Collaborating for a connected future Insights from Coalesce

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Collaborating for a connected future Insights
from Coalesce Art of the possible
2023
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Table of contents
42 Future of the Office of the CFO
04 Foreword
30 Future of the Office of the CEO
16 Future of the Office of Independent Directors
(ID)
98 Future of the Office of Risk, Compliance,
and Controls (RCC)
56 Future of the Office of the CIO
82 Future of the Office of Marketing, Sales, and
CX
68 Future of the Office of the CHRO
128 Future of the Office of Supply Chain and
Operations
114 Future of the Office of CISO
142 Future of the Office of Tax
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Foreword
Collaborating for a connected future Insights
from Coalesce Art of the possible
Coalesce was conceptualised on this premise to
get leaders from various industries across
business functions, our alliance partners who
would bring in the best of their thinking, and
Deloitte leaders with strong sector and
technology experience to come together and
design-think the future. This is what translates
into the Art of the possible, as we like to
call it. It was heartening to know and note that
each of us contributed to the discussion. The
peer groups engaged in design- thinking,
irrespective of which industry they represented,
with the single-minded focus to define the
future of their respective business
functions. The exchange of ideas is what we have
captured in this book, as captured by each
business function. Any organisation could use
the book as a ready reckoner of what their peer
groups deem as the future and use it as a start
of their journey to define the future.
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When great minds meet, magic happens. Vinay
Prabhakar National Sales and Alliances Leader,
Deloitte South Asia
Following the launch of Coalesce, we have had
received requests from several organisations to
run similar design-thinking workshopsor Mini
Coalesce, as we would like to name themwhere
we have brought the company leadership, select
peer group representatives, and our alliance
partners together to help define their future. I
hope you enjoy reading the bookI would love to
see the infographic cut-outs on your
softboards! Happy reading.
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Collaboration is the key to
Collaborating for a connected future Insights
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co-create a connected future for businesses and
functions. The fusion of great minds has the
power of creating magic and ironing out even the
toughest of business challenges. Lets walk
together and win together. Lets find more
opportunities to Coalesce. Romal Shetty Chief
Executive Officer Deloitte South Asia
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Collaboration is a powerful tool for building
better futures together
and Coalesce successfully made it possible. The
reciprocity of ideas and exchange of knowledge
that emerged in the discussions will inspire
innovation in solving complex problems of the
future.
Collaborating for a connected future Insights
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Shefali Goradia Chairperson Deloitte South Asia
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True transformation requires a harmonious
balance of
innovation, collaboration, and courage to break
free from the old and embrace the new. Coalesce
from Deloitte is an opportunity for our clients
to challenge the status quo and orchestrate a
future that is robust and agile.
Collaborating for a connected future Insights
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Sathish Gopalaiah Pesident - Consulting
Deloitte South Asia
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The pandemic has pushed us to think
differently, become resilient, take
Collaborating for a connected future Insights
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charge, and shape our own narrative. We live in
a world today that requires us to be change
catalysts in our own domains, with the
propensity to reimagine business solutions. The
only way we can drive differentiated value is by
collaborating together to be future-ready, in
bold new ways. This has been a great opportunity
to come together and shape the future. Anthony
Crasto President - Risk Advisory Deloitte South
Asia
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Coalescing for the future where collaboration
and innovation
Collaborating for a connected future Insights
from Coalesce Art of the possible
create boundless possibilities for businesses
and clients alike. Coalesce is a marquee
Deloitte programme, where we are working with
the industry leaders to build a common vision
for the future.
Debasish Mishra Partner, Chief Growth Officer
Deloitte South Asia
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Coalesce is a unique platform introduced to
explore future
Collaborating for a connected future Insights
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• business scenarios. Moving away from the
  boundaries of our organisations, solutions, and
• products, we built this programme to nudge our
  clients to create approaches to navigate a
  future that promises some extraordinary
  opportunities.
• Jehil Thakkar
• Partner and Marketing, Brand Communications
  Leader, Deloitte South Asia

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Coalesce was an amazing and powerful
Collaborating for a connected future Insights
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Coalesce reinforces the unique combined
power of Customers, Alliances and Deloitte
representing 111 gtgt3 when it comes to the
Power Of Ecosystems. Powerful multiplier impact
meeting! Asish Ramachandran, Global Chief
Commercial Officer, ServiceNow, Deloitte
event fostering robust conversations around
Digital and Cloud transformation. The unique
combination of alliances, clients, and Deloitte
made this event particularly impactful! Look
forward to replicating soon. Andrew Vaz Global
Ecosystem and Alliances Leader, Deloitte
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Coalesce gave an opportunity to business
Collaborating for a connected future Insights
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• I attend many regional and global events and
  Coalesce was the first Indian based client
  event that I attended. It was great to see so
  many customers and apart of the expected
  presentations and such, I loved seeing them
  spend time with each other and for me to be able
  to spend some time with them in a relaxed
  setting (of course while enjoying some Indian
  food).
• Jan Waals
• Global Chief Commercial Officer, SAP, Deloitte

• leaders including clients, alliances, and
  Deloitte to debate, collaborate, and tackle
  some of the bigger problems of the day.
• Coalesce is when you have number of things
  coming together for common good. To me none of
  us is as good as all of us and that was
  proven in the conference.
• Thomas Galizia,
• Principal,
• Deloitte Consulting LLP

