the Andhra Pradesh state police may register a suicide case today. K. Arvind Rao, Addl DG, (intelligence) declined to comment, when CXOtoday contacted him over phone. "I can't speak on this issue right now," said Arvind.
Srinivas Vadlamani, has been reported 'missing' from his home in Malkajgiri for the last couple of days. However, interim CEO -- Ram Mynampati in a press conference on Thursday said that Vadlamani had put in his papers. The decision on his resignation will be taken in board's meeting to be held tomorrow, the media had been informed.
Source: CXOtoday
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