Embrace the E-World.

• Author: Livingston, Phil
• Position: Brief Article

Charles Wang, chairman of Computer Associates, kicked off FBI's Forum on Finance & Technology in September with a pointed message about succeeding in the e-business revolution: do it fast and do it right. Finance executives everywhere are confronting a massive transformation within the finance function, their company, their industry and the economy at large. Navigating all this change will require flexibility, ability to exploit technology and a clear strategic vision.

There will be few pure "brick" or "click" companies in the years ahead, as most companies will adopt a hybrid business model, melding the Old and New Economies. Gartner Research Fellow Bill McNee agrees that the transformation to an e-business world is "massively expensive," and points out that most companies underestimate the costs by 50 percent or more. But the payback is significant, as McNee predicts that most industries will be dominated by a few "virtually integrated enterprises."

E-commerce is now the single largest area of discretionary IT spending, according to a survey of FEI members by CSC. More and more executives recognize that e-commerce is a business issue first and a technology issue second. The survey confirms that finance executives view technology as a strategic resource and a lever to improve business effectiveness, but there is some frustration. When asked to identify areas where their company is constrained by the lack of an available technology solution, the top responses were measuring product and customer profitability; facilitating analysis and decision-making; integrating strategy with daily...