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India_at_2047
Collaborating for a connected future Insights
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• Executing such a transformation agenda is quite
  ambitious. Over the next 25 years, India will
  see many developments, including but not limited
  to the following
• It will be in the middle phase of its
  demographic dividend era, housing
• 20 percent of the worlds young population. To
  harness the power of such a huge workforce, the
  country aims to transform its skilling and
  higher education ecosystem to achieve Gross
  Enrolment Ratio (GER) of 50 percent and emerge
  as a global education hub.3
• To insulate itself from risks to global supply
  chains (witnessed during the pandemic), India
  aims to expand its manufacturing base. It is
  also looking to increase the manufacturing
  sectors contribution to
• GDP to 25 percent from current 15 percent.4
  Through policy levers viz. production linked
  incentive schemes, FDI liberalisation, and
  incentives to sunrise sectors, India aims to
  achieve its earlier stated vision of Aatma
  Nirbhar Bharat Self-reliant India.
• India is looking to reduce 45 percent emission
  and 50 percent electricity generation from
  non-fossil fuel by 2030 to become a destination
  that produces and uses clean energy.5

On the 75th anniversary of independence, Indian
prime minister announced the vision for the
100th anniversary of independence unshackle
from the middle-income trap and emerge as a
developed nation.1 To achieve this vision, gross
national income must increase at 10 percent per
annum for the next 25 years.2 Growth will be
balanced with Indias commitments to sustainable
and inclusive development.
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• The country aims to advance its technology
  supremacy and unlock value through Artificial
  Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR),
  blockchain, drones, Internet of Things (IoT),
  robotics, 3D printing, and Virtual Reality (VR)
  to become a technology and economic powerhouse.6
• India plans to reduce gender barriers and create
  a gender equal society.7
• It also aims to not only achieve the last mile
  delivery of health services, but also emerge as
  a global hub for health care and medical tourism
  through the Heal in India and Heal by India
  projects.8

The towering vision presents businesses,
investors, governments, and citizens a
once-in-a-century opportunity to come together
to innovate and unlock great value potential. To
enable such seamless value creation, governments
across levels are putting in place mechanisms
through policies and regulations to improve the
ease of doing business to make India a preferred
destination for talent and capital.
1 https//www.outlookindia.com/business/pm-narend
ra-modi-sets-sights-on-developed-india-by-2047-new
s-216496 2 https//www.livemint.com/opinion/online
-views/developed-india-by-2047-look-beyond-the-ari
thmetic-of-growth-11662657171451.html 3
https//economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/serv
ices/education/nep-aims-to-make-education-accessib
le-to-all-says-education-minister-
dharmendra-pradhan/articleshow/93653484.cms?fromm
dr 4 https//www.deccanherald.com/content/528729/
manufacturing-25-gdp-pm.html 5 https//pib.gov.in/
PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID1847812textA
s20per20the20updated20NDC,based20energy20
resources20by202030. 6 https//pib.gov.in/PressR
eleasePage.aspx?PRID1830841 7
https//www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/take-fiv
e-pledges-to-make-india-developed-nation-by-2047-p
m-101660583659914.html 8 https//health.economicti
mes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/india2047-from-he
al-in-india-to-heal-by-india/94337668
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Future of the
Office of Independent Directors (ID)
Over the past few years, global developments have
challenged the status quo with a widespread
belief that organisations cannot ignore the
world around them. They should rather engage
members of the society and act to address the
challenges we face. Now, more than ever,
stakeholders expect organisations to do the right
thing and do that well. These expectations range
from taking action on environmental and social
issues and trusting organisations to safeguard
private data, to requiring organisations to have
strong governance and financial reporting
mechanisms. In short, stakeholders are holding
organisations accountable for being trustworthy.
Thus, trust must evolve from being merely a
chance outcome to a strategic priority for the
management and the board, including Independent
Directors (IDs).
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Collaborating for a connected future Insights
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Today, IDs play a critical role in the success
or failure of their organisations. They are
expected to serve as a trusted sounding board
and guiding hand for Chief Executive Officers
(CEOs). Regulatory bodies, investors, and
stakeholders at large and challenges relating to
managing their expectations are redefining IDs
role in real time. IDs will have to take on the
role of the stewardship, in addition to the
supervisory role that they are expected to play.
and relevant for the business, they will have to
spend three-fourth of their time on addressing
future challenges and developing strategies.
The composition and agenda for boards are also
undergoing a transformation. Future boardrooms
will look and sound quite different from what
they are today. Forces such as digital, cyber
and information security, societal expectations,
and climate action, diversity, talent, and
future of workforce will result in reshaping
boards. In those boards, IDs will be expected to
play different roles, such as vision
provocateur, guardian, trust torchbearer, culture
and talent cultivator, and crisis compass.
Although traditional responsibilities of
financial reporting, compliance, risk, and
regulatory continue to keep the mindshare of
IDs, governance through the rear-view mirror
will not be sufficient. To be more effective
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to look at the cost of ESG implementation is
consider it a trade-off between the necessary
expenditure and potential losses incurred by
mismanaging ESG factors. Start-ups have
innovative ideas, but do not have the requisite
funds.
There are three key themes (amongst others) that
IDs should be prepared to address as they
enhance their role to keep up with the rapidly
changing business and regulatory requirements
In the future, embedding ESG in their business
models/strategies/principles will be a must for
companies as regulatory bodies, investors, and
civil societies are relentlessly urging
companies to act responsibly. Addressing ESG
risks demands IDs attention. Although some IDs
believe that ESG is not a part of their current
role, market evidence suggests quite the
opposite.
Rising importance of Environmental, Social, and
Governance (ESG) In 2022, July 28 was marked as
the Earth Overshoot Day. On this day, the
humanitys demand for ecological resources
exceeds the resources earth can regenerate
within this year. We are living on borrowed
resources. This reminds us of one of the most
thoughtful and poignant quotes - We do not
inherit the earth from our ancestors we borrow
it from our children.

