 Live from Washington D.C., it's theCUBE, covering Inforum DC 2018, brought to you by Infor. And welcome back here on theCUBE, Inforum 2018. We're live in Washington D.C., continuing our day two coverage here on theCUBE, along with Dave Vellante. I'm John Walls, it's now a pleasure as well to welcome Eric Noran to theCUBE. He's the managing director of the CFO and Enterprise Value Consulting at Accenture. Good morning, Eric. How are you, sir? Hey, good to see you. How have you? With us, we appreciate the time. Yeah, but it'll be us. Let's talk about first the relationship, Accenture and Infor. I know you've been elsewhere, right? Doing some other things with other folks and have kind of migrated back into the Inforum fold. What led to that and what kind of successes are you having? Well, so we're very excited about the partnership with Infor. This is kind of like really the second year for us right now as we go into the second year. The first year was really driven from the partnership and the work that we do at Coke Industries and that client experience kind of led us into a variety of different paths of partnership with Infor. We've been doing work with Infor products for many years but our alliance has just kind of blossomed in this past year into a variety of different areas. Focusing on the cloud suite financials, focusing on GT Nexus and the supply chain space and now we're getting more and more excited about the burst and we're also getting very excited about the whole, the way the Infor OS platform is just blossoming and being tailored to a variety of different industries. And you've got three offerings, right? If I remember right, that you're taking out, that you're taking to your client base as we speak. Why don't you give us a rundown of what you're up to? Well, in our practice we have, in our CFO and Enterprise Value practice, we have an offering that's all around digital finance. That's one of our biggest areas. And that's really all just about the intersection of platform technology and how it enables the next generation of the finance function for the CFO. So that we cloud, that could also include things like, you know, automation and artificial intelligence applied to the finance function. We see in our recent research here that the CFO role is pivoting really to be not really as focused on the books and records and being the controllers, right? But the CFO's role is now becoming more focused on being the digital steward, the value architect of the enterprise. And so the core of finance is being digitized so that the transaction handling can be done more in an automated and efficient way and then freeing up the talent to focus on analytics and value add. And that really allows the CFO to focus more on driving insights into the business, driving growth and what we call enterprise value. So I totally agree. The role of the CFO is transforming quite dramatically. You know, long gone, in my view anyway, are the days of CFO equals bean counter. There's a controller for that. And bean counter, by the way, is not a pejorative. I run a business and I'm happy when people are counting those beans, but it's not the CFO's role. They're really transforming. You see some rockstar CFOs, certainly in the tech industry. Mike Scarpelli, Tom Sweet to just name a couple. Reporting still matters, compliance still matters, but the CFO is taking a much more strategic role. I'm really interested in this digitization of finance. Can we double click on that? What does that specifically mean? Maybe you could give us some examples. Well, I think that a couple things. One is cloud, right, all of a sudden. I want to say one thing is how transaction handling is moving from paper into all aspects of touchless transaction handling. One is that harnessing the data for transactions so it's touchless between vendors and customers and how that just flows through the system in a more digital way. Less paper, more digital, more touchless integration, more automation, right? And then with that platform enabling things like artificial intelligence or machine learning being applied to these patterns of transaction handling so it can do the compliance checking and the reconciliation and so that the accountants, right, are enabling these algorithms to check things and don't have to do it themselves, right? But then there's also this whole context of digital sort of process automation that yields new ways of working. New ways of looking at efficiency in terms of how and where the work is done, right? There was a view of shared services and how we enable a digital operating model where there's work that can be done with business unit intimacy and then there's work that can be done from other locations but then enabled by digital technology that's common and standardized, right? In a common platform that's also scalable and flexible. And so putting all those things together is what we call digital finance. I love this conversation and Accenture is like the best of the best. You guys get deep industry expertise and domain expertise. I'm interested in, Eric, in what the organizational structure looks like because when we talk about digital, you're talking about data. Yeah. And when you talk about data, you're talking about monetization in some way, shape, or form. People I think got confused in the early days of big data, say, oh, we can sell our data. More importantly is how data contributes to the monetization of the company and how you can harness that and invest in that. And that's really where the CFO comes in but he or she is not an expert at digital, not a chief data officer or chief digital officer but they're an enabler. They got to understand the strategy, they got to pay for the strategy and maybe help course correct it. So what are you seeing as the right organizational regime to take advantage of digital? Well, I think at first off, it's integrated and it's focused on integration and collaboration for sure. I think that there is a role where finance has the business acumen and the insights to find out where the story of enterprise value, where it is now, where it could be relative to the drivers of the business and but what's going on in the industry or the adjacent industries that it can take advantage