Expanding Horizons: The Modern CFO and Their Innovative Duties

Megan - 00:00:26: my guest is Claire Bramley. Claire is Teradata's Chief Financial Officer, and she is responsible for leading the functions of finance, information technology, analytics and security, enterprise risk, and operations. Claire brings a proven track record of leading large-scale fiscal and operational disciplines, driving financial and strategic planning, and proactive risk management. With extensive senior leadership experience and deep acumen in corporate finance and accounting, as well as excellent knowledge of the technology industry, Claire joined Teradata after serving as global controller of HP Inc.. There, she was responsible for financial controls and compliance, external reporting, and coordinating directly with the company's audit committee. Additionally, she headed HP's finance strategy and transformation efforts, and oversaw corporate financial planning and analysis. Previously, Claire served in roles of increasing responsibility within HP's finance function, including Head of Finance for Europe, Middle East, and Africa, where she oversaw the company's 17 million EMEA business, Claire was also Vice President, Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis at HP, where she supported all business units that collectively exceeded $100 billion in revenue. Prior to HP, she served as Acting CFO, Finance Controller, and Head of Financial Analysis and reporting at SSP Group, PLC, a leading operator of food and beverage outlets and travel locations worldwide. Claire holds a Bachelor of Science in accounting and Financial Management from the Loughborough University. In Loughborough, UK. She certified public accountant and a chartered management accountant. Claire, thank you so much for being my guest on today's episode of CFO Weekly.

Claire - 00:02:39: Thank you, Megan. It's an absolute pleasure to be here.

Megan - 00:02:41: Yeah, today I'm excited about this topic. We're going to be talking about the modern CFO, how technology and AI are reshaping the CFO's responsibility, and defining what a successful executive looks like. And Claire, I'm looking forward to learning about you and your experiences with this topic. So, thank you so much for joining us. So, let's jump right in.

Claire - 00:03:01: Sounds great.

Megan - 00:03:02: First, to start, can you just give us a little bit of background about yourself and your career to date?

Claire - 00:03:07: Absolutely. So as you said, Megan, I'm currently the CFO of Teradata, which is a software company that works both on premise and in the cloud and is really focused around data and analytics and enabling our customers to get the best from the huge amounts of data that they have within their organizations and especially focused on leveraging that opportunity within AI. And interestingly, you said the topic was about a modern CFO. What I find in my role here at Teradata is it is much more than just the financial. So my responsibilities currently include strategy and transformation. They include cybersecurity and IT. They include real estate and procurement in addition to risk management, corporate development, and as you would expect as the CFO, the financial operations as well. So I think companies like Teradata are all leveraging the CFOs and the CFO organizations to help support the company end-to-end is really exciting opportunity for all of us as a team and means that we have to continue to grow and develop. I've been very lucky in terms of the different experiences that I've had that are helping me to fulfill my role here at Teradata. I started out in technology in the UK. Hopefully you can still tell I have a British accent. I'm originally from the UK, started in technology, also worked for Compass Group and SSP, which people may not have heard of them, but they're in the kind of catering retail entertainment business. So every time you go to an airport, every time you go to an office, every time you go to a railway station, I can guarantee you that SSP, for example, are behind the scenes running some of those operations. So I have always been interested in finance. Believe it or not, Megan, I started interested in finance at the age of 14. I think my parents assumed it wouldn't continue. But yeah, I started really young.

Megan - 00:05:05: What did 14, I'm just curious, what did 14 spark your interest?