• In response to current and future demands, IDs
  will need to expand their governance and
  oversight responsibilities to include the
  following
• Define ESG oversight responsibilities across the
  board itself and its committees, and identify
  the steps needed to meet them. To set a
  governance structure, board members should
  understand how sustainability is linked to
  strategy, opportunities, and risks.
• Set the tone at the top and urge the CEO to play
  a critical role in underscoring the importance
  of ESG programme. Management teams should
  consider forming a formal ESG sustainability
  management committee comprising cross

The idea of investing on the ESG parameter is at
a nascent stage in India, however, globally this
is a well-entrenched concept. ESG is critical for
each business - whether it is a large or small
company, matured or start-up, or promoter driven
or multinational company. However, ESG is yet to
get the desired attention in start-ups, and
small and promoter-driven companies where it is
essentially considered a cost. A good way
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• functional company leaders (with assigned
  responsibility and accountability).
• Integrate ESG into the companys strategic
  fabric. The ESG strategy should be linked to
  stakeholders assessments, KPI metrices, and
  organisational culture.
• Add ESG to the boards risk infrastructure and
  fully integrate it into the companys enterprise
  risk management activities. Audit committees
  should also understand which ESG risks are
  deemed material and accordingly should be
  captured in sustainability disclosures.
• Conduct a diagnostic study of as-is processes to
  determine the entitys current ESG maturity by
  asking the relevant questions. Are the companys
  sustainability efforts embedded in strategic
  decision making? Has the company defined key
  elements of its programme? Is the programme
  aligned to a recognised standard or framework?
  What are the disclosures currently being made?
  Has the company engaged internal audit or
  obtained assurance, etc.?
• Assure, disclose, and communicate. Investors
  have made their ESG expectations known. They
  will likely continue to use their voting power
  to hold companies accountable for meaningful
  progress.

