Informatica CFO Fry Sees a Cloud Bringing IT, Finance Closer

04.03.2011
Earl Fry thinks of himself as the next generation of financial executive. As CFO for data integration software and services firm , NASDAQ traded as INFA, he not only oversees IT, but is compelled to be an active participant in the organization's technology decisions.

Fry, based in Redwood City, Calif., tells CFOworld's Sandra Gittlen that all finance officers should take an interest in IT, even if it's not under their direct purview, and to do otherwise would be a critical mistake.

I like to joke that I do everything nobody else wants to do. That includes finance, accounting, HR, facilities, legal, and investor relations. Of the more than 2,100 employees we have in about 18 countries, I have 420 reporting to me.

From the day I started, 11 years ago, I've had responsibility for IT. In the past, IT was seen as a backward-looking necessary cost to keep systems running and there was not a lot of forethought in terms of strategically looking at systems, managing data, scaling infrastructure -- it was severely underinvested in and struggling to keep up with growth.