ISCA Breakfast Talk: “The CFO Playbook 2025”

As the role of the CFO evolves beyond traditional financial management, success will belong to those who can navigate today’s complex business environment while driving innovation and maintaining financial discipline. At the ISCA Breakfast Talk on February 11, titled “The CFO Playbook 2025: Navigating the Future of Finance”, Alex Ramambason, Senior Director, Lancia Consult, highlighted the strategic priorities and challenges facing CFOs in 2025 and presented strategies and tools to equip finance leaders for the future.

Mr Ramambason elaborated on the growing opportunities for AI applications in revolutionising finance processes, from planning and forecasting to reporting and decision-making. He emphasised the importance of AI integration in finance tools, presenting the use case of bundling Microsoft Co-Pilot with Oracle NetSuite’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system in streamlining purchase requisitions and approvals. Members at the talk also gleaned insights on choosing the right technology tools and strategies for individuals and corporations to leverage AI for success.

Mr Ramambason was later joined by Busy Bees Asia’s Chief Financial Officer, Shirley Lim, and Oracle NetSuite’s Vice President, Head of Solution Consulting Asia, Damian Khoo, in a panel discussion to share digital transformation initiatives that finance teams are embracing. Ms Lim elaborated on Lancia Consult’s support of a comprehensive technological assessment across Busy Bees’ key functions (including HR, Finance, IT), and delivery of a host-to-host integration between Busy Bees’ NetSuite ERP system and its banking service provider, to automate payments and simplify AP reconciliation.

Mr Khoo touched on the changes in today’s technological landscape and shared how finance functions are increasingly using AI-powered Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and developing chatbots to simplify tasks like reconciliation, report generation, and data analysis.

The breakfast talk concluded with a dynamic Q&A session with the audience, where the panellists addressed crucial topics such as security control measures, competitive strategies for finance managers, and the impact of AI on employment.