Claire - 00:05:10: So in the UK, we have something called GCSEs and you start to expand different topics that you can study. And I started learning about business studies and immediately I was attracted to the fact that the financials and the way that a business does financially has a huge impact on decisions that companies make. And we did a lot of business cases and company examples through our business studies. And I did that from the age of 14 through to 18. And I think that really influenced exploring more. How do you get into a role where you can be part of the data, part of the financials, but also part of the company decision making? How can you influence the company to do things differently based on the data? And I think that's where I got the excitement from and interest at 14. Now, I don't think any of us expected me to actually go into finance. But I did at the age of 18. It was still my first choice. So I did accounting and financial management at university in the UK. Then I went on to do my chartership and I haven't looked back since. So I did start very early with this interest in finance and just, I think, just curious about how a company runs its financials, the importance of cash, the importance of the P&L, the direction and the decisions that the different executives have to make and what kind of information can help enable those. I'm sure my thinking, at the age of 14, it wasn't anywhere near as sophisticated. Just that interest, that curiousness of data driving decisions and influencing outcomes at companies was what attracted to me to start with. One of the big turning points I would say in my career was going to HP. And I think the advantage of HP is they had an environment there where they really focused on developing people. It didn't matter which function you were in. They wanted to give you opportunity. But particularly in finance, I was lucky enough to have a CFO who really wanted to broaden people's experiences, give different people opportunities. And as a result, through HP, I was able to globally move around the world. I first of all went to Europe and worked in Switzerland and Geneva, Switzerland at our European head office there. Then I had the opportunity to move to California. Then I went back to Switzerland, back to California. And all through HP, just doing different roles. Sometimes I was supporting the sales team. Sometimes I was doing corporate FP&A. And ultimately, through different opportunities, I ended up being the global controller at HP. I also was their CFO for their Europe, Middle East, and Africa business. So, just was really given that opportunity, to broaden my experience, have different experiences in different countries and different roles. And I think that really enabled me to grow those opportunities, to get the global perspective, to see it from a country view, to see it from a corporate view, and be able to connect the dots and different perspectives. So that was something that was really helpful and enabling in my career and ultimately what enabled me to become a CFO here at Teradata. I've learned a lot from that. And that's how I see my role now to give back to teams, give back to employees. And so I'm always looking at how can I do the same? So looking at how can I rotate people into new roles? How can I give them new opportunities? Because I think that is really significant change into people's perspectives and how people can continue to grow and develop.

Megan - 00:08:38: Yeah, absolutely. And I'm just curious, having been through like multiple roles and different organizations with HP, have you carried that forward at Teradata? And if so, how?

Claire - 00:08:50: Yeah, absolutely. So one of the first things I actually did within my organization, which is finance, IT, real estate, as I mentioned, I have enabled a rotation program, for example, to be able to encourage people to move to new roles. Even people on my team have taken on new responsibilities that potentially they wouldn't have thought that they would be responsible for. And sometimes people are really excited and really pushing for more responsibilities. And some people are actually wanting to just stay where they are and haven't thought about the different things that they can do. So I think it's important to have those conversations to open people's mind, to just put ideas out there, not to force them. I don't think we should be forcing people, but just to encourage. And I have done that a lot at Teradata. And the other thing I do, you don't necessarily need to change roles, but get involved in different programs, get involved into end-to-end processes, rather than just focusing on your particular area. So get involved in the upstream and the downstream element of an area that you're working in. So I encourage that a lot from all of my teams and also encourage real strong cross-functional collaboration. I think that's another way you can get experiences, another way that you can learn, grow and develop.

Megan - 00:10:08: Yeah, that's amazing. I'm always perplexed by organizations that make it difficult to rotate out of a function and trying to like pigeonhole people these days. To me, that's just backwards.

Claire - 00:10:20: Exactly. And it's short-sighted. I think the main reason people do that is because they're worried about the gap it could create or the fact that it creates more work to have to find a replacement and train them up. But it's very short-sighted because the benefit that I see, whether it's me personally or people on my team, is when you really have an end-to-end view, when you can look at things from different perspectives, you have better ideas, you are able to implement things more efficiently, you're able to come up with better ways to innovate and to grow. I really think you can add more value when you've had those different experiences. I think it's very short-sighted and I would encourage everyone out there, even if it's painful, if there's an opportunity for someone on your teams to try something new and do something different, encourage them to do it because it's motivating, it's engaging for them, but also ultimately as an individual, they will bring back more to your team. And more to the organization than they would have done previously.

