According to Gartner & Forrester, only 56% of leaders believe digital transformation has been financially beneficial. But is this because there wasn’t value, or because that value wasn’t effectively communicated? Too often, there’s a disconnect between CIOs and CFOs, and it’s slowing down digital development potential - which in this day and age - is a serious problem.
But here’s the thing, it can be fixed - by aligning IT initiatives with the CFOs’ top priorities. The question is, how?
In this blog, we reveal the top priorities of CFOs, so you can prepare and align your strategy to meet their needs, improve leader engagement and continue to expand digital potential. Within, we’ll cover:
- The CFOs’ top 4 priorities
- Key value drivers & how ITFM can support
Understanding CFOs’ Top 4 Priorities
Your CFO’s overall goal is to maintain financial health while driving growth in a rapidly changing world. Having spoken to hundreds of CFOs, we have identified the following shared, key priorities.
1. Leading digital transformation
CFOs are being increasingly tasked with driving digital transformation across their organizations. They want to invest in technologies that boost efficiency and enhance customer experience. But, without proper alignment with IT, these investments often don’t yield the desired financial returns.
2. Enhancing financial insights
Accurate and timely financial insights are essential for informed decision-making. CFOs prioritize gaining deeper financial insights to guide their strategies. Advanced analytics and reporting tools play a huge role here, but they need a strong IT foundation to be effective.
3. Managing change effectively
Navigating change is a significant challenge for any organization. CFOs focus on managing this change efficiently, ensuring that their organizations remain agile and responsive. Effective IT systems are a key tool for supporting these robust change management practices.
4. Optimizing costs
Cost optimization remains a top priority for CFOs. In 2024, this involves not just cutting costs but aligning spending with strategic goals. Identifying and eliminating wasteful expenditures is key to maintaining operational efficiency while supporting growth.
Throughout all these points, one thing is clear. The potential for CIO and CFO synergy is strong - but only if these priorities are aligned to your strategy.
CFOs need IT support to steer the organization towards financial resilience and strategic growth. And here’s how you can help.
8 value drivers for CIOs
Aligning your IT initiatives with CFO priorities can drive significant value. But you need to be able to track and communicate it clearly - in ways that clearly link to their bottom line. Your processes should…
1. Enable strategic growth
Support strategic growth, enhance the visibility and control of IT spend. By breaking down IT costs into detailed categories and prioritizing projects based on their ROI, you’ll make informed decisions that drive growth and demonstrate clear value to CFOs.
2. Drive cost cutting and optimization strategy
Transform IT from a cost center to a value generator. Make sure that IT costs are allocated efficiently, identify underused resources, and support cost-saving measures that align with business goals. This way, you can position IT as a strategic partner in financial management.
3. Drive financial resilience and sustainability strategy
Long-term financial health requires resilience and sustainability. Prioritize visibility to manage financial risks, allocate resources quickly, and ensure strategic budget allocation for maximum ROI and cost savings. This helps you support CFOs in building a sustainable financial future.
4. Foster data-driven decision making
Data-driven decision-making is essential for aligning IT and finance strategies. Gather granular financial details, identify trends for strategic allocations, and enable agile responses to market changes. This way, you’ll foster a strong partnership between IT and finance, and ultimately, better business outcomes.
5. Enable digital initiatives
Accelerating digital initiatives is a top priority. You need to ensure financial visibility and accountability across budgets, align funds to priorities, and track ROI. This helps you and CFOs achieve maximum value from digital projects and keep investments aligned with organizational goals.
6. Manage and reduce financial risks
Managing financial risks is a must for organizational stability. Provide comprehensive insights into IT spending, facilitate data-driven risk management, and promote collaboration during planning and resource allocation. This will allow you to work closely with CFOs to mitigate risks effectively.
7. Foster stakeholder relationships and collaboration
Effective financial management requires collaboration. Offer understandable financial data for all stakeholders, linking IT expenditures with business outcomes and accelerating alignment between stakeholder expectations and strategic goals. By fostering these relationships, you can drive greater organizational success.
8. Champion Sustainability and ESG Initiatives
Sustainability is becoming increasingly important. Be sure to track investments aimed at reducing environmental impact, provide transparency and reporting on costs and savings, and support sustainable procurement practices. By aligning IT with sustainability goals, you can help CFOs champion ESG initiatives.
But this is all easier said than done - and you can’t do it without the right tools to support you. That’s where ITFM comes in. With Serviceware, you gain access to all these value drivers and more. ITFM provides unparalleled visibility and control over your IT spend, enabling you to effectively align with CFO priorities, optimize costs, and drive strategic growth.
ZF's approach is a great example of how businesses can leverage ITFM for Strategic Growth and Financial Efficiency. Read more about this, and setting the stage for long term success →
To sum up
Aligning IT strategies with CFO priorities is the best way to support and encourage digital transformation. ITFM plays a pivotal role in enabling strategic growth, cost optimization, and financial resilience. By leveraging these insights, you can effectively anticipate and meet CFO expectations, driving your organization towards greater financial success in 2024 and beyond.
Ready to align your IT initiatives with CFO priorities? Explore how ITFM can transform your strategic approach and unlock new financial potential for your organization.
