Overview
Cracking the Whip
Is finance dominating the buying process?
With a panel including:
Gareth Bailey, Head of Central Services, Logistics & IT Group, Marks & Spencer
Mark Evans, Chief Financial Officer, Vodafone Group Technology
and another major corporate CFO.
Our discussion point
The latest Sales & Marketing Forum will bring together a panel of senior Finance decision-makers and offer the audience of senior marketers a rare chance to explore a number of pressing questions.
This is a critical opportunity to examine the role of Finance and its relationship with departments including IT when it comes to major supplier decisions. Most suppliers understand that Finance’s role is increasingly important in an environment of strict cost-control – which is leading to an increasing level of communication targeted at the CFO and their team. But at the same time, Finance decision-makers are most likely to agree that suppliers do not understand how to communicate with them.
So against increasing levels of background noise, understanding the position, priorities, attitudes and behaviours of the Finance decision-maker could make all the difference to your competitive edge.
There are no universal right or wrong answers – the objective of this forum is to present views from a range of senior Finance decision-makers, with the opportunity to question them in a number of key areas...
- Where does Finance enter the decision-making process? (How is this changing and how does it differ between organisations?)
- How does Finance’s involvement differ for various kinds of purchase? (Major outsourcing deals, software requested by the business, IT transformation, solutions for the Finance department itself...)
- What does the typical structure of a Finance department mean for suppliers dealing with the organisation?
- How have suppliers best communicated their value to Finance? (What are the best examples of new and existing supplier relationships?)
- What are the real limits to Finance’s involvement? Can Finance really offer a way in, or is it just a rubber stamp?
This event is purely for a selected audience of senior executives from IT, outsourcing and consulting organisations. More information on the panel of speakers will be released soon, and will contribute to The Marketing Practice’s Enterprise Decision Maker panel.
Event details
Monday 7 December 2009
The Soho Hotel, London
Attendance is free but exclusively by invitation only.
Business dress
RSVP
Either RSVP to the invitation you have received, call Paul Everett on
01235 433510, or reply here.