Megan - 00:11:19: That's great advice. And looking at the role of CFO and the finance organization, how have you seen it evolve over the last, let's say, decade? And where do you see it heading?

Claire - 00:11:30: I think, Megan, to your point, it has evolved a lot. I think traditionally people just saw it as running the financial operations, running the reporting, the accounting, the disclosures, the revenue recognition, all of those things, collecting the cash. And that is still very important. And you have to have those fundamentals strong, efficient, and agile in the organization. But I think as a CFO, and in many roles, it doesn't matter if you're the Chief Accounting Officer, it doesn't matter if you're the CFO, it doesn't matter if you're the head of FP&A, what you need to be looking at is much broader strategic leadership and business partnership. We have to be working closely with the business on everything that they are doing to be a true business partner. I say to my team, our job is to enable the business. It's not just to run the financials. It's not just to close the books. It's not just to create a forecast. It is to enable the business. That's why we can add value. So I think that that has evolved over the last decade. I think it continues to evolve. And I think CFOs specifically are spending a lot more time and energy and effort on that strategic leadership and business partnership. I think some other areas that I would highlight as well, digital transformation, not just in finance, but from a company standpoint. And I think we'd all agree the technology has evolved hugely over the last decade and will continue to evolve in the future. And I think the role of finance and the CFO is really important in making sure that we drive that digital transformation from a functional standpoint, but also a company end-to-end standpoint. And there's many different ways that we can get involved in that. And it's not just about the investment and not just about the return on investment. It's where are the areas that we can potentially make operational efficiencies? Where are the areas that we can potentially improve our analysis and insights to drive better decision making? So there's a lot around, that digital transformation area that I think has evolved. Couple of other quick areas that I think I'll mention. Cross-functional collaboration. I mentioned it in terms of opportunities for development, but I think as a role of the CFO these days, we have that exclusive end-to-end view of what everyone's doing. And I think there is an opportunity for us to ensure that everybody is talking to each other, that everybody is aligned. And when they're not aligned, to bring people together and have those conversations to be able to find alignment. It takes time effort to really truly collaborate. And I think the role of the CFO these days is to ensure that's what the company is doing and can do more of. And then finally, I think we were talking about it, people development, talent development. It is all about the people in our teams. No one team is about the individual. It's not about me as the CFO. It's not even about the people on my direct leadership team. The whole team needs to be engaged. The whole team bring value. And I think that how we develop and how we engage our teams is really important. So they're just a few of the many evolutions I think we've seen over the past decade. And I continue to focus on other areas I didn't mention, for example, like sustainability and social responsibility. That's an area that CFOs are either driving or co-sponsors for. I know I am here at Teradata. Those kind of initiatives. So there's many things. And I think that makes the role of finance, not just the CFO, but the role of finance really exciting. And I think it's where there's, I would say, white spaces, there's always an opportunity for us to pick that up. And I think that's. That's what I've seen here at Teradata. Why I've ended up with many different functions is if you see an opportunity, you know, don't shy away from it. Take it. Offer to help. Offer to lean in. And I think that's where the modern CFO can really make a difference. And how

Megan - 00:15:24: do you foster an environment of collaboration? How are you making sure that you're collaborating across the business rather than just giving departments their budget? And here you go. This is what it is.