With so much riding on the companys successful
implementation and governance of ESG, boards
will benefit greatly from continuing education
and increasing awareness as they carry out their
oversight responsibilities.
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Addressing risks including cyber risks In the
past, many boards were reluctant to take an
active role in establishing levels of risk
appetite for two main reasons. They did not have
the requisite knowledge or were concerned that
by doing so they would step on the managements
toes. At present, however, the increasing number
of stakeholders want the board to be actively
involved in risk management.
Boards may consider several steps to integrate
risk management from a separate agenda item at
board meetings to a topic that is suffused
throughout every item the board discusses.
Although a one-size-fits-all solution is
unlikely to be effective in addressing every
risk, boards can use some common approaches.
These include consideration of whether a
board-level risk committee would be useful in
sharing the workload amongst directors,
identifying risk management as one of the
boards activities, and creating a process to set
or monitor the firms risk appetite levels.
At present, one of the key risks to manage is
cyber risk. The phrase cyber everywhere has
never been more powerful than it is in todays
world of digitisation. The pandemic led to vast
amounts of sensitive data being exchanged
digitally, along with the increased use of
personal devices and home networks. With the
workforce being distributed and distracted,
cyber-attacks across platforms are increasing.
Cyber breaches have prompted the board and
senior leadership to lay more emphasis on cyber
risk. Boards need to understand the criticality
of every single breach and steps being taken to
mitigate it. Simply being aware of cyber risks
will not be enough for the board.
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The board and the management should create and
implement different sets of policies to ensure
information security, cyber security, and data
privacy. In addition to the involvement of the
CISO, CEO, and CTO in the governance process,
organisations need enough skilled resources to
achieve strong governance in each stream. Some
large companies, including cyber risk experts,
have separate cyber risk management committees
that can take the pressure off the board.
information on emergency contacts, clearly
defined reporting to the board of directors
mechanism, immediate action points, and a
communication strategy for customers and
regulators. Boards should focus on enterprise
risk management policies and guidelines that are
practical to implement. Governance frameworks
borrowed from other countries may also be
adapted to the Indian scenario, keeping in mind
different maturity levels and structures of
companies MNCs in India, promoter-driven
companies, listed companies, and start-ups. To
deal with cyber security issues, the board
should have a zero tolerance approach. IDs will
have the enhanced responsibility of protecting
the companys reputation, addressing changing
business models, and managing a complex external
environment. They should consider cyber security
regulations (including those from financial
institutions) and global best practices, and
encourage the implementation of predictive data
analytics and appropriate tools.
Technology replaces technology, but as a cyber
economist you have to understand how you can do
best with the budget. Additionally, using
compliance tools and regularly updating them
with the latest amendments, along with
organising training sessions for employees and
executives, will go a long way in strengthening
companies risk management. Boards should be
pushed to put in place dynamic crisis management
guidelines for cyber security that, amongst
other things, must include
Future has happened and you have to read the
tea leaves.
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Financial reporting to be made seamless
Financial reporting is the link between a
company and its investors. Investors use this
information to assess whether they trust an
organisation enough to put their capital at risk.
To maintain compliance with ongoing regulations
and exercise effective governance, businesses
also use business assurance solutions that
allow implementing a flexible and effective
control framework with real-time monitoring
capabilities in which third parties may also be
employed to test 100 percent of the controls.
This reminds us of a famous quote made by W.
Edwards Deming In God we trust. All others must
bring data.
A companys board and management are its
stewards. Financial reporting is key to
providing stakeholders the information they need
to hold boards accountable. The companys
reputation is directly affected by how it and
its management act and how accurate its reporting
is about those actions.
For the board to be successful in meeting its
financial reporting obligations, it needs to
drive the process, obtain managements support,
engage with auditors, and ask the right
questions.
The board must give the desired attention to
financial information. Many times, the board
receives financial information near a board
meeting, making it difficult to review data in
detail. In addition, the meeting usually covers
multiple agenda, including review of financial
information this dilutes the importance of
financial reporting.
Conclusion There are numerous other items that
require IDs attention. However, the
above-mentioned themes seem to be attaining top
priorities in the mind of IDs and require
immediate focus. What makes the issues at hand
unique is that the solution differs from
situation to strategic priorities, and level and
type of operations. A model that provides a
continuous assessment of actions and results
thereof will be a must to ensure that intentions
and actions are in sync, and we continue in our
journey of corporate excellence.
The board is required to determine critical
issues in financial statements, such as key
accounting policies, significant estimates and
judgements, unusual/non-routine transactions,
and related-party transactions. These issues
should be discussed separately in a board
meeting. In this changing time, the company
should plan separate a board meeting to review
financial information and other matters.
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The Independent Directors track at Coalesce 2022
attracted very high quality and experienced
board members. Interactions and discussions with
them across themes were a mutually learning and
rewarding experience. Such nuggets of wisdom
could only come with vast knowledge and
experience. Rajat Jain, Independent
Director This initiative by Deloitte is indeed
praiseworthy. The highlight of the programme was
not only the curriculum but also the choice of
leaders who participated in tracks. The agenda
was very well curated for not only facilitating
intelligent discussions on operational issues
but also covered academic topics. Evening events
were also outstanding. All in all, full marks to
the Deloitte team for flawless execution. Consiste
ncy is the hallmark of champions. The real test
will be on how Deloitte carries this initiative
forward. Thank you, Deloitte! Ganesh Nayak,
Independent Director
As leaders, we are equipped with a fair
understanding of business chemistry. However,
when the spotlight is turned on us that
understanding tends to unravel. The most
impactful unlearning and relearning that I carry
back is from the Business Chemistry session. And
my advice is every leader should take the test to
rediscover themselves and rework their
chemistry. MPV Vijaykumar, Independent Director
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While certain attributes of ID role are
non-negotiable, the future boards will demand
that Independ Directors adapt to evolving
situations and act as a vision provocateur,
guardian, trust torchbearer, culture and talent
cultivator, or crisis compass, or a combination
of these as may be required. Sachin Paranjape,
Partner, Deloitte South Asia
Alliance Partners
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Future of the
Office of CEO
Always-on transformation Discovering the most
effective way to stay the course amidst
uncertainty and volatility requires executives to
decode business disruptions. These disruptions
can be broadly classified into two types (a)
acute disruptions or one-time events (such as the
Suez Canal blockade, labour/talent disruption
during COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine war) and (b)
chronic disruptions or ongoing changes (such as
climate change, digital shifts, regulatory
controls, and fuel and energy price
fluctuations). These disruptions not only affect
profits but also expose gaps in business
capabilities, reducing organisations
competitiveness. These disruptions prompt
organisations to look for new business models
better fitted to deal with shifting
customer/employee preferences. Overtime, the
frequency and intensity of these disasters have
also increased according to the UN, climate
disasters almost doubled in 2000- 2019 (6,700
disasters) from 1980-1999 (3,700 disasters).
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They need an always-on transformation mindset
to drive enterprises towards becoming an
exponential organisation. Herere the key tenets
of an exponential organisation.
Executives who have managed to stay ahead of the
competition despite these disruptions have
adopted the Respond, Recover, and Thrive
approach. For that, they need to foster an
always on transformation mindset within their
organisations. Such a mindset enables thoughtful
changes that help organisations capitalise on
new opportunities or alter existing strategy to
protect business and ensure long-term growth.
These changes may be gradual or drastic
depending on the impact on business and the
effort required to acquire capabilities. CEOs
will be at the core of developing and
implementing the response to disruption, while
other factors, such as technology and customer
awareness enable the effort.
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• Collaborating for a connected future Insights
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• Acknowledging disruptions and developing an
  agile and scalable response
• Exponential organisations have the capability
  and resources to pre-empt trends/disruptions in
  their domains, giving them ample time to craft a
  sound and scalable response. Leadership also
  often undertakes pre-mortem to conduct
  scenario planning and identify potential
  pitfalls before going ahead with actual
  implementation.
• Clearly articulated vision and mission These
  organisations have integrated their vision and
  mission into their business strategy and
  day-to-day functioning.
• Empowered and purpose-driven team It helps
  manage the immediate response and must believe
  in the purpose and be the proponents of change.
  It should have access to disproportionate
  resources.
• Anti-fragile and resilient
• These organisations invest disproportionately in
  the right skill sets and have an agile
  organisation structure that responds quickly to
  disruptions.

