Artificial intelligence holds great promise for the finance function — but it’s important to remember that “something doesn't need to be dramatically new for it to be really relevant and applicable,” said Suresh Bala, newly minted chief product and technology officer for Cube Software.

Especially when it comes to melding technology to fit the needs of the CFO — as opposed to the other way around — it’s important to a focus on its true applicability, Bala said in an interview, noting that he doesn’t “believe in innovation for the sake of innovation.”

A long-time alum of the software space, Bala joined the New York-based Cube, which offers FP&A software products, this month as their first CPTO as the company secured $20 million in new financing to advance their financial planning software, according to a company announcement. The funding will be used to help improve their software’s speed, usability and flexibility, Bala said, as well as applied to see how tools like AI and machine learning can best be incorporated into FP&A solutions.

For Bala, that means infusing AI in a way that keeps the focus on, “what are the objectives of the office of the CFO?” he said. “What are the goals that they have? And then how do we evolve our solution to truly meet what they are? That should be the driver.”

Supporting the strategic CFO  

Bala’s role at Cube will surround figuring out how to offer products and technologies that meet the needs of today’s CFOs “and really supports them, especially in the planning and analysis kind of space,” he said.

Bala is no stranger to this type of challenge; before joining Cube, he worked at human resources and finance software provider Workday for four years most recently as its VP of industry products, joining as part of its $1.5 billion acquisition of financial planning provider Adaptive Insights in 2018. His work included focusing on a product called Workday adaptive planning, which was also focused on the CFO.

Figuring out what today’s finance chiefs need from technology is especially critical as the role of the modern CFO continues to shift to that of a more strategic player than a pure numbers position.

“What I think the CFO brings to the table is the ability to quantify, where we are, where we are going, and why does it make sense,” he said in terms of the finance chief’s strategic role in a company. “And that's a really remarkable evolution.”

Today’s finance chiefs are taking on more and more strategic responsibilities, becoming the point person when it comes to executing on both the businesses’ short and long-term goals, which means keeping track of a vast amount of data.

“As the technology person, what to me is fascinating is, okay, if that is what the charter of the CFO is…what kinds of technologies, what kind of enablement can be done to fully support that and make that a reality?” he said. “Where you really are making these data driven decisions, and helping the organization get more systematic about defining what you're going to do?”

Easing the data burden

Solving the question of how to best aggregate and utilize data is a familiar problem for businesses, but one that still represents a significant burden — and which is landing with more frequently at CFOs’ doors.

“A good part of the CFO’s evolving responsibilities are around data governance,” Bala said, in part because finance chiefs are in some ways the customers of so much of that data. Introducing new technologies like AI represents an opportunity to ease that burden Cube will be looking to execute on with its new funding, according to the company’s announcement.

Still, Cube is drawing on new funds and Bala’s expertise at a time when AI’s potential has not been lost on anyone — including other financial technology providers. While AI funding has slowed somewhat, it still “remains the one clear bright spot in an otherwise somber fundraising environment,” with AI startups raising $42.5 billion across 2,500 equity rounds in 2023, according to a February report by CB Insights.

Furthermore, players like Microsoft have moved quickly on AI, leveraging its partnership with OpenAI to bring the technology across its enterprise offerings. It launched its AI-powered Copilot tool for finance teams in February, CFO Dive previously reported.

What CFOs are searching for, however, is a single tool that encompasses the entire spectrum of predictive analytics from data, to modeling, to forecasting and scenario analysis, Bala said.

“That completeness is, I'm pretty convinced, what the CFO needs…because that's how they can rapidly respond to their stakeholders,” he said.