FCs at the IT coalface

There's no room to be choosy about your roles at mid-sized companies, especially not if you're FD or even financial controller. So it's good to see an FC speaking out at the Best of British Manufacturing IT conference. "Nigel Nash, financial controller at vitamins and minerals supplier LycoRed, will describe how his company moved to an agile ERP environment consistent with food industry requirements, enabling it to compete with much larger rivals on flexibility, speed, lead times and quality of service." Getting stuck into this kind of project - which any ambitious FC probably will do if their business is even remotely up-to-date technologically - is an absolute must. Not only will it give you the technical smarts and project experience that look so good on the CV - getting a single view of the business you're already in can only make the job easier, more fun and free up time for more sophisticated (and interesting) analytical and strategic roles. Nice one.

UPDATE: Missed this story in a similar vein, quoting GNER financial controller Tim Kavanagh about the train operator's new EPOS system. Intimate knowledge of that kind of project is a major plus if you have ambitions outside the finance function, of course. But then, with the board clear-out at GNER last month - which saw rail division FC Tom Fielden promoted to FD - it's hardly surprising that there are opportunities there to get your fingers into different pies...