📈 This is How CFOs Upskill Their Teams

Finance teams that want to be more data-driven need two things: technology that can consolidate tons of data and skilled professionals who can derive meaning from that data mountain.

This is where hard skills come in: data literacy, technology skills, and the curiosity to fuel ongoing learning. These are all essential to building a modern finance office prepared to flex and mold to the times.

Don’t Sweat the Tough Stuff

According to Thomas Ho, VP at ProLytics Consulting Group, building a successful finance career takes more than the hard skills that can stack your resume. Transferable skills — those skills that anyone can take anywhere — are essential.

The reason? The finance field is going to change time and time again, but attributes like curiosity and mental agility? Those will never go out of style.

Do More With Less

With an increased focus on data-powered storytelling that powers business decisions comes the need for finance leaders to do more with technology. Building a successful finance career requires the ability to organize, analyze and dig into data, then apply the right tools to tell the story that data might be hiding, like:

Data visualization: Leverage software and systems to help communicate the meaning of your data insights through visual storytelling (like graphs or charts).

Software program language literacy: A deep understanding of tools like SQL can make a huge difference when it comes to telling the stories behind the data.

Unyielding curiosity: Don’t be afraid to explore what’s possible – and even fail a time or two.

As you work to build out a highly skilled, unfailingly teachable team, reference Thomas’s insights on the power behind harnessing hard skills. Whether you’ve been in the workforce for one year or ten, there’s something to learn from tuning into the latest episode of The CFO Show.

In case you missed it…

Microsoft is spearheading the integration of AI into business solutions, harnessing the power of technologies like Azure AI to transform industries and empower organizations with intelligent capabilities. Ahmed Adel, Director of Data, Apps & AI Cloud Solution

Architecture at Microsoft, discusses how these innovations are poised to revolutionize the work landscape for finance professionals. 

What’s next…

In the fast-paced world of corporate finance, continuous learning is not just a nice thing to have; it’s a critical necessity. As regulations, financial instruments, and technologies constantly evolve, finance professionals must stay up to date.  Bryan Lapidus, Director of the FP&A Practice at the Association for Financial Professionals, shares his insights.