CFOs View Digital Investments as key to Mitigating Inflation

Seventy-eight percent of CFOs plan to maintain or increase enterprise-wide digital investments in the next two years, according to a Gartner, Inc. survey of 199 CFOs and senior finance leaders.

The survey data indicates that CFOs plan to accelerate the momentum in digital transformation investments that were launched in earnest at the start of the pandemic, in line with Gartner’s IT Spending Forecast of an overall increase in worldwide IT spending in 2022. According to Bant, inflation is a new catalyst driving CFOs to ramp up digital investments to lower the cost of doing business and identify new sources of profitability. “CFOs know to never waste a crisis or downturn. It’s a time to reinvent, make better investments, and reduce inefficiencies,” said Bant. “Winners on the other side of this cycle will have continued to accelerate the right digital initiatives across their organisation even as there are mounting pressures on profitability.”

Within their departments, CFOs plan to spend even more aggressively on technology, with 52% of CFOs scaling up digital investments, while 38% said they intend to protect their current investment levels.

CFOs’ increasing focus on automation as an inflation mitigation strategy aligns with findings from Gartner’s Finance Technology Innovations Survey, which polled finance leaders on their investment plans for specific finance technologies over the next two years. The data indicated a planned increase in investment in robotic process automation (RPA), reporting automation and process mining, technologies critical to streamlining routine processes, freeing up staff to focus on higher value activities, and increased productivity.

Read the full article at Gartner.