By Elias Apel, CEO of Lucanet
Over the last few years, fresh regulations, geopolitical uncertainty and unstable economies have compounded the responsibilities of finance leaders. While the traditional aspects of the CFO remit have remained the same, these societal factors have increased pressure on finance leaders. CFOs are a vital part of the C-Suite, it’s crucial they are given the tools to adapt and rise to these new requirements.
The growing demand on CFOs is having a direct effect on today’s market, with more choosing to retire early. This talent loss is leaving organisations vulnerable at a time when strategic financial leadership is crucial. Those still in their roles are required to balance mounting daily tasks, with renewed business expectations.
To counteract this exodus, the wider business needs to evaluate how to deal with the increasing pressures that CFOs face. Many are taking this step and attempting to alleviate the burden with new technologies, which is an incredibly positive movement. However, with so many tools in the market today, it’s difficult for organisations to know which ones will help CFOs thrive from day one, and which will require a steep learning curve.
Changing expectations for the office of the CFO
CFO turnover reached a three-year high in 2024, with Russell Reynolds flagging the technology and industrial sectors as the most hard hit. The report also emphasises that FTSE 100 CFOs have been retiring early, likely because of increasing industry pressures.
These pressures are only set to rise, with the anticipated IPO boom in late 2025 likely to bring a further increased workload to the door of the finance team as other C-Suite team members refer to CFOs for insight on how to navigate rising issues.
It’s unsurprising that Egan Zehnder found that the responsibilities on CFOs have increased by 82% in the last five years, particularly in the areas of ESG (55%), M&As (44%), corporate strategy (38%) and risk management (36%). Although these outputs have a net-positive impact, to deliver what is expected of them, CFOs need to find an optimal method for streamlining the manual parts of their role as these are the tasks holding them back from true strategic partnership with their C-Suite counterparts.
What role do intuitive technologies play?
The pressures on the office of the CFO have been rising for some time, and so many businesses have already made the choice to deploy technologies that help alleviate burdens and free up time. However, they must ensure that they are implementing technologies for the day-to-day team that don’t create further inefficiencies and hinder rather than help. Poor execution is akin to buying a state-of-the-art coffee machine to boost productivity, but it turns out to be too complicated for employees to use and ends up using up more time than it saves.
Intuitive technologies are the key to ensuring anything implemented is a success, as they require minimal effort or training to start to use and gain value from. With this, they have the potential to make a lasting impact for leaders and their teams. These tools can be used to increase efficiency, simplify decision making and enhance accuracy. They handle manual tasks, allowing finance leaders to focus on strategic planning and long-term success. This frees them from the complexities of traditional reporting systems and instead gives them a tool that helps them to set a strategic course for the wider business.
This intuitive technology also needs to fit in with existing tech stacks in a way that prevents work being completed in isolation. To meet today’s standards new technologies must talk to all parts of finance software and pull from previous data in order to prevent silos.
Despite a clear need for intuitive technologies, a Deloitte survey report found that only 9% of finance teams are using GenAI, even though it has built-in insight and can deliver on all the current needs of CFOs. GenAI can process large volumes of data quickly, but it’s being overlooked by many businesses as the answer to rising demands.
Businesses that prioritise instinctive technology implementation are supporting their finance teams by alleviating pressure and fostering a technology-driven workplace culture. This helps to improve the highly pressured environment that’s currently pushing leaders out of their roles and gives CFOs the capacity to face the strategic challenges of 2025.