• Promotes innovation and does not penalise
  failure
• These organisations believe in trying innovative
  approaches, fail quick,
• and scale up successful innovations in the
  minimal time.

• Partnerships and collaboration These
  organisations provide access to incremental
  products, services, markets
• and technology, thereby providing support in
  crafting and implementing response to
  disruptions.

• Consistent connect with customers To understand
  their ever-evolving needs, exponential
  organisations will track industry trends that
  would help decrease the go-to-market time for
  new products and services. The increasing volume
  and value of data is providing asymmetric
  advantages to organisations that can access,
  interpret, and act on it.

• Analytics-driven insights, and lead and lag
  indicators
• These help exponential organisations take
  informed decisions.

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Make the future happen As ever-increasing
complexity and uncertainty continue to weigh on
CEOs, they expect additional responsibilities on
their plates in future. They will have to
continue to act as a beacon of hope and optimism
during ups and downs in the business and
effectively navigate their way through
disruptions.
Build an exponential organisation Developing an
exponential organisation starts with people and
culture at the core and gradually moves towards
other enabling factors. The following points
explain what it takes to build an exponential
organisation
Integrated operations centre Run integrated
operations centres to respond to disruptions
that are time sensitive and require a high
degree of collaboration. This would provide
end-to-end visibility and decrease the scope of
miscommunication amongst diverse teams working
on responses.
Agility and innovation Develop an operating
model that enables enterprises to quickly
respond to disruptive events. Bring together
people from diverse departments to develop
responses to disruptions and drive innovation as
a core value across the organisation.
Democratise data Empower employees across
levels with access to firm- wide data, along
with the necessary tools and training, to draw
insights. This would enable an expedited
informed decision-making process and uncover new
opportunities.
People, culture, and infrastructure Develop high
performance teams and a culture that nourishes
experimentation. Create enabling infrastructure
to foster such experimentation and scale up in
a sustainable manner.
Partnerships and collaboration Onboard an
ecosystem of like-visioned alliance partners who
supplement your organisation across various
stages of crafting and implementing responses
to disruptions.
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Use technology to enable transformation As
technology continuously creates disruptions and
opportunities, exponential organisations need to
constantly evaluate their technology portfolios
and amplify their offerings. Over the past few
years, multiple technologies have emerged to help
build resilient and scalable solutions. Looking
at each one of them, instead of focusing on one,
is critical. Exponential organisations are
doubling down investments in technology to enable
their growth journeys. These investments are
predominantly targeted at the following areas
Really knowing the customer Run integrated
operations centres to respond to disruptions
that are time sensitive and require a high
degree of collaboration. This would provide
end-to-end visibility and decrease the scope of
miscommunication amongst diverse teams working
on responses.
Pre-empting responses to disruptions Use
AI-enabled analytics to pick-up the noise
around disruptions and craft early responses
develop distinct business scenarios to ascertain
key challenges and conduct pre- mortem of
business concerns.
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Rethinking workflows Implement far-reaching
platforms to promote collaborations between
diverse sets of employees and alliance partners
invest in data warehouses to enable end-to-end
visibility within the organisation and
predict/detect operational anomalies.
Democratising data Develop leading and lagging
indicators to enable informed decision-making,
moving from reporting to insights assess
real-time data to capture market trends.
Employee as a persona Develop employee-focused
analytics to identify and groom
high-performing individuals, predict attrition
trends, and take up remediate measures.
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Conclusion To thrive with the always-on
transformation mindset, exponential
organisations will require pooling in
cross-functional expertise. For this, CEOs need
to lead from the front, and ensure alignment of
internal and external stakeholders working
towards a common goal. They should embrace
enabling technologies in their journey of
building exponential organisations that foster
on organisational and technological agility.
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I was delighted to be a part of the elite group
of CEOs at the Coalesce event. It was a great
opportunity to learn about leading-edge
technology and management practices, as well as
from peers. This should be an annual
event. Vijay Shah, Vice Chairman, PGP Glass
Disruptions can be acute or chronic and the
frequency of disruptions is on the rise.
Exponential organisations are doing pre -mortem
and increasing their investment in technology to
provide value to the entire ecosystem. Viral
Shah, Executive Director, V Trans India The
experience of working with an organisation
similar to Deloitte on the formation and release
of the Coalesce book has been a very good and
enriching experience. The interactions between
peers of different companies were insightful. We
thoroughly enjoyed knowledge sharing that took
place as a result of these interactions. Noushad
VKC, Founder, Walkaroo Insightful exchange of
ideas from a broad spectrum of industry CEOs who
sat together in a workshop controlled so
skilfully by the Deloitte team. We brainstormed
on how disruption either sudden (such as
COVID-19) or organic can be tacked by
organisations. Loved the spirit and environment
in which we interacted and coalesced. I am
looking forward to many more such events. R. Om
Prakash, Managing Director, Delta Electronics
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Fostering an always-on transformation mind-set
helps organisations capitalise on new
opportunities and stay ahead of the
competition. Viral Thakker, Partner, Deloitte
South Asia Collaboration can help exponential
organisations demonstrate agility during
uncertain times. Onboarding like-visioned
alliance partners can go a long way in crafting
and implementing responses to disruptions. Anjani
Kumar, Partner, Deloitte South Asia
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Future of the
Office of the CFO
Over the years, the role of finance has undergone
a metamorphosis, with many CFOs aspiring to take
on a greater strategic role as virtual co-pilots
to the CEO. As of now, traditional fiduciary
responsibilities of CFOs take up a significant
amount of their time. However, the evolution of
their role would require CFOs to free up much
more time from the traditional roles of an
operator and steward to act as astute
strategists or indomitable catalysts. This
evolution has already begun in many
organisations. Finance leaders are discussing
the need to change the talent structure and
adopt bold plays to prepare their
organisations. Digital transformation of the
