Eric Hutchinson, CFO of FTSE 250 business Spirent Communications, says: "What we are seeing is that the pace of technological innovation is moving faster than human society and political structures can adapt."
"We are seeing that primary production activities - agriculture, extractive industries, material processing - require less and less human labour. Distribution and manufacturing are becoming fully automated, and now software development is being undertaken by computers and not humans."
This presents the world with a new challenge – to ensure that everyone receives an equitable share of wealth and an acceptable level of welfare, Hutchinson says.
"The answer is that we need to foster the development of service economies worldwide. Education is a critical path to autonomy and the economics of education is critical. The new economics needs to provide and price the enjoyment of culture, intellectual stimulation and interpersonal interactions in order to break the emphasis on demand for increasing volumes of material goods and throw-away, instant gratification."
But transforming business operating models is fraught with pitfalls, notes Richard Goold, executive director at transformation consultancy Moorhouse. "Many transformation projects fail because of poor leadership," he says.
"Executives and CFOs, in particular, need to be visible, loud proponents of change, and present a very compelling case to the rest of the business as to why transformation is so badly needed – perhaps not difficult in the current climate." But, as Goold warns, managing any kind of transformation is never easy – let alone the seismic changes that are affecting the current world's economy. It means coordinating work going on in different places and with people who may not see the solution in exactly the same way.
"A holistic approach is needed, with closely-fused work streams in areas such as business and functional design, governance and decision-making."
In fact, the key message of this year's WEF seemed to be a general agreement that things across the world's economy need to change. Unfortunately, not everybody agrees on what they need to change into. It's a conundrum that chief financial officers will need to help solve.
Goold adds: "The risks are great, but many CFOs realise that to survive, the status quo is simply not an option – else competitors better able to adapt will leapfrog ahead."
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