Yesterday was a different day!
A stimulating and interesting day. A thought-provoking day!
I shared the podium with some very erudite business thought leaders on the CIMA presentation series – “Rethinking the business model”
The series has been recorded for CNBC and will be aired on the 11th April @ 21.15 pm.
My fellow panelists were:-
| Name | Surname | Designation | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robert | Beighton | Head of Strategy and Corporate Development | Old Mutual |
| Sameer | Joneja | Vice President- Finance Ops and strategic programs automation | ABSA |
| Richard | Daniel | Senior Consultant – Strategy | KPMG |
| Lesibana | Ledwaba | Divisional Executive Director: Strategy, Risk, and Operational Transformation | Barloworld Equipment |
As you can see – some very knowledgeable and capable businessmen.
CIMA has developed a new business model – see insert – which places value at the very centre of the model
The model analyses the processes of Defining value, creating value, delivering value and capturing value.
And it defines the various stakeholders in the game and what value means to each one of them.
In truth – an excellent piece of work which of course served as the platform for the discussions.
It was indeed a pleasure to be a participant and to be involved with the other panelists.
Needless to say, various matters and principles were explored and discussed – but I came away with one overarching observation – the rate of change which is confronting business.
The velocity of change is remarkable, bringing a whole new set of rules pertaining to the implementation of strategy. In truth whilst a strategy will have a main direction and objective, it must now be supported by alternative variations of the theme, and leading indicators monitored to direct strategy options.
My main takeaway was the need for much faster reactivity and flexibility in managing and directing business performance. – and the need to quantify strategic options,
And, of course, the most appropriate tool by far for equipping management to make these changes and evaluate options is the use of financial models.
Flexible, adaptive models – appropriately structured – to enable the input of a range of alternative value drivers and to produce accurate, reliable and correct results – analysis which provides insight for informed decisions.
Whilst we all search for certainty, in a very uncertain and rapidly changing business landscape, and use various tools at our disposal including big data analysis, our search is somewhat akin to trying to find the Holy Grail. In truth the only certainty is now and in accurately recorded history.
If ever there was a need for effective, predictive tools to assist with making informed decisions, that time is now – and the best way of achieving this goal is to use carefully researched, appropriately structured financial models.
Colin Human CA (SA)