Claire - 00:15:35: Yeah, we do have to create budgets. Naturally, it is part of the role. But the most important thing that I believe drives collaboration is being willing to listen. I think being willing to listen, but also to listen and to understand. When I talk to my team, many of us, including myself, I think sometimes we listen to what someone's saying. We're preparing our response as they're speaking to us. We're like, oh, yes, I've got an example of that. Oh, yes, I've seen that, or let me tell my story. Let me give my perspective. And what I think it's really important for us to do is to listen and to understand what they're saying and not listen to respond. And I think there's a very big difference to that and being curious and asking questions and really digging into different perspectives. And I think listening and being curious, but also making sure that we are speaking to people from different functions, from different teams. I do a lot of skittling. I meet with the direct reports of my peers, whether it's in product, whether it's in customer support, whether it's in go-to-market. I try to have regular one-to-ones across the organization and also down through the organization to really listen to what they're seeing, listen to what their perspectives are. And I think that is a really helpful way to drive collaboration because you can't collaborate if you don't understand. You can't collaborate if you're not willing to listen, then you have to use other skills like influencing to be able to drive the best outcome for the company.

Megan - 00:17:11: And at Teradata, you lead a company that's at the forefront of cloud analytics and AI. So how have you seen these technologies reshape your approach to financial decision making? What specific tools have you found to be most transformative?

Claire - 00:17:27: Yeah, absolutely. To your point, Teradata is building the new technologies like AI. We've had AI and ML built into our software for many years, but how we're leveraging generative AI as we look forward, how we're using that data is not only critical to our customers, but it's critical to us as a company as well. And we pride ourselves on being customer zero. So everything that we're proposing, the new products, the new innovation that is coming to the market through Teradata is something that we pride ourselves on delivering, executing, and benefiting from first. So we're customer zero. So I am using Teradata's software and analytical capabilities and everything that we're doing from a financial standpoint, for example. So whether it's closing the books, whether it's doing our forecasting, whether it's doing our long range plan, we're using it across our people function. We're using it across our customer support area. We're using it across marketing. And there's so many different use cases out there. And we're obviously presenting these to our customers as well, but we are using them ourselves. And it's amazing how much better your discussions are as a leadership team when it's based on data. You're not having a discussion about whose data is correct. You're not having a discussion about, well, I've got this number, you've got that number, or I've got this information, you've got that information. When you're looking at the same data, the discussions are much more higher quality. And then you can use the analytics to say, okay, what do we anticipate that meaning for the future? So it's not just looking at what I call lagging indicators and lagging data. It can help turn that into leading indicators and leading information that can help you do scenario analysis. For example, you know, whether it's our spend, whether it's our ARR, we do a large amount of scenario analysis to say, okay, if then type analysis, and we can use technology, we can use AI/ML and generative AI, even, to us with all of that analysis. And it does drive a lot of value. Now you need to have human interaction and human intervention, and you need to think about the compliance side and the ethics side of it. But we definitely shouldn't be afraid to embrace some of this technology because it makes us more efficient. It makes us bring more value and data insights to what we're doing rather than just going with people's maybe gut feel. We can actually use the data to help make those decisions.

Megan - 00:19:52: And how do you foster an environment of agility? And when you're innovative, it necessarily requires failure and for that to be okay. So how is it that you make it okay to fail amongst your team?

Claire - 00:20:05: Yeah, great question, Megan. I think everyone will agree at every level in normalization, nobody likes to fail. Nobody appreciates it. But I think to your point, being able to learn quickly from mistakes and to adapt on the go and therefore be agile is really important. And I think technology helps you do that. And so I think it's really important not to have the blame game. And that's something that we've been developing. We've got a great culture here at Teradata. Teradata, everyone has a seat at the table. That's what attracted me to Teradata in the first place. It's very diverse. It's very open and full of trust. And I think that having those difficult conversations, and it's not about who did what wrong and pointing the finger. It's about, okay, we have an issue. How do we solve it going forward? What do we need to learn from those mistakes? And how do we quickly adapt and change going forward? And naturally, some things we do really well, and other times maybe a little bit too slow, or we potentially didn't adapt quick enough. And I think the most important thing is that we learn and we don't point fingers and we change the way that we're moving forward. And we do that together. We do that as a leadership team. We do that as a company. And we do that in a trustworthy way.

