Digital change in controlling: overview

Dr. Klaus Eiselmayer: First and foremost, it means sensitizing our customers and preparing them for the subject of digitalization with suitable offers, which for many means having to jump on a train that has already set off, which is why you can’t stay lying on the tracks - please allow me this drastic comparison. Exactly for this reason, digitalization has been part of our training programs for quite some time.

Dorothee Deyhle: For us as a training institute, it is also very important to encourage our participants. We want to help them to position themselves well for the coming challenges with the right know-how. We want to encourage our participants to see digital transformation as an opportunity to successfully transform themselves with new skills. We help them to take advantage of the new opportunities created by the change and to grow into new exciting tasks.

Within our training formats today, we offer our customers a range of digital learning opportunities.

Eiselmayer: Under the name "CA on Air" we conduct numerous video trainings, live webinars or, with management reports, an accompanied online training. Our seminar "Level I – Controller’s Best Practice" is also available in blended learning format. Here you can complete the curriculum of 5 days by editing the training material of two days in our learning environment online at your free time, no matter where you are. Self-tests and consultations with the trainer support your learning. This is followed by a 3-day classroom seminar, in which the practical application of the content is deepened and the aspects of presentation, group performance and moderation are treated and trained.

Eiselmayer: This question has moved many of our participants, so in 2016 we started a seminar tour ("Controlling on the Move") on digitalization: "Controlling excellence in the age of digitalization" led repeatedly to 14 cities last autumn to discuss the topic with the responsible controllers and managers.

Deyhle: Above all, digitalization requires better knowledge in the area of IT, Internet, analytics, programming, statistics, etc. We believe that the expansion of skills in these areas is extremely important. That is why our theme world "information management" is constantly growing in diversity. It deals with the facets of digitalization: data acquisition, business intelligence and Big Data, as well as data analysis, predictive and advanced analytics, or management information design, such as design of dashboards. Here our participants have the opportunity to make an apprenticeship with very different qualification emphases for the Certified Information Manager CA.

In order to successfully cope with the digital transformation, existing business models must be reviewed on a sustainable basis and agile working methods and innovation must be promoted. For this we have e.g. special seminars in the program, such as Effectuation, Lean Management or Agile Project Management. And in 2018 there will be a symposium on business model development and innovation for the first time.

As a provider of training and further education, we are constantly challenged to adapt our product portfolio with regard to current developments, also in the constant exchange with our customers about their current and future needs. In order to provide specialist and management-relevant knowledge and to advise companies well, we must stand by the "pulse of the times" and help drive the development in corporate management. But this also means being well connected and having a continuous exchange of experience with other organizations, universities, the International Group of Controlling IGC and especially with our partner, the International Association of Controllers ICV.

Eiselmayer: Controllers have sometimes very different CVs. Many have studied business administration, business informatics or industrial engineering. Depending on the content of the study program and the practical experience gained, accounting, modern controlling applications, information management, corporate management and / or social skills should be expanded / supplemented. For this we have set up five own theme worlds at the CA controller akademie.

Some controllers are already practitioners coming from manufacturing, sales, R & D or banking education, looking for taking on a new challenge. Here, the need for basic controlling concepts and their practical application is slightly different.

Deyhle: Controlling is still a process that requires people to work together. New technical possibilities and the automation of standard tasks give controllers freedom and thus the opportunity for further development. It will be important to use these and to expand their competencies. So to become a Business Partner 4.0 who can be not only controller, but also accountant, IT pro, analyst, moderator and coach, and also strategic consultant, change agent and innovator.

Eiselmayer: Here I would answer with a clear "yes and no". In my consulting practice, I meet organizations that are "mature" in terms of a controlling life cycle or those still at the beginning. In the field of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), in research institutions or spin-offs from the "state enterprise" I have worked for some organizations / companies that introduce controlling. There are topics in need there that others have already taken for granted.

Digitalization eliminates the need to manually create standard reports. Some companies have successfully implemented this and already have a "digital boardroom" on their own. However, in many companies reports are still (laboriously) created with Excel.

At the moment it turns out that some education and training contents have become less important, which I attribute as a change of time. The major changes due to digitalization are still to come.

Gleich: There are two facets: the digitalization of processes and the digitalization of things, keyword Internet of Things, IoT. Naturally, as the Horváth Academy, we want to and must integrate everything that includes digitalization aspects. This concerns the contents of our offers for controllers. We therefore offer seminars such as "Digitalization & Industry 4.0 in Controlling".

Of course, a lot changes also within the existing classic tasks, for example in forecasting. The still manual or partially manual processes for the creation are increasingly automated. This particularly applies to reporting. Where time-consuming work was necessary in the past, today statistics and graphics are created completely automatically on the basis of the generated data. Strictly speaking, within a company there is no longer a process without a digital impulse.

But even as a provider, we are affected by digitalization. It is self-evident that we also offer "blended learning" - a combination of classroom instruction and training with e-learning.

Gleich: Some processes will continue to change dramatically. Of course, as a provider, we have to map that by working with digital models and appropriate software. In addition, we secure qualified scientific support in the person of Prof. Dr. Andreas Seufert, Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences. The trend of development in general, but also in controlling is clear: less human, more machine. But that does not apply to the areas of strategy and innovation! Here the man is still irreplaceable.

Gleich: The controller is increasingly becoming a "Business Analyst" and a "Data Scientist" with the corresponding technical requirements. Controllers have to continue education, for example in the areas of statistical methods, regression analyzes and variance analyzes. You have to know and be able to apply methods. It is of course important to deal with it again and again and to test it, because the development goes on and on. Basically, more and more market knowledge is expected from the controller, so that they can qualify as a business partner of the management on an equal footing and could be recognized as such.

Gleich: It's not so much the content as the tools that have evolved. The basic knowledge is still in demand, certainly enhanced by some new topics. However, tools such as Excel programs for planning and reporting are increasingly losing relevance.