Insights

Across all industries, effective management of the entire end-to-end value chain can drive significant improvements both in terms of cash flow as well as profits. For retailers, however, the optimal strategy can be even more tightly focused, as cash and profits go hand in hand. The faster stock can be turned, the more profit and cash can be generated. Even so, the aim should not just be about turning stock quickly, but rather about turning the right stock quickly – and knowing how to align the speed of your supply chain to ever changing customer demands.

The future economic effects of artificial intelligence are hard to calculate, but are likely to be staggering. A study by McKinsey Global Institute estimated that worldwide GDP could increase by up to $13 trillion by 2030 as a result of AI alone. Current research within APAC, however, shows that companies across te region have yet to prepare themselves for the next generation of computing – with fewer than half of them having begun to make the necessary transition in earnest, even as four in five already agree that AI adoption is a necessary step for staying competitive.

General artificial intelligence – the idea that a computer can simulate (or surpass) human performance in all situations – remains a distant goal, perhaps never to be achieved. But by breaking down human mental activity into discrete processes, and by optimising specialised processes for speed and accuracy, computers can excel far beyond human performance.

There may be a storm brewing in some of the world’s largest economies as businesses come to terms with a skilled worker shortage. Are technology and mobility two options for businesses struggling to find talent?

Keeping pace with a fast-moving economy means continually re-investing profits to fund future growth. Although many companies struggle to access the liquidity needed to enable timely investment, a proactive approach to working capital management can free up significant untapped cash within any business, providing a platform for longer term, sustainable growth.

In any competitive sphere, there is a natural tendency for different players to cluster towards the middle. Through a combination of traditional practice, human nature, common sense, imperfect foresight, talent competition and a host of other shared qualities, there may be little – particularly in mature industries – to separate one company from another at an organisational level.

Culture and technology around the world are rapidly progressing, and the only clear prediction we can make about the future is that change will continue to occur at every level of society. Most businesses have realised that they must follow these changes to keep up with the new world – and others have decided to actually become leaders and drive the change further forward.

A recent Grant Thornton survey of over 300 senior executives found that 89% believe the CFO of the future will require much stronger data analytics skills – and fully 75% plan to upgrade their personal data analytics skills in the coming year.

In Part 1 of this article, we examined the importance of speed, flexibility, and successful adaptation in the current business climate.

In the natural world, the big winners are not always the strongest or fastest, but rather the ones that are best at adapting to changes in their environment. The business world follows similar rules – and its current environment is changing more rapidly than at any time in history, thanks to the digital revolution.

Effective cash management is a critical success factor for any business. To fund growth, invest in new infrastructure or mitigate short term downturns, having strong visibility and control of day-to-day cash is a must.

For the average large Thai organisation included in the study, just $0.7 million was lost through the direct result of attacks. Indirect effects accounted for $6.7 million of the lost money, while induced losses accounted for the remaining $5.3 million.

Whether it’s robotics, artificial intelligence or the cloud, advances in technology present a golden opportunity for the finance function. But what’s the best way to maximise potential gains: an enterprise-wide solution, or a more targeted approach?

Wave after wave of new business technology has been hyped as revolutionary, leaving organisations with the options either to invest in strategic transformation and disruptive technologies or to dismiss it all as mere noise and carry on with traditional methods of business administration.

The vision for Thailand 4.0 is certainly ambitious, and is extremely well adapted to the digital economic stage that the world is now entering. But is that vision also well adapted to Thailand itself? Can this moderately advanced Southeast Asian nation handle the weight of its own development plan?

Much has been made of the Thai government’s commitment to developing a modern industrial base. In large part, the praise from the business community has been deserved. Concerted efforts include a range of initiatives, from a detailed program of BOI incentives, to the fast-tracking of business permits across industries, to the ambitious upgrades in infrastructure and government support that are making the Eastern Economic Corridor a highly promising region for manufacturing.