Megan - 00:21:18: And you've talked about the role of CFO expanding. I've heard it even referred to as the chief everything officer these days. So how do you balance more traditional responsibilities like reporting with increasing strategic responsibilities like guiding the business, transforming the business and innovating?

Claire - 00:21:39: I think it's something that I'm forever looking at and saying, have I got it right? And I don't think any of us have got it perfectly right. But again, it is really important that we empower our teams. Having the right team, having the right leaders on the team that you can trust to bring to you anything that they are concerned about, to know that you've got the right processes and checks and balances in place. There's lots of things I could say in the foundations that you can set up and run smoothly, but you've got to not be afraid to jump into the details. If there's a problem, if there's an issue, you've got to just dive in and be available to your team. So what I try to do is make sure that I have regular time with all of my leaders, that we're talking about progress. We're talking about where things that are going well, things that may be not going well. And do we have a plan to mitigate that? And be very clear with them. It's like, how can I help you? Where are the barriers? Where are the roadblocks? What are the things that you need help from me on? And the way I think about it in terms of where am I spending the time is like, is this something that only I can do? So, you know, is this something that I am bringing value to? Or am I sitting on a call with 10, 15 people and all of them can probably either do it better than me or can do it equal to me? Because if they can, and I'm not bringing value, then I should just enable them, empower them and trust them and trust that they will come to me if they need my help. So I really think about as I go through all the meetings that we have, when I go through where I'm spending my time, I kind of look back and say, okay, was I bringing value? Was I doing something that only I can do or was I just a backup for somebody else who already has that covered? And I think that's really good every week or every couple of weeks to take a step back, look at where you spent your time and categorize it into, was I bringing value? Was it the right balance between the financial fundamentals as we've talked about, driving the business, strategy, technology, people, engagement, development? Am I really spending the time in the right places? I think the other thing that has helped us as a team is to keep looking at our priorities, like keep reminding ourselves these were our priorities. Are we on track to deliver? If we're not on track, do we need to pivot? And to realign and be agile as we go through the year. So not set of priorities that then never change, even when it might be blowing them away, you might be missing them. It's important to keep coming back to that and saying, okay, do we need to adjust? Do we need to adapt? Are we on track? Are we doing what we thought we would do? Or if not, how do we need to change? And I think all of that you do as a team is really important. You need your team. You need a strong leadership team. You need to have trust between the team. Not just me, and my team across each other. You need to support each other and help each other out. But you also need to be reflective and really be thinking about where am I spending my time? More importantly, where am I not spending my time that I should be? And how can I adapt?

Megan - 00:24:49: You touched on generative AI, but where are you personally in your generative AI journey? How are you guys using it?

Claire - 00:24:57: Yeah, so we have it built into how we are using our data, financials, how we're using customer support, how we're using sales, forecasting and analysis. So there's a number of different areas. What I would say is we also have launched, for example, different generative AI type software like Copilot. We've offered that out to all our senior leadership team so they can leverage it. So it's built into kind of everything we do, whether it's PowerPoint, Outlook. We're leveraging both external software generative AI, but we're also leveraging our own Teradata software and the AI value proposition within our own software. What I would say, though, is I think some areas of generative AI immediately have a return on investment. We did a pilot, for example, for some of the generative AI work that we're implementing, and you could see the productivity impact. You could see how it's benefiting. So we're like, okay, let's roll this out more broadly. I think other areas we're still assessing. We're still deciding, does this make sense? Is it really driving the outcome and the benefits that we were expecting or that we would like to see? No company has an infinite amount of money to spend on technology, to spend on software, to spend on R&D. So I think it's really important to have those regular check-ins and regular reviews to say, okay, what did we expect to be the outcome, the benefit? Is it meant to drive growth? Is it meant to drive margins? Is it meant to just drive improved quality and outcomes? Being clear on what the objective was up front from using generative AI and then ultimately looking at that, reviewing that and saying, okay, are we seeing what we expected to see or what we hope to see? And if not, why not? And making sure that maybe sometimes you have to pull back from that. But I think every function in Teradata, most companies are doing this. Every function in Teradata doesn't matter if it's a people organization, doesn't matter if it's the law team. Everybody is leveraging, generative AI in different ways. And in finance, we're doing the same. So it doesn't matter if it's investor relations, doesn't matter if it's internal audit, doesn't matter if it's that kind of order management or accounts receivable payroll teams. We're all looking at ways to how can we improve our personal efficiencies, how can we improve our end-to-end processes? And is generative AI one of the things that can help us along the way?

