Bridging the Gap Between CIOs and CFOs

Recognizing the importance of collegiality and mutual respect is one thing, but developing these key dimensions of a strong CIO-CFO relationship is quite another. IT and finance are both complex specialties that require enormous amounts of arcane knowledge to master. This intense specialization can understandably lead to technology leaders and financial decision makers developing what seem to be different languages.

To support your company’s efforts to build mutual understanding and respect between IT leaders and financial decision makers, we have compiled the following collection of recommendations:

Involve IT Leaders in Strategic Planning

Involving technology leaders in strategic business planning has become essential in the digital age, as technology is integral to the core functions of most businesses. However, 66% of business decision makers reported routinely purchasing new IT without the involvement of technology leaders³. This problematic practice can not only lead to poor IT decisions, but also to limitations in an organization’s capacity to manage challenges related to new tech, such as integration difficulties and low adoption.

To illustrate, 89% of “collaborators,” or companies where collaboration between IT and financial decision makers is the norm, felt very confident or extremely confident that they could handle challenges related to new technologies⁴. On the other hand, only 55% of “non-collaborator” business leaders expressed such confidence, suggesting that when technology leaders are not involved in IT decisions, companies are more likely to struggle with their digital initiatives.

Approach Technology Decisions in Terms of Strategic Business Goals

Although it is problematic that CIOs are so often excluded from technology decisions, the reasons for such exclusion are concerning as well. Among decision makers who avoid consulting with IT leaders regarding new technologies, 31% state that they do so because IT leaders’ decisions are not aligned with their digital transformation strategy⁶. This illustrates how important it is that IT leaders approach technology decisions based on the business goals that non-IT departments are trying to accomplish.

Build Empathy and Understanding

When CIOs and CFOs better understand each other’s roles and challenges, their relationships strengthen; however, such mutual understanding is often lacking. Illustrating this divide, 94% of CIOs feel that they understand how technology impacts company financials; however, only 62% of CFOs concur that their counterparts have such understanding⁵. On the other hand, the same study found that while 80% of CFOs think they understand how to adapt financial management to support digital strategy, only 55% of CIOs feel the same.

Possible ways of building mutual understanding between CIOs and CFOs include job shadowing; for example, technology leaders may benefit from shadowing colleagues in departments like marketing or product development. Creating integrated teams or embedding IT professionals in different departments can also help with developing technology leaders’ appreciation for business needs that may be better served by new IT.

Develop Shared Metrics

Developing shared metrics for measuring the effectiveness of new technologies can also be helpful in creating a common language across CIOs and CFOs. While technology leaders may be more likely to measure IT outcomes in terms of user behavior, CFOs are more likely to focus on relevant financial metrics. When IT user metrics do not clearly map