finance function is imperative to making this
shift work, as routine processes get automated
and exponential technologies support CFOs
judgement and decision- making roles.
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Five key themes were identified during the
design thinking workshop that are in a way
areas of change or challenges right now.
However, when addressed adequately, these
challenges can transform CFOs role into a
catalyst/strategist.
Liquidity/capital allocation strategy Making
sound investment decisions is a perennial
top-of-the-mind issue for CFOs, making them
constantly weigh return on investments of their
businesss time, resources, and human capital
for the organisations health and shareholder
value. To achieve the optimal capital structure,
CFOs need to do more than just understanding
business needs now and must determine what will
likely drive growth in the future a timeframe
extended by challenges related to climate change,
market implications, and regulatory requirement.
CFOs are often asked what parts of the
business are underperforming and should be
divested? Where can we invest our cash?
Monitoring internal rate of return against
planned investment is quite arduous as paybacks
do stretch beyond threefive years.
Companies must plan and draw assumptions with
greater thoroughness and identify risks and
mitigation strategy linked to outcomes.
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Building finance talent for the future A rapidly
evolving business environment means significant
changes in the way work is done, who does it,
and what tools and processes are necessary for
success. To deliver greater business value, CFOs
must improve talent retention and satisfaction
across the finance function, accelerate the
speed of technology adoption during and after an
implementation, improve workforce culture, and
reduce costs due to organisational
inefficiencies.
Data and digital adoption To support their
organisations, CFOs need to know what data they
have, whether it is the right data, and how they
can access it. Successfully getting timely
information into the right hands can separate
leaders from laggards. For many CFOs, lack of
effective data management can be a serious
obstacle to growth. CFOs need to deal with
challenges related to data authenticity, data
ownership especially for upstream data objects,
and data security. These challenges consume a
significant amount of their time.
Developing, retaining, and reskilling the
finance workforce remains a top concern for
finance leaders. The pandemic has only added to
a long list of related challenges, ranging from
the Great Resignation to increasing instances
of burnout. Return-to-work and hybrid workplace
models have required immediate attention and
enhanced focus on talent mobility.
Providing stakeholders a real-time stream of
actionable information is not easy. In the past,
most of the reporting has been defined by steps
required to produce reports themselves
collecting data, and drafting and disseminating
reports. CFOs are also beginning to embrace new
forms of AI and machine learning but can also
overwhelm tech-challenged team members.
Cloud represents a fundamental shift in how
technology solutions are developed and
delivered. It is becoming the new standard and
CFOs are seeking guidance on measuring return on
investment.
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Increasing expectations from board/ regulatory
reporting Ensuring compliance with regulations is
no longer a domain of just the CCO or CRO.
Organisations not just need to focus on
penalties levied for non-compliance with
existing rules but also stay on top of new rules
that continue to come into force. Keeping a tab
on evolving regulatory landscape and ensuring
compliance have become much more complex tasks
requiring cross-functional efforts. This makes
it difficult for CFOs to assess costs of
compliance and non-compliance and take effective
decisions.
ESG for competitive advantage The rise of ESG is
linked to companies looking at ESG as a
cost-centre, compliance-driven approach to value
creation, and performance driven. Financial
markets structure is changing, massively
affecting how companies obtain financing and
manage their investor relations. CFOs will have
to focus on disclosures that will witness more
stringent norms in the future. The challenge CFOs
will face is in setting commitments grounded in
an organisations business strategy. The
expertise to make accurate disclosures in India
is still evolving and without the ability to
track and report sustainability metrics, CFOs
will be unable to meet both investor and
management expectations.
They who are looking to pursue MA activity need
to be alert to the implications of potential
regulatory intervention, political opposition,
and even consumer or activist involvement.
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Make the future happen Herere a few pointers
that indicate how CFOs role will evolve in the
future
To accelerate readiness to operate in a digital
world, there is a need for a mindset change
driven from the top. Finance engineers and
candidates with techno-functional skills is the
need of the hour. Understanding employee
expectations is critical to carve out policy
interventions to create new opportunities for a
broader set of candidates. An interesting shift
in CFOs role towards mentorship is cited as
a leading edge and CFOs will need to embrace
talent as a key performance indicator.
1. Being a coach to employees To win competition
for talent, CFOs may need to shift from managing
employees to coaching them on how to refine and
apply their skills to create value and influence
strategy. That requires a close understanding
of the commercial aspects of the business in
essence how it makes moneyand how technology
can boost efficiencies, drive growth, and support
an organisations broader strategic goals. CFOs
need to be at the forefront of devising a new
talent model one that lays emphasis on the
ability to access and interpret data, not just
collect and report on it. The talent model
should consider inclusivity, job rotation, and
competency evaluation linked to new business
outcomes.
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3. Looking at digital transformation from the
lens of finance Digital transformation is
fundamentally human-centric because it is about
imagining new ways of value creation. CFOs
stand at the forefront of driving innovation and
data strategy to managing organisations
effectively. They will have to start scrutinising
digital in terms of finance metrics, such as
return on digital investment, digital cost as a
percentage of revenue, and cloud storage as an
operational driver. Setting a clearly defined
end-to-end data strategy and structure with
real-time continuous data is imperative to
enable instant insights and alignment of actuals
and plan. Reporting will be event- driven,
real-time, and relevant compared with the
traditional transaction-driven reporting.
2. Serving as a trusted advisor with a
forward-looking and commercially minded lens As
much as investors, regulators, and others may
analyse an enterprises capital allocation
choices and decisions, the finance functions
core goal is to serve as a trusted advisor not
only to the CEO and the board but also to other
C-suite executives. By applying a lens that is
both forward-looking and commercially minded,
CFOs can better identify and understand levers
they can use to change course or improve
prediction capabilities. Capital allocation
