In the video series “Cloud Talks with Geoffrey Moore,” Steve Miranda, Oracle Executive Vice President of Applications Development, spoke with Geoffrey Moore, author of Crossing the Chasm.

The pair discussed several important topics during their Cloud talks, including:

• The role of Chief Financial Officers in a changing business environment
• How businesses become more customer-centric
• Why moving to Cloud is essential in today’s business environment
• How to deal with disruption
• The role of IT and a Chief Information Officer in a changing business environment
• Machine learning

The Role of Chief Financial Officers

The pair started by discussing the changing role of the CFO and how a CFO should act as the change agent within an enterprise. The CFO owns the systems of record, and historically, that has been a sort of fortress. However, in today’s new world, the CFO has to be the steward of risk management and own the integrity of the foundation. Your CFO must oversee how your operating model is interacting with your business.

It’s up to the CFO to try to find ways to get more information out of systems than they currently are. Companies and CFOs have to proactive about exposing the rest of the organization to opportunities with data in the systems. It ends up being a collaboration between business leaders and the CFO.

In today’s changing business environment, emerging technologies like Cloud can help CFOs automate processes like financial reporting and period close and focus instead on the data and information that will drive better business decisions.

As business models change, margin models also change. Business instincts need to be reframed by the CFO. Company strategy needs to change and adapt to the new margin models, risk models, and cycle time models.

Expanding the traditional role of the CFO to guide the enterprise and shape the product and services that the company offers is the key to innovation in a changing business environment.

For more on the episode of “Cloud Talks with Geoffrey Moore” that covers the role of the Chief Financial Officer in a changing business environment, check out the video below.

Becoming More Customer-Centric

Customers are becoming more influential in guiding what companies do and provide. The voice of the customer is becoming stronger and stronger in today’s workplace. Miranda asked Moore how the voice of the customer is affecting day-to-day business. He said that it’s interesting because, in the past, the product was king over the customer. However, in this century, there is often much more supply than demand in many industries. Moore explained that when supply is the scarce ingredient, the product is king. When demand is the scarce ingredient, the customer is king. This has driven many companies in today’s climate to become more customer-centric.

Even though the sense of “the customer is always right” has always been around, customers with the best customer service are feeling the pressure to change from product-driven to truly customer-driven.

When you look as subscription services, for example, the switching cost for customers has gone done dramatically. As a result, there has been a shift in focus from customer support to customer service and, ultimately, to customer success. Miranda pointed out that as the workforce becomes more digital and more options become available to customers, it’s important for businesses to become truly customer-centric in order to attract and retain those customers. When your company truly embraces the customer, a lot of change resistance goes away.

For more on the episode of “Cloud Talks with Geoffrey Moore” that covers how businesses can become more customer-centric in order to succeed, check out the video below.

Why Moving to Cloud is Essential

Miranda asked Moore what he hears from customers about their impression of Cloud and what they hope to gain from it. Moore said that he truly believes Cloud has become table stakes. He feels that the on-premises model often does not scale to the contemporary world.

Companies that are starting on the Cloud instead of with a long-standing legacy application have a bit of an advantage. Many companies that start with a legacy application and move to Cloud have to redo a lot of their processes and ways of operating.

Moore said that companies have to learn to honor the install base and honor the legacy commitments and then incrementally and systematically make changes as they move to Cloud.

Miranda said that in addition to thinking about technology – because Cloud is a ready-to-use product – companies also have to think about the cultural aspect of making the move. He asked Moore if customers truly understand and internalize what it means to move to Cloud and go through this technology shift. Moore said that it’s a generational thing – the younger people in the workforce think older people are clueless and the older people are just looking to hang on. It depends on your culture and your generational shifts. He said that it may not be as difficult for the business side as it is for the IT side.

For more on the episode of “Cloud Talks with Geoffrey Moore” that covers why moving to Cloud is essential in today’s business environment, check out the video below.

