CIMA event – ‘Thinking out of the box: Reinvent and Digitalise’ concludes successfully

To say that the coronavirus pandemic has had a severe impact on the way we do business would be a significant understatement. The crisis has made it necessary for everyone to adapt to new ways of working, and businesses have had to reimagine new ways to meet their customer needs. 

The crisis expedited the need to digitise processes and actions to stay ahead of one curve, while we fought to flatten another. To take stock of the resulting technological advances that were spurred on by the pandemic, CIMA Sri Lanka, in collaboration with AAT Sri Lanka, ACCA Sri Lanka, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and the Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka, held a panel discussion titled ‘Thinking out of the box: Reinvent and Digitalise’.

The web-event was moderated by the Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific, of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants Venkkat Ramanan, FCMA, CGMA and featured guest speaker Tevilyan Yudhistira Rusli, FCMA, CGMA, Chief Financial Officer of PT Lippo Karawaci Tbk and PT Lippo Cikarang Tbh, Indonesia. The panellists included Naresh Abeysekera, Founder and CEO of SECQUOR (representative of CA Sri Lanka); Anil Kodikara Achchilage, General Manager – Finance of Resplendent Ceylon (representative of CMA); Rathnakala Kumaragurunathan, Associate Director and Head of Training and Knowledge Management of Acuity Knowledge Partners (representative of ACCA); and Indraka Liyanage, Head of Risk Management at Siyapatha Finance PLC (representative of AAT).

The webinar commenced with Rusli relating how the world we live in is no longer a predictable and stable one, forcing everyone to think outside of the box. He related that, with an ever-changing landscape including rapidly shifting consumer behaviour, evolving competitor landscape and an increased focus on sustainability and crisis, being able to adapt is no longer an advantage but a necessity.

He went on to draw comparisons with game-changing digitised entities such as Uber, AirBNB and Alibaba, and similar success stories in the financial sphere. He highlighted how such companies were able to make an impact on their direct and indirect competitors by being ready for changing channels and consumer demand. 

He highlighted how the ever-changing landscape, that not only includes the coronavirus pandemic, but also trade wars and innovations (such as machine learning), requires all of us to think outside of the box and reinvent ourselves. This includes the way we do business, develop company cultures and values, adapt to technology, understand consumer and customer insights, leadership value and behaviour, and portfolio development. 

Speaking on the transformational aspects of each area, Rusli said, “I believe that this [reinvention] is continuous. As long as you’re in the corporate world, it won’t stop. The scary part is how fast change is happening, and how we all need to catch up.”

In terms of finance, he went to elaborate on how the sector is being reinvented. Speaking on the pillars of finance, he highlighted the need to be integrated across all pillars (strategic, performance, operations, expertise and governance). “We need to be entrepreneurial, not just as accountants. For example, a CFO has to understand operations to make good decisions along with the CEO. We need to be business savvy because, whether we like it or not, finance is slap bang in the middle of everything.”

He shared how CFOs like himself are now expected to strategise in collaboration with the finance team and CEO, and highlighted how digitalisation enables finance personnel to be flexible across all pillars. For example, using machine learning to predict the impacts of reducing advertising spend. He highlighted how finance is establishing robust business cases, especially in times of crisis, and the role of the finance function as an overall change management agent.

SECQUOR Founder and CEO Naresha Abeysekera spoke on how agility has helped his company that focuses on business transformations. Recognising that corporations themselves design their “boxes” through policy framework, Naresha went on to say how every single element of it results in innovation. 

With technology being a key aspect of this, the technology that brings hyper-personalisation and engagement has enabled companies to move away from traditional forecasting and instead adopting daily profitability. “When you’re analysing and you are constantly engaging with the consumer, you’re driving profitability. What we see today is an innovative cloud solution that gives the clients the result they want – with an emphasis on agility,” he concluded. 

Resplendent Ceylon General Manager of Finance Anil Kodikara Achchilage highlighted how agility and speed always go hand-in-hand with digitalisation. With a 13% increase in digital transactions over the past few months and an expected 60% of global GDP to be made through digitalised transactions, we need to be prepared for this. 

He spoke on how the digitalisation of the tea auction, which for years had been resisted, underwent the technological transformation out of necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic, which helped reduce a Rs. 300 million loss. Smaller examples included the merging of the government retail channel, Sathosa, and private delivery partners – a key chapter in Sri Lanka’s fight against an economic slowdown, more of which is needed further to take the country to the next level.

Acuity Knowledge Partners Associate Director and Head of Training and Knowledge Management Rathnakala Kumaragurunathan gave a different perspective. She spoke on how hiring employees with the right mindset enables her company to pivot swiftly when needed. “We see a lot of the younger generation coming in with that mindset; so it’s great to see.” She also spoke on how the role of CFOs are changing to become change agents by being at the heart of decision making. 

Siyapatha Finance PLC Head of Risk Management Indraka Liyanage said he has always been able to think outside of the box – and that is a key aspect of being in the field of risk management. Speaking of the challenging local situation, he says there are lower access channels that have negatively impacted the finance industry during the COVID-19 lockdown. However, having sat down with his team and analysed the raw data, they realised that things weren’t as bad as some were predicting. “There’s Rs. 556 billion worth of liquidity in the market and those are the opportunities that are presenting themselves to entrepreneurs and investors. That’s what is changing and these are the opportunities we need to highlight.”