seems the ultimate knot to untangle, involving
countless stakeholders, competing priorities,
and an uncertain timeline. However, this is an
opportunity for a CFO to see possibility where
others see challenge. The CFO needs to ask hard
questions to ensure that your stakeholders are
heard, and educate your leadership on the risks
and value of each project. Stakeholders must
collaborate towards a common goal, functioning
as a team in both good and bad times.
A combination of technologies that enables
touchless transactions and autonomous operations
(prompting human intervention only as an
exception and using internal and external data
sets to generate forward looking insights) will
shape up an organisations digital
transformation journey. The ability to pivot
quickly, provide timely insights, and reduce
cycle times, is now at the top of the priority
list for CFOs.
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4. Making a case for automating regulatory
reporting The launch of emerging technologies,
such as advanced analytics, cognitive computing,
and cloud, enables the creation of
differentiated regulatory technology (RegTech)
solutions to help address some compliance,
regulatory, and risk management needs. Deal
makers will continue to keep a close eye on the
dynamic legislative environment because these
forces will play important roles in an
organisations MA strategy and drive tax
synergies for integration, disposition, or
separation. CFOs believe automation of
regulatory reporting would provide a competitive
edge as more data becomes central and available
in real time to regulators.
5. Supporting the ESG strategy With demand for
ESG-related information on the rise, the ESG
framework has become synonymous with reporting.
Finance will be central to the discussion from a
planning and operational standpoint, rather than
simply reporting. At the intersection of
sustainability and financial performance, CFOs
are in the best position to communicate to
stakeholders how a companys ESG strategy
management and performance contributes to
overall value creation. CFOs will have to
re-evaluate their role identify the most
relevant ESG metrics, translate sustainability
into monetary terms, evaluate efforts and
outcomes, and issue compelling, high-quality
reports on sustainability.
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Conclusion The roaring pace of change has not
only upended existing priorities but also
exerted a broader impact on CFOs role and how
finance leaders operate within their organisations
. The accumulation of challenges and
technologies has broadened the purview of CFOs,
requiring them to serve as catalysts for
creative thinking driving value- creating
innovation, accelerating digitisation,
redefining models for their workforce and
workplace, and pivoting strategy as needed to
strengthen performance and boost return on
investment. The finance function must be ready
to experiment, test hypotheses, scale up/down,
plan scenarios, and act as a consistent enabler
of enterprise strategy. To successfully navigate
its way through future challenges, finance must
transform itself from a function into a dynamic
capability of the organisation.
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Coalesce was a novel initiative wherein the
relevant aspects of business were well covered.
As part of the CFO track, I found the discussions
to be engaging and enriching. The session had a
good participation mix covering different
industries. The format was well curated wherein
participants ran the session and that kept
everyone involved. The learning was great as we
realised that issues and challenges are similar
across industries. That helped us understand how
our peers managed to solve these complex
problems. Ravi Kumar Shingari, Group Head
Accounts and Tax, Apollo Tyres Kudos to the
Deloitte team for pulling off this one-of-a-kind
CXO conference with so many different
stakeholders that gave CXOs a peek into the
current thinking thats driving other functions
across organisations. Well done! I will look
forward to many more such interactions. Ravi
Vishwanath, Group Chief Financial Officer, Quess
Corp I was delighted to be part of the Coalesce
event hosted by Deloitte in Goa. The idea of
getting different function and business heads
together in the conference was interesting and
allowed for interaction networking across
different functions, such as CFO, CHRO, CRO, and
CEO. Individual function tracks also had a good
mix of CFOs from varied industries helping
participants get different industry group
perspectives. The energetic performance by
playback singer Shaan and the wonderful
conversation with Cricketer VVS Laxman made the
event quite enjoyable. Venkatraman G S, Chief
Financial Officer, Maveric Systems
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CFOs are looking at the future of finance
through a strategic lens using technology as an
enabler to drive transformation across the
organisation. Porus Doctor, Partner, Deloitte
South Asia The focus of CFOs is greater than
ever before to build finance teams that can drive
digital adoption, and address emerging areas
such as sustainability, data driven regulatory
expectations, and dynamic business
scenarios. Dhiraj Bhandary, Partner, Deloitte
South Asia
Alliance Partners
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Office of CIO
CIOs no longer only deal with an organisations
IT dimension. The speed in which digital
transformation is affecting businesses has
placed many of them in a much more strategic
position.
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CIOs office must display good organisational
skills and emotional intelligence, act as
strategic business partners, and perform general
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executive abilities. For example, the CIO of a
business explores how the company can harness
technological power, speed, and customer service
to rise above competitors. To do this, a CIO
office might build a customised digital platform
and alter the businesss operating model
accordingly.
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Make the future happen Four faces of technology
executive catalyst, strategist, technologist,
and operator were identified and deep-dived in
the CIO design thinking lab. These key faces,
which are gaining relevance these days, are
likely to evolve and mature in the future.
These new dimensions added to the technology
executives key responsibility areas will
elevate the position of the CIO office from
being just a cost-centre to a value- centre,
value-creator, and business engine.
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1. Catalyst CIOs as catalysts would be required
to instigate innovation by bringing
transformational changes to business
architecture, strategy, operations,
and technology. Catalysts have an enterprise-wide
perspective and credibility as a large-scale
change agent. They know the areas needing
transformation and create a future state vision
and a strategic roadmap to achieve the target
state. Catalysts possess significant political
capital and are able to enlist and align
executive stakeholders. Their relentless focus
on disruptive innovation and cross-functional
teaming allows them to lead transformational
change in the IT function and across business
areas. They use IT-enabled business programmes
for process reengineering, new product/service
launches, and operating model restructuring. As
catalysts, CIOs main objectives are to launch
innovative products/services and take business
and IT transformation

