COVID-19 pandemic increased the investment appetite of organisations: Survey

WNS (Holdings) Limited, a provider of global Business Process Management (BPM) solutions, on Monday announced the release of the 2022 Global CFO Survey report titled Separating Chatter from Reality by Everest Group, supported by WNS.

According to WNS, the survey polled 300 CFOs and their direct reports from large global enterprises across eight different industries to assess how the roles and business imperatives of CFOs have evolved since the previous study conducted in 2020. The survey also highlights the differences between aspirational themes and those initiatives currently taking place across the global Finance & Accounting (F&A) landscape.

“In 2020, the study concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic had created the need to accelerate transformation journeys to build future-ready enterprises. The top organisational challenges included ‘adapting to customer demands’ and ‘supply chain continuity.’ However, in 2022, challenges such as ‘cost and pricing pressures,’ ‘increasing risk exposure,’ and ‘talent shortage’ have moved to the forefront as a result of the current macroeconomic environment. Today, 68 percent of organisations are adopting cloud infrastructure, while 61 percent are re-assessing compliance, controls and policies to make the F&A function more agile and resilient in responding to these challenges,” read a statement from the company.

“CFOs’ top priorities, including driving agility and resilience, and creating a future-ready finance function, are now becoming an imminent reality. However, these leaders must adopt an end-to-end approach toward transformation in order to drive business growth, optimise stakeholder experience, and scale business initiatives over the long term,” said Keshav R. Murugesh, Group CEO, WNS.

The COVID-19 pandemic has substantially increased the investment appetite of organisations to create a future-proof F&A function. WNS also added that close to 70 percent of the organisations surveyed in 2022 indicated an ability to invest, as compared to less than 50 percent two years ago. Additionally, more than 70 percent of CFOs now recognise the need to leverage digital technologies to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and stakeholder experience as their top priority.