of. So it's really all about a partnership between, let's say finance, and let's say bringing in new talent and skills like data scientists and all those kind of digital skills and integrating it into finance so that it could be more accessible and then translate it into opportunities for the business unit. So a couple of examples could be just one, just getting a, when we say monetization I think there's two things. One is cost reduction. Where could you just use data to just understand the business and all aspects of where costs and how they're behaving and just being far more precise about where there are opportunities to reduce costs in a very strategic way. Right, and that is value. Then there's the other side on revenue uplift where there could be optimization of pricing, optimization of your discounting strategy, all those things that get into maintaining and improving your revenue. Yeah, without any additional cost of goods sold. Correct. Cost of sales, right? Exactly. That's a great example, right? That's right. Your operating structure stays the same to getting more leverage out of that operating structure. And then there's other things where there's adjacent opportunities to just gain market share, right? Just to say, well, where are those opportunities with? And really what we want to say is that by applying all this intelligence, it's focused on, really the theme is, focused on customer experiences. Like what are the customer experiences that could be enabled with digital technologies in a seamless, touchless way that are just differentiating the company in the market? Customers, I think the world is changing, it's disrupting. So the ways in which customers are interacting with businesses are expecting these kind of digital experiences. Very much inspired by a lot of the digital native companies that are out there in the market. So the traditional companies that don't have those experience need to catch up and invest in these kind of customer experiences. Give me an example. I mean, we talk about expectations and- Yeah, so let's say, for example, if you're a telco, all right? And you've got experiences that are about paying your bill or experiences that have to do with services that you need by going to a call center, all right? Now, maybe you can have, you know, the traditional route of talking to someone or maybe there's a way you can go between the information and the channels that you have between your telephone, you know, the mobile app between the website, being able to talk to someone and having chatbots and the mix and how you coordinate all those different experiences so that that the customer can come in and get their questions answered in a very efficient way. In some cases, the chatbots and the kind of sophistication that they can have to address the customer's question right on the spot in a very timely way helps them to say, I got my question solved and I'm happy with that experience, right? Same thing with having information about I'm getting a service supply to my home. How do I know that I'm having that same certainty of the service supply to the home much like the certainty that consumers are experiencing kind of like when they get an Uber and they're like, hey, I know that the car is only five minutes away and it's coming and I have that certainty of an experience. Now that's being applied to other kind of customer experience situations. I'm hearing three things. So first was save money. Example, RPA would be something to help you drop money to the bottom line, just cutting out mundane tasks. The top line operating leverage and that's around analytics. Maybe optimizing pricing was the example you gave. The third I'll call TAM expansion which is really gaining share. Leveraging your digital strategy to maybe try to be an incumbent disruptor before you get disrupted. Now that last one has more risk associated with it because there are additional costs, you got other costs to good sold, you got go to market costs, but the reward could be huge. These are the conversations, this is a great proxy for the conversations that are going on with your clients, right? Yeah, absolutely. And I think that, look there's, the market is going through changes constant. Disruption is coming in different forms, whether it be through technology or other kind of industry integrations. And they're different in the different, I specialize in more of the communications media technology industry. And so those are where I spend most of my time and what's going on in communications right now and what's going on with communications and media is quite an interesting time on how content and distribution of content is changing. And the way that the next generation of consumers are going to think about consuming media and how advertising is distributed, we're going through a tremendous transformation in that space. And all the companies are kind of racing to have that advantage of how they connect with the consumers at scale in a seamless, connected way so that they have that ability to continue to serve them in new and innovative ways. So let's talk about those, so you said comms and media, are we talking telecoms? Yeah. Okay, and then tech industry is in IT, technical, tech suppliers? Tech suppliers, Cisco. Cisco and companies like Lenovo, those kind of companies that are in that space. So those guys are pretty forward thinking in terms of technology adoption. Oh, absolutely. Okay, but the telco business is really interesting right now. Oh, absolutely. Hardened infrastructures, they get over the top suppliers coming in, the cost per bit is going down, but they can't charge more. You know this very well. So they're going through some really radical transformations. At the same time, they have a huge opportunity with content, you're seeing people make some moves. Yes. Maybe talk about what's going on in that business a little bit more. Well, there was the recent Comcast just acquisition of Sky is quite nowhere. We got AT&T going through the Time Warner thing. And then you have, so that's a content play that I think is just freeze up some opportunities for companies like Comcast and AT&T to start really servicing their customers in a new profound way. To be able to say it could be content that