• initiatives. Their primary capabilities are
  innovation, stakeholder management, change
  management, and collaboration. The performance
  of catalysts will be assessed on three main
  parameters return on invested capital of
  investments in IT- enabled innovation,
  percentage of company revenue/profit from
  IT-enabled innovations, and innovation cycle
  time from concept to implementation.
• Catalysts address various organisational issues,
  including the following
• What are the top innovation opportunities?
• What is the case for change and how do we secure
  sponsorship from core stakeholders?
• What is the organisations capacity and ability
  to absorb major change?
• How do we get the organisation ready for major
  change?
• How well are we enabling business innovation?

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2. Strategist Technology executives as
strategists collaborate with businesses to
shape new business strategies and align business
and technology investments to maximise value.
Strategists act as a chief value architect for
IT investments. They possess extensive business
knowledge and act as a credible ally in
providing business-centric advice on how
technology can enhance business
capabilities. Strategists institute strategic
governance that prioritises IT investments and
ensures that IT and business resources/budgets
are fully aligned to execute the organisations
priorities and deliver expected results. In this
role, CIOs will aim to optimise portfolio value,
and strategic and resource alignment. Their
primary capabilities would be IT strategy
development, demand management, project
portfolio management, strategic governance,
value management, and regulatory planning.

• CIOs performance as strategists is measured on
  four key parameters percentage of strategic
  objectives being met, return on IT investment
  portfolio, percentage of projects managed by the
  governance process, and operational and
  financial goals achieved vs. planned.
  Strategists will deal with many key issues,
  including the following
• Is IT aligned with the business agenda?
• What progress are we making against the
  organisations operational, financial, and
  strategic objectives?
• Are we maximising the business value of IT
  investment portfolio?
• Are IT resources and budgets aligned with
  business priorities?
• Are programmes structured for success?
• Do we have the competencies needed to be
  successful?

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3. Technologist Technology executives as
technologists guide the design, development,
and deployment of effective technical
architectures. They create technical
architectures that underpin the business
architecture. Technologists carefully select
robust platforms and standards, support changing
service delivery models, and integrate services
delivered by external sources into a seamless
framework. They ensure that architecture designs
are flexible and extendable to meet future
business needs. They lead standardisation (data,
applications, and infrastructure) wherever
feasible to allow greater agility and manage
cost. CIOs assess technologies that can
potentially add value to the organisation and
manage a research and development process that
tests technical feasibility. Their main
objectives are to bring business agility, and
identify best-fit and standardised technologies.
Their primary capabilities include architecture
management, technology

• evaluation, technology governance, extended
  enterprise integration, and technology partners.
  Technologists performance is measured against
  the following parameters percentage of
  successful technology assessment pilots, number
  of different technologies (per technology
  platform), and number of technical standards
  exceptions. Some main issues addressed by
  technologists are mentioned below
• Will technical architectures support business
  architecture and future needs of the business?
  Are they agile and scalable?
• Do we have the right technical standards and
  adhere to them?
• How should we manage increasing complexity?
  Where should we increase standardisation?
• What technologies should we be evaluating?
• What research and development pilots should we
  undertake?

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4. Operator Technology executives as operators
ensure that IT services and solutions are
delivered reliably and cost-effectively to
supp