Part 2 of our FD Interview Series: Looking Ahead with Andy

Welcome back to the second part of our Finance Director (FD) industry insights with Andy Thomson, Finance Director at Interior Goods Direct Limited, in conversation with Daniel Cossins, Associate Director at RSM UK. In this segment, we delve into the ever-changing business world and explore Andy’s career goals, the future of finance teams, and the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Career Goals and Strategic Insights

Andy shares his aspirations for the next five years, emphasising his focus on strategic involvement and driving business growth. He highlights the importance of understanding the market and leveraging automation to streamline processes, enabling teams to produce better management information and insights.

 

The Impact of AI on Finance Teams

As AI continues to shape the business landscape, Andy discusses its potential benefits for finance teams, particularly in data analysis and forward projections. He envisions AI enhancing forecasting accuracy and providing valuable insights for decision-making.

 

Challenges and Excitement Ahead

From sustainability initiatives to navigating the digital landscape, Andy reflects on the key challenges facing both individuals and businesses in the coming years. Despite these challenges, he remains excited about being involved in the growth plans of his company and seeing strategies come to fruition.

Click on the link below to watch the part 2 video to gain valuable insights from Andy.

Stay tuned for more thought-provoking discussions as we continue our FD Interview Series. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and LinkedIn channel to stay updated on the latest releases from the FD Interview Series.

 

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Danny: So welcome back to the second part of our FD industry with Andy. There’s been a change of personnel in the hot seats, and this stage is on looking ahead at the ever-changing business world.

 

Danny: What are your career goals for the next five years, and how are you planning for that?

Andy: I’ve joined a company recently in the last year, so learned a lot about the business. I think now I’ve got the basic groundwork done, is to really get involved in the strategic side of things, understand the market more, and see where, you know, the business can really go, and help with projecting the growth of that business.

 

Danny: What changes do you think you’ll see in a modern finance team in the next few years?

Andy: I would hopefully like to see a lot more automation and streamlining of processes. Finance, you know, outputs a lot of analysis. So would really want to see the shift from teams just inputting and producing data to having that part automated, streamlined, so that, you know, teams can then produce better management information and analyse it and add a bit more insight to the business. I think that’s a journey a lot of companies are on now.

 

Danny: AI is obviously a massive hot topic at the moment. How do you see AI affecting future finance teams?

Andy: It’s hard to say how it’ll affect it directly now. I do, within finance at Interior Goods Direct, there is a Business Intelligence team, and I can really see how, if we’re forecasting, you know, in terms of sales, take up rates from customers, that could really be a benefit for either interrogating the data, in terms of analysis, or forward projections, in terms of how we think customers might buy products.

 

Danny: What do you think the key challenges will be, both personally and for the business, over the next sort of two to five years?

Andy: In terms of challenges, I guess we are all trying to manufacture and operate, you know, in a sustainable way. I think that agenda will grow. At the moment, a lot of the reporting focuses on the business that you’ve got. And then, some of the challenges might be looking further back into the supply chain, what’s your, you know, sustainability footprint, looking further and further back during the supply chain, that’s building better relationships with suppliers, understanding that, and then making any decisions that you might need to based on that. Also, the world is, you know, it is a digital world. The business I’m in is an e-commerce business. So, it’s just maybe understanding those risks as the digital world evolves, you know, being a bit more cyber savvy, and reacting with the way the industry is going.

 

Danny: And, both personally and for the business, what are you most excited about over the next two to five years?

Andy: Having just joined in the last year a company, I guess it’s, you know, I was excited to join that company, I still am, it’s to be involved in the growth plans. I joined 11 months ago, a new MD joined 10 months ago, nine months ago. So, it’s really putting in place the strategy and seeing that to fruition really. So that will be exciting in my role, hopefully, for the whole business. That’s what I’m looking forward to.