Procurify CFO Scales Finance Team With Technological know-how
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Amidst the shifting tides of engineering, finance and business strategy, savvy CFOs need to sharpen their operational toolkits — or hazard remaining swept away.
“Change has been the only frequent more than the earlier a few to 5 many years,” Amy Wang, CFO at Procurify, instructed PYMNTS for the series: “Day In The Lifetime Of A CFO.”
“Gone are the days the place we deploy money and higher progress occurs. Every little thing has to be quite intentional and ROI centered, with longevity as the North Star,” Wang added.
Whilst the CFOs of yesteryear had been primarily worried with the monetary wellness of an firm, focusing on duties these types of as bookkeeping, financial reporting and compliance today’s CFOs now ought to juggle a escalating suite of duties all over strategic preparing, facts analysis, and even oversight of digital transformation initiatives.
That’s since, from the affect of the COVID-19 pandemic to the constant quest for prime talent, and navigating complicated funding markets, adaptability has grow to be paramount.
Even now, “The fundamentals when it will come to individuals, process and units are very a lot even now in spot,” Wang defined. “Everything is just a bit far more streamlined, efficient, and productive.”
“It’s even now creating out for scale, but as an alternative of scaling with headcount, which we’ve historically been performing as a finance group, it is scaling with technology and leaning into automation,” she included.
Fundamentals Stay, Strategic Approaches Evolve
Just one of the essential drivers of the transformation of the CFO job is digital technological innovation. CFOs are progressively included in choices about investments in technological know-how and digital capabilities that can boost efficiency, make improvements to buyer experiences, and generate new profits streams.
This needs CFOs — as effectively as aspiring kinds — to possess not only a deep being familiar with of money rules but also a solid grasp of know-how developments and their likely effect on the company.
“When I glance back, choosing for a senior accountant or accountant utilized to be quite regular. … But now it is … so centered in phrases of, How do you leverage details? Do you have an understanding of the circulation from a finance point of view of how we’re reporting matters, how we’re ultimately supplying this to the relaxation of the firm? How are you then doing work with the applications, not only in finance, but the rest of the group?” Wang discussed.
“The worth-add that the finance functionality is bringing now is a lot more all over the analytical facet the insights, fairly than just getting the human being that’s holding onto the purse strings,” she extra.
And with the proliferation of huge facts and highly developed analytics equipment, CFOs have access to a prosperity of information and facts that can advise strategic business selections.
“Finance has normally been, I would say, sluggish to undertake new instruments and systems. … We’ve been caught in our processes and historic approaches of undertaking issues,” Wang reported. “But now, the expectation at the board level, as properly as administration level, is to get are living benefits.
“And technologies assists us to be proactive in our technique rather than reactive or a lagging indicator of what’s going on. And with main indicators, it makes it possible for us as a company to pivot, or program right, or double down when vital.”
Placing the Strategic Agenda
The classic mantra of development-at-all-expenses has presented way to a extra nuanced approach focused on intentional and sustainable progress. Wang reemphasized the importance of ROI-concentrated investments and strategic preparing in today’s setting, underscoring that CFOs are tasked with balancing expansion aspirations with fiscal prudence, guaranteeing that investments align with extended-term aims.
For fellow CFOs struggling with today’s difficulties, she pointed out the importance of resilience and adaptability. In the face of market place unpredictability, those who continue to be the course and think in their product’s benefit proposition will prosper. Hard situations current possibilities for innovation and improvement, driving sustainable advancement in the very long run, Wang discussed.
Wanting ahead, Wang emphasized the great importance of embracing digital transformation in the CFO position. As know-how carries on to reshape the finance purpose, CFOs must champion innovation and direct the demand toward digitalization. By harnessing the electrical power of synthetic intelligence (AI) and know-how, CFOs can unlock new efficiencies and drive sustainable advancement in a promptly evolving landscape.