Dealing with Disruption

Moore said that there is an enormous amount of anxiety in today’s workforce due to how dramatically technology has changed the game within the last 10 years. Before, companies thought, “Technology will help us be better at what we are already doing.” Now, more adventurous technology inventions have truly changed the rules of the game and created more competition. Companies and industries are on their toes.

Miranda asked if Moore had noticed a difference in technology change versus business innovation change like subscription models, product models, customer service, etc. Moore said that it’s interesting because subscription model change came in with the consumer model that provided technology like Cloud and mobile. The world saw it and decided that it wanted it. Companies and industries are trying to revamp business processes to meet this more consumer-based model. Technology is the instigator, but the customers are the true driving force behind the shift.

Companies are either the initial disruptor or they are defending against a disruptor. Moore spends most of his time with those who are reacting to and defending against disruption – not the Steve Jobs of the world, but the ones who are trying to stay afloat and keep their business alive after disruption hits. It’s easy to get envious of the companies that are starting the disruption. However, Moore points out that it’s more important to focus on your customers’ needs. Your customers don’t necessarily need you to always be the one starting the innovation and disruption, but they also need you to not be a dinosaur that lags behind all the time. You have to at least modernize enough to keep up with the times.

For more on the episode of “Cloud Talks with Geoffrey Moore” that covers how businesses must deal with disruption in today’s business environment, check out the video below.

The Role of IT and a Chief Information Officer

Just like the CFO has an important role in the changing business environment, the CIO and IT do as well. As customers move to the Cloud, Miranda said that he hears many say, “Now I don’t need IT.” He asked if Moore hears the same. Moore said that it’s actually an IT world, more than ever. It used to be that IT was about the business, and now IT is the business. IT is the very fabric of the business. There is a definite role change because IT is now much more involved in the performance of the business. When you talk about digital transformation, you’re talking about changing the operating model of the company in real-time, which is all IT-enabled.

IT has to do a lot less of the “plumbing” work in today’s world, but they still play a crucial role in the success of a business. Instead of thinking of it as no longer needing IT a Cloud world, it’s important to think instead about the changing role of IT. In today’s world, IT can focus on making the company’s operating model more customer friendly. IT and CIOs can now spend time on information that will help drive business decisions. Moore said that instead of a CIO getting a seat at the table, it’s quickly becoming the CIO’s table.

For more on the episode of “Cloud Talks with Geoffrey Moore” that covers the role of IT and a Chief Information Officer in a changing business environment, check out the video below.

Machine Learning

Artificial intelligence and machine learning will undoubtedly affect the future work of business leaders. Miranda asked Moore if customers understand machine learning, what their expectations for it are, and how business leaders see it affecting their world. He said that machine learning is largely a function based on how much data you have to process because machines get smarter as they are given more and more data.

Several opportunities for machine learning to come into play include major log files to analyze, your website, cybersecurity, application and data center performance management, etc. The question to ask yourself is, “Does my business have these large volumes of data to manage?”

Companies that have the mindset of letting data influence and inform decisions and impact business processes often have the right mindset for using machine learning.

More and more businesses are leveraging chatbots as a major use case for machine learning and data-driven decisions. This quick response mindset is starting to leak into the enterprise. Employees want information as quickly and easily as customers do. Self-service is becoming increasingly popular, and machine learning can help make it more possible.

For more on the episode of “Cloud Talks with Geoffrey Moore” that covers how machine learning will affect the work of business leaders, check out the video below.

Additional Resources

For more Oracle HCM Cloud resources, case studies, best practices, etc., check out Quest’s Oracle HCM Cloud Content Center. There are resources and training available for all aspects of HCM Cloud, including payroll, analytics, recruiting, and more!

For more Oracle ERP Cloud resources, case studies, best practices, etc., check out Quest’s Oracle ERP Cloud Content Center. There are resources and training available for all aspects of ERP Cloud, including risk management, financials, extensions, and more!