IBM survey reveals firms’ financial weaknesses

June 13, 2014 | 09:00
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Many enterprises in Vietnam are greatly lacking financial management capability.


Guest speakers share their knowledge and experience with participants at the IBM Finance Forum 2014 on June 12 in Ha Noi

At last week’s IBM Finance Forum, IBM Vietnam announced the results of a survey IBM Global conducted last year over 576 chief financial officers (CFOs) of major global firms, including some in Vietnam. Results showed that while 82 per cent of the respondents said data integration in their companies was important, only 24 per cent said the financial departments of their companies were ready to conduct data integration.

Some 66 per cent of the surveyed CFOs did their job based on excel methods and feeling.

Compared to a similar survey also done by IBM in 2005, the two questions – data integration important and readiness to conduct data integration – had together risen by 205 per cent in the 2013 results.

“This reveals a gaping hole in companies’ financial capacity and skills. It can expose companies to risks, as they cannot effectively control their data systems or save on operational costs without data integration,” said IBM CFO Ling Ling Ng.

“This survey is very important to enterprises in Vietnam, as it shows the limitations of their CFOs’ financial experience and skills,” she said. “If Vietnam had stronger CFOs, it would develop faster in line with international financial management standards.”

Ng said that over the next five years, the role of CFOs in Vietnam would remarkably change due to the influence of bigger data sets. “Vietnam’s economy is developing quickly and there are major export and foreign investment volumes and values. This will continue to drive competition, forcing CFOs to use hi-tech analytics solutions to make the right decisions.”

Under the 2013 survey, 44 per cent of the most effective CFOs succeeded in their work thanks to a combination of internal and external data to serve their decision making.

Duong Cong Minh, business analytics manager of IBM Vietnam’s Software Group, said the company last year conducted another survey over more than 4,000 corporate leaders worldwide, including Vietnam, who all said they had significant demand for effective financial management.

IBM is applying hi-tech analytics solutions to increase the share value for each of its stakeholders, saving from $11 billion in 2007 to an expected $20 billion in 2015. It looks to save around $8 billion between now in 2015 through such solutions.

IBM is also seeking ways to better promote its financial management solutions to Vietnamese enterprises.

Nearly 50 CFOs from both local and foreign companies in Vietnam joined the forum about IBM’s business analytics solutions for financial management. They expressed interest thanks to these solutions offering unprecedented visibility and early insights into where a business is headed, relative to goals and forecasts.

One CFO of a leading energy company in ASEAN co-operated with IBM to build a financial analytics system to mitigate its business risks. The solution made it easier for the company to conduct its drilling activities while also saving resources and increasing profit, Ng noted.

In another case, a CFO of a leading retailer in ASEAN used IBM’s solutions to explore its customers more comprehensively and from there, more suitably arranged its products in its supermarkets, which raised its revenue and increased spending per customer.

By By Nguyen Thanh

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