Successful CFOs of today understand that they must be strategic and long-term in their thinking. This means not only finding ways to create ongoing value for their companies, but also having the foresight to be smart about and make the most of their investments - both in terms of tech and talent.
Mikkel Hippe Brun, co-founder and general manager, payment automation from Tradeshift, said the events of the last few years have brought the finance department - and the CFO - firmly into the spotlight. Business is evolving at warp speed, and companies that can’t respond to new challenges in a timely and effective way may face a crisis of reputation. With this concept in the foreground, two areas have emerged as essential investment priorities for many companies in today’s market: technology and talent. As far as technology goes, according to new research from Tradeshift with CFO Dive, 74% of senior finance professionals say that macroeconomic pressures have led them to continue to prioritize technology investments, while 38% said these pressures have led them to increase their technology investments by up to a quarter.
Alternatively, CFOs are split in terms of how satisfied they are with the amount of time they’re spending on talent development, with 48% reporting that they are satisfied in this area and 35% reporting that they need more time for it.
As CFOs continue to tackle their shifting roles, understanding how technology and talent intermingle to play into their plans for future success will be crucial. So far, the research shows that they don’t seem to have come to a consensus, even as they do understand the critical value of both.
The CFO take on technology investments
CFOs seem uncertain about their recent tech investments. While they profess themselves happy with many of the functional improvements that tech has delivered [including their company’s current finance function performance around optimizing working capital (93%), delivering real-time information to make business decisions (85%) and improving planning, scenario modeling and forecasting (83%), they also admit that if they knew then what they know now, they might have done things differently. Case in point: Another 59% admitted that if they knew two years ago what they know today, they would have increased technology investments for the finance function earlier.
“CFOs’ recent technology investments are now playing a decisive role in enterprises’ response to recent, seismic upheavals. Finance departments that prioritized next-generation technologies that optimize and automate operations such as procurement, invoicing and payments, can react to emerging supply chain challenges with much greater agility, since teams are not hamstrung by time spent on manual, low-value processes.” Brun said.
Hindsight is 20/20, but this reckoning, in the right hands, can be a powerful tool. CFOs who can look back on past missteps regarding missed technology opportunities may avoid having the same thing happen in the future. A properly functioning finance office requires the best use of advanced and innovative technology for several reasons. Not only do smart technologies like artificial intelligence and automation create a more efficient and effective overall management process, but these technologies can also lead to more flexibility, a higher level of compliance, better strategic insight and additional ways to save on costs.
The right technology can also provide for a more connected planning process. This in turn helps organizations better weather the types of market volatility and disruptions that we’ve seen over the past few years and that have brought the companies that were less prepared to a standstill … or worse.
The right technology without the proper plan, though — and without the proper talent to run and make the best use of it — won’t do much to help grow a company’s unique value and position.
Luckily, CFOs seem to know this, as well.
The growing case for CFO involvement in talent
CFOs have always understood that talented employees is what makes a company successful, but when you’re dealing with new and evolving technologies and systems that are ever-changing, it’s more essential than ever to have the talent to back all that up. Luckily technology and talent go hand-in-hand, since the automation embedded in many of today’s technology takes over menial, manual tasks, ensuring that teams can focus on more strategic and valuable work instead.
Perhaps that’s why 45% of senior financial professionals said that talent acquisition and retention was a main priority for the rest of the year.
This shift of focus away from purely financial concerns to talent acquisition and retention further drives home the CFO transformation that is still taking place. As CFOs become increasingly satisfied with their technology processes and their ability to automate inefficient processes, they are shifting their focus to the things they need to have in place to make that technology succeed.
Besides new talent, 48% of CFOs say their teams also need better training to enhance performance (while 45% say that getting the education and training necessary to use the technology to create critical insights into their business is the greatest barrier they face), especially as 37% also report that they lack the internal expertise to properly analyze the financial data that they do have.
CFOs today are in the unique position to not only shape the future of their companies through technology investments, but to help promote the success of that technology through the proper championing of talent. As a bonus, employees are more likely to stay at a company where they feel their talents are being recognized and that their work is valued. Those CFOs who continuously reevaluate whether they are spending the right amount investing in technology and talent will be ahead of the curve.
To learn more about how CFOs are tackling their shifting roles, click here to read the full Tradeshift/CFO Dive report, “Building for Change: How CFOs Priorities Are Shifting from Efficiency to Creating Long-Term Value.