is suited to different demographics and to get those consumers at scale, not only to keep them comfortable with the and very delighted, if you will, with the kind of wireless service and flexibility they have with that, but then to be able to see all the range of content that they could be consuming, all of which is coming back to those companies as data, as the consumers are watching all this content and having better control of visibility of all the different patterns that they're seeing in the use of this content, so they can then in turn, shape different kinds of programming and shape different kinds of advertising programs that are tailored to those demographics. And there's an underlying infrastructure transformation that's going on here. I mean, so something as basic as, you know, things like network function virtualization, not to get too geeky out here, but they're trying to make their infrastructure more agile so they can compete with the OTT suppliers and they're trying to vertically integrate as content creators. Absolutely, and this whole next wave of 5G is a huge thing that's going to come to us and that's a big disruption that's just starting and will happen in the next three to five years that will be coming. So everybody's trying to get digital right, every CEO that you talk to, but when you go beneath that to the organization, it's harder to get people to actually move. Do you get, do you see a sense of complacency of people saying, well, you know, not, we're doing pretty well in our industry or I'll be retired before this all happens? I mean, how do you combat that? Well, I think that, I mean, that does exist in certain industries and certain types of companies. You know, I think that's the whole point about talent, right, and I think when we come back and look at talent as really, when we think about change, not only is the technology changing, but the talent that's available not only in the finance function, but in all parts of an enterprise, the next generation of folks that are going into the workforce are just coming from a different place in terms of how they use technology in their lifestyle, but how they want to apply to there as a customer, but then how they want to do it as an employee. And so when we have that conversation about, well, what is the future going to look like? A lot of it will come down to, well, what does digital mean as an experience for your consumer and your customer, but also what does it mean for the talent? And we believe that, look, talent is a critical asset in every company. It's the biggest asset that we have in a century, right? So how do we inspire and have folks enabled to use digital technologies, to have that entrepreneurial sort of platform to use these digitally native tools? That's really the key. And I think that any kind of CFO that's thinking about betting on the future that talent is very much a part of that story. It's definitely about technology is very important. It's an enabler, it's a platform. However, it's the talent that will be using the platform to take those insights and drive growth. And the wild card is data, right? That's the new- Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, we- A variable in the equation. Yeah, yeah. Is data, putting data at the sort of core of your organization and having the talent that knows how to exploit that data. Sure, sure. And I think that when I think about talent, there's, I mean, there's different specializations, but I think the talent is really about the collaboration. You see people who are able to work with other different cross functions and say, well, how do we build and find this together? How do we discover where the opportunity, the insight is together? And there's differences between stuff which, like I said, things that are known and we just have to optimize what we have and then there's going into the new areas that haven't been discovered yet. And I think that the thing about the talent that's curious, you know, we like the way we can think about like, okay, curious about what could be or what's out there and using data not as a hurdle, but harnessing the power of data to go into these areas and start exploring and using all those different tools to explore where could we go? And one of the things that's interesting is that it's not about, you know, when we talk about analytics and some of the tools that are out there, it's not about necessarily precision in this moment. It's about direction of where you can go and exploring and continuing to find the facts that support investment. At your point, I mean, the tools and the tech aren't the hard part. It's the unknown, it's the people, you know, the processes around that, getting everybody on the same page to collaborate. It's like old dogs, new tricks. I mean, so, not we're simplifying, but you are trying to bring new tricks to folks and there's a generational awareness that there's a difference between the people they have coming up and where they sit. That's right. And we think that, look, you know, by bringing a fresh new talent in to the organization, that in and of itself has the team operating and working differently. Because not only do they have new tools, but there's a new way of talent being integrated. You know, new talent and experienced talent, you know, seeing how these things come together with a mandate, again, on superior business outcomes, like let's go after these prizes. It's worth it to get this right, to make these investments, because if we get it right, there's an opportunity to grow revenue, to grow profitably, to gain market share, right? So there's a, it's hard, okay? There's culture change and change, this is normal, okay? Digital transformation is not an easy thing to do. All companies go through, you know, different things, but it's worth it in the end. Yeah, and Infor has talked a lot at this show about new ways to work, what I call new ways to work. And I think there's some substance there. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Eric, thank you. And for the record, we are always open to new tricks. We do like new tricks. Okay. Good to have you with us. Okay, my pleasure, guys. Eric Norton from Accenture. Back with more on theCUBE, we are live here in Washington, DC.