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Growing The CFO’s Influence with Technology

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Opinion

The past few years have witnessed significant changes to the traditional role of the chief financial officer (CFO). Their expertise in cost management and operational efficiency management has been instrumental in ensuring the survival of their organization during tough economic times.

Those CFOs who successfully navigated the challenging landscape undoubtedly helped elevate the role of CFO from financial steward, to corporate strategist and change agent.

As businesses aim to get their recovery underway, the CFO is being asked to evolve again. In light of their growing influence, the CFO is required to not only manage the disruptions caused by rapid technological change, emerging markets, government intervention, and empowered consumers and employees, but also identify and invest in the business models, products, and services that will lead to sustainable, profitable growth. It’s a significant challenge and one we’re sure the CFO is more than capable of.

However, key to fulfilling their strategic potential and driving transformational change will be the willingness of CFOs to embrace disruptive technologies, such as big data, cloud computing, mobile, and social media, in a changing marketplace.

Today, consumers expect to interact with brands at a time and place that suits them, across a variety of touch points, whether in-store, online or via the telephone. While this is a challenge, it’s also an unprecedented opportunity.

Increased interaction provides businesses with more customer data, which if used properly will empower organizations to offer enhanced and tailored services capable of growing the bottom line. It’s encouraging to see that most CFOs already recognize this, with three quarters viewing access to information as a driver of organizational agility, according to a recent study from Oracle and Accenture titled “The CFO as Catalyst for Change”.

The same study also found that 57 per cent of CFOs believe investments in big data and analytics as a key source of competitive advantage.

Emerging technologies, like cloud computing, have a crucial role as CFOs look to fulfill their traditional role of cost management.

Cloud computing, for example, offers CFOs opportunities to drive additional efficiencies by reducing the need for up-front capital expenditure on hardware and software licenses, and because it minimizes the uncertainty associated with investing in new technologies. Additionally, it frees up capital that CFOs can allocate elsewhere.

CFOs also rank improved technological knowledge second only to industry knowledge as a critical enabler to improving their current skillset.

The growing importance of technology to the CFO is further supported by the finding that 82 per cent of CFOs have noted their cooperation with their CIOs has increased over the past three years.

This does not necessarily mean CFOs require in-depth technical knowledge on a day-to-day basis, but rather they need the know how into how can this technology can help the business continue to grow.

We’re sure that if CFOs continue to embrace new and traditional technologies in the workplace their strategic influence will only grow.

Given their experience in managing change and their unique oversight of the company, no C-Level executive is better placed to drive recovery.

By following the CFO’s lead, organizations can remove the organizational siloes that have hindered businesses for too long, empowering them to identify new opportunities and better respond to market conditions.

Without question, growth has never been as important to businesses as it is today. CFOs recognize what’s needed to achieve this, and now is time for the business to look at the CFO’s proven track record and follow their lead.
 
Adebayo Sanni is Country Manager Oracle Nigeria.


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E-Business

Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

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Chinese “threat actors” have hacked Microsoft’s SharePoint document software servers and targeted the data of the businesses using it, the firm has said.

Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

 

China state-backed Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon as well as China-based Storm-2603 were said to have “exploited vulnerabilities” in on-premises SharePoint servers, the kind used by firms, but not in its cloud-based service.

The US tech giant has released security updates in response and has advised all on-premises SharePoint server customers to install them.

“Investigations into other actors also using these exploits are still ongoing,” Microsoft said in a statement.

The firm said it had “high confidence” the hackers would continue to target systems which have not installed its security updates.

It added that it would update its website blog with more information as its investigation continues.

Microsoft said it had observed attacks in which hackers had sent a request to a SharePoint server “enabling the theft of the key material by threat actors”.

Charles Carmakal, chief technology officer at Mandiant Consulting firm, a division of Google Cloud, told reporter, it was “aware of several victims in several different sectors across a number of global geographies”.

Carmakal said it appeared that governments and businesses that use SharePoint on their sites were the primary target.

A number of adversaries who stole material encoded by cryptography were then able to regain ongoing access to the victims’ SharePoint data, he said.

“This was exploited in a very broad way, very opportunistically before a patch was made available. That’s why this is significant,” Carmakal said.

Carmakal said the “China-nexus actor” was deploying techniques similar to previous campaigns associated with Beijing.

Microsoft said Linen Typhoon had “focused on stealing intellectual property, primarily targeting organizations related to government, defence, strategic planning, and human rights” for 13 years.

It added that Violet Typhoon had been “dedicated to espionage”, primarily targeting former government and military staff, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, higher education, the media, the financial sector and the health sector in the US, Europe, and East Asia.

Meanwhile, Storm-2603 was “assessed with medium confidence to be a China-based threat actor”.

 

 

 


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NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

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National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued a public warning that it is not associated with NINcard.com.

NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

According to the commission, the website has been circulating online to offer services for Nigerians seeking National Identification Number (NIN) services.

NIMC, in a post on its official X account on Wednesday, said, “NINcard.com is not in anyway affiliated to NIMC. Stay vigilant!”

The warning was accompanied by screenshots of fake payment receipts and OTP request pages from the website, both of which were boldly stamped “FAKE” by NIMC to alert the public.


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NITDA, API Partner Against Harmful Online Content

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National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), in partnership with the Advocacy for Policy and Innovation (API), has convened a one-day workshop in Abuja to advance dialogue on the draft Online Harm Protection (OHP) Bill to confront harmful online content.

NITDA, API Partner Against Harmful Online Content

The bill, a rights-based, locally rooted, and multi-stakeholder initiative, is aimed at addressing the challenges of the digital age.

The event, which held yesterday, brought together government officials, civil society, academics, digital platforms, and legal experts to shape a policy framework designed to combat online ills such as cyberbullying, disinformation, hate speech, digital exploitation, and gender-based violence, while safeguarding democratic freedoms and digital inclusion.

In his keynote remarks, Kashifu Inuwa, director general, NITDA urged a paradigm shift in the way society engages with digital technologies.

“For almost two decades, we have viewed digital technology through a consumer lens. But these technologies are not just products and services. They are transforming how we live, work, and interact. They shape our politics, our society, and our democracy,” he said.

Warning against unaccountable digital power in the hands of private corporations, the DG likened the digital journey to the tale of Alice in Wonderland, where initial fascination with innovation has given way to deeper concerns about privacy, autonomy, and manipulation by big tech platforms.

“We thought we were using Google, but now we realise Google is using us. Social media, once a tool of expression, has become a tool of surveillance and influence,” Inuwa noted.

He, therefore, emphasised the urgency of developing a democratic and accountable framework.  He explained that following the 2021 Twitter ban, NITDA facilitated dialogue between the government and platform operators, leading to a Code of Practice that stressed Nigeria’s sovereignty and legal standards.

According to him, the same process birthed the multi-stakeholder steering committee and the OHP White Paper in December 2024, laying the foundation for the current legislative push.

Earlier in her opening remarks,  Victoria Manya, co-founder, API, observed the moral and civic necessity of the bill.

Her words: “The internet did not break society, it merely revealed its unfiltered version. Every day, Nigerians are exposed to harassment, disinformation, exploitation, and even algorithmic violence. The OHP Bill is not a war on the Internet. It is a peace offering to its users, a social contract for a digital future that is safe, inclusive, and democratic.

“We cannot answer the question of algorithmic power with unchecked state control. We must answer it with shared, rights-based governance. This bill must not be written for the people, but with them.”


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