This week, the CFO Leadership Council and StrategicCFO360 kick off the Finance and Accounting Technology Expo at the Javits Center in New York City. While the event includes multiple speaking sessions on trends and topics across corporate finance, it also features a technology expo with demos and a pitch stage where “startups can network and make deals.”
Here are five expected CFO talking points from the event, which will include speakers such as Daymond John of “Shark Tank,” Nick Araco Jr. of the CFO Alliance, Anthony Rose of Kapitus and Dr. Tim Naddy of the Savannah Bananas.
1. How CFOs differentiate technology products and negotiate terms and costs
As many companies have either launched or rebranded AI-powered tools, CFOs and other finance leaders may use some pitch stages to hear how developers articulate their products and their benefits. Developers and product managers who can clearly explain the specific benefits of their product, how it works and how its rollout ability will likely interest CFOs shopping for technology, as finance leaders have been cautioned about promises of quick rollouts and software customizability.
2. Technology ROI
With the pressure on CFOs to increase ROI around new finance technology investments, insights on metrics for evaluating these investments — or examples of benefits beyond dollars and cents — will be valuable. Previously, CFOs across industries have noted technology benefits in areas like collaboration capacity, data entry reduction and improved forecasting quality.
3. AI’s potential benefits in improving the ERP transition process
Implementing a new ERP can be one of the CFO’s most challenging tasks. As organizations’ tech stacks grow increasingly complex and intertwined, insights on how AI can smooth this volatile transition may interest CFOs who have postponed an ERP change due to its associated stress.
4. How AI is impacting the modern definition of FP&A
With many CFOs claiming technology is freeing up time for their teams to focus more on FP&A, some argue the term needs to be redefined to emphasize business partnership, an entrepreneurial mindset and the value of the human element in decision-making. AI and new technology will impact how strategies around FP&A are developed.
5. Bubble evaluation
Considering Marc Andreessen’s recent comments and other business leaders’ skepticism about AI and its infrastructure, discussions about AI’s legitimacy as a long-term solution will likely arise. With data sets for creating large language models (LLM) widely available, some speculate that the custom LLM tools currently being developed by the world’s largest technology companies may be a race to the bottom.
