2021-08-11-Gartner-CFO_Guide_to_Performance-Managing_Digital_Investments_16页_538kb

CFO's Guide to Managing Enterprise Digital Investments Summary

Overview: This report outlines how CFOs can effectively manage digital investments through a product funding model, emphasizing dynamic governance and value tracking to optimize and transform business operations.

Key Findings:

• Ineffective value tracking is the primary obstacle to successful financial governance,阻碍 72% of IT leaders.
• Standard metrics inadequately capture digital value due to its uncertainty, interdependence, and nonfinancial outcomes.
• Digital investments require more dynamic governance processes compared to traditional investments.

Recommendations for CFOs:

• Broaden metrics by incorporating product-level financial data and nonfinancial operational metrics (e.g., Net Promoter Score, user engagement).
• Adapt metrics to digital investment stages (startup, adoption, growth, maturity) to support continuous monitoring and funding decisions.
• Enhance two-way communication through dashboards and value tracking to improve transparency and stakeholder engagement.

Analysis Highlights: The shift to product-based funding provides flexibility, but requires dynamic metrics tied to execution stages and uncertainty levels. Case studies demonstrate how companies like Mars and Johnson & Johnson implement behavioral and stage-gated metrics for better investment outcomes.

Case Studies: Mars uses user engagement scores for early investment reallocation; Johnson & Johnson employs an iterative funding model tied to uncertainty reduction; Vista creates benefits-tracking dashboards for improved resource allocation.

Conclusion: CFOs must adopt dynamic value tracking and governance to realize full digital value, ensure alignment with business priorities, and drive funding to high-impact initiatives.