Narula: I would say, generally speaking, I’ll give you a general answer. Then what has changed for me in the last two years, I’ll say that in more detail.
Generally speaking, for technology companies, talent is the biggest asset. We might say IP is, but talent, without the talent, there’s no IP, there’s no customer also. So I do feel talent, especially for a technology company, software company, is extremely important because that’s where innovation happens, all of that stuff.
And previously, we all used to be in the office, we would have the structure perspective of, hey, we need to be all together to be productive. That one has changed over the last two years for me. I think individuals need to be motivated. They need to be focused on can I take more responsibilities? Can I help the company more? Can I help the organization, my team more? So being a team player, having a career aspirations, being more engaged is a lot more important than seeing somebody every day in the office a lot. I do come to the office regularly, but half the time, most of the time, people are not there. But the quality of the work, productivity of the team has gone up.
Read MoreSo I do feel my perspectives about talent has changed. The importance of talent has not changed. It’s so important. It’s one of the most important aspect, which is important. But what perspective has changed is that we want to be… With such a key asset, which is talent, I have become more flexible in terms of my understanding, perspective. Hey, you can be as productive wherever you are, whether you are in Hawaii or whether you’re working from home, or whether you’re working in the office, or in the morning or evening. I think more engaged individuals, wherever they are, is a critical step.
And I think one of the key elements that talent, which has lots of career aspirations, which is very motivated. That’s one of the things which is a little bit hard because if you are not meeting those individuals in person, how do you identify the talent and say, okay, this is somebody I need to invest my time in. How do I support this individual so they can grow in their career, whether within the company or even outside. I think that’s one of the responsibilities of a CFO, identify the talent, who they can support and in their career, in their team’s career journey.
So I feel that piece has become slightly challenging because not everybody comes to the office. So it’s my responsibility, other leader’s responsibility to reach out to the individuals and help support them. But overall, talent is critical for any organization and especially for technology company like FinancialForce.
CFO GUEST: Ravi Narula of Financial Force
EPISODE: #869: Sharpening its Customer Focus