Megan - 00:27:19: And with a growing reliance on AI and advanced technologies, how do you ensure that your team still has the fundamentals? And that AI doesn't become a black box that just spits something out and people take it at its word?

Claire - 00:27:33: That's a very good point. So I think my team very much are still at that stage of, okay, do we need to double check? What is that confidence levels? On our journey, it's very much running things in parallel. So let's say sales forecasting, for example, what does the generative IA model tell us? But what would our sales teams, finance teams also tell us? So what we did to start with is do very much parallel type analysis, because to your point, you don't have full confidence, and especially some of the early analysis. Now, I think as you start to see accuracy data and accuracy information coming from some of these models, then you can start to pull away from the manual side as well. But I think we were cautiously conservative around how much we rely on it to start with. And I think just over time, experience and results are what drive that comfort level. But I would definitely encourage people to use that kind of parallel run first and not just go full in and rely on everything that comes out from a generative AI standpoint. And I think the software has got much better. It always says this could be wrong, or please double check. And there's always caveats. And I think it's important that we do factor that in. It's not perfect. It is, at the end of the day, it is system generated. So what I would encourage is if there's a feeling that something doesn't feel right, look right, keep double clicking, keep digging into, the analysis or the information to make sure that you've got full confidence in it.

Megan - 00:29:05: And last question, but what do you think defines a successful CFO in today's rapidly evolving business environment?

Claire - 00:29:13: Great question, Megan. I think it is a mix of skills. I think you do have to be strong from a financial fundamental standpoint, but I think being able to partner with the business, being able to be technology savvy to drive digital transformation, to really help enable and drive collaboration across the company, develop your teams, and just to communicate. One of the things and skills that maybe historically in finance we haven't focused on as much, but I have really to the point of giving my teams training and coaching in terms of communication, because we have a lot of great information. We have a lot of great insights. We have a lot of great perspectives to give, but you have, to communicate it in a way that people listen, that people understand, and that people can act on. Otherwise, all of that work that you've done is wasted. Do not underestimate the power of communication, the importance of communication, because ultimately all of the things that I mentioned, whether it's business partnership, collaboration, people development, if you can't communicate that and bring people along the journey, influence people through communication, then you're not really driving that value. So ultimately, I would say, make sure that you've got the fundamentals in place. Make sure you're taking a step back and thinking of the bigger picture and a strategic business partnership, but ultimately ensure that you're communicating in a way that people listening to you, but also understanding, because that ultimately will drive different outcomes.

Megan - 00:31:00: Yeah, that's really great advice. And yeah, I've heard it referred to as storytelling.

Claire - 00:31:06: Absolutely. And that's the way storytelling is a way that you can put it into perspective. You can explain to people in a way that they can relate to, especially if people are not necessarily financially astute or don't have a big, deep understanding of finance. If you can take away all the technical jargon, if you take away all of the accounting ways of thinking about it and put it into a salesperson's perspective, put it into a marketing person's perspective, if you can do that through storytelling and through communication, it adds a huge amount of value.

Megan - 00:31:42: Thank you so much for being my guest today.

Claire - 00:31:44: It's been an absolute pleasure, Megan. Thank you so much for your time. And I hope that people find it interesting and helpful.

Megan - 00:31:50: Yeah, I really enjoyed speaking with you. And thanks for finding the time to be here with us today. I wish you and Teradata all the best. And to our listeners, please tune in next week. And until then, take care.