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Companies have been employing digital technology for years, but they are only now committing themselves to pursuing durable digital transformations. The shift signals a changed outlook from recent years, when digitization efforts tended to be more tactical than strategic. Companies invested in technological upgrades, remaking individual functions such as sales support and customer service. But a clear majority of companies now invest in digital transformation for long-term growth, not short-term improvements, according to a recent survey of finance executives.

You’ve made the right moves in your operating business—you’ve developed and executed your IT plan and upgraded your ERP, EAM, and CRM systems to improve efficiencies and gain new insights. You're starting to see results, but these new systems are generating vast amounts of data you aren't always sure what to make of.

Industry 4.0—synonymous with smart technologies—is driving efficiencies and increasing productivity. Data, and the physical-digital integration of humans, processes, systems, and machines, are key components of this transformation. The global ramifications of Industry 4.0 are still under debate, but one thing is certain: Change is coming.

The future. It’s the topic on the mind of most business leaders—what’s going to happen in the future? And importantly, how do you ensure you’re prepared for it? Today, as technological advances impact the scale, scope, and utility of data and information, a new ecosystem of information and trust is taking shape around us. Businesses are responding by using and reporting information that goes beyond financial information.

While cyber liability losses and privacy claims continue to rise, a new exposure has arisen. Hackers have determined that due to the increased sophistication in computer security, it may be easier to manipulate an individual rather than a machine. With enough policies and procedures in place, Social Engineering Fraud (SEF) is preventable. However, what these professional criminals are counting on is being able to manipulate an employee to violate the company’s policies.

Financial reports and other real-time operational data are often lagging indicators of performance. These metrics, although perhaps lacking precision, may have been sufficiently effective in the past; however, they are less so now because they lag the current cadence of information dissemination and business volatility today. The challenge for many finance functions is to try to keep pace with all the modern sources of insight and analysis that internal and external stakeholders are receiving.

The Internet of Things (IoT) connects machines and devices to one another. Today’s devices have between 6 to 9 sensors capturing and transmitting data to help all industries become more efficient, productive and safer. The 2020 annual global economic potential across all sectors is estimated up to $14.4 trillion—that is the current GDP of the European Union. For businesses to fully realize the great potential of the Internet of Things (IoT), they will need to be prepared for the privacy, cybersecurity and liability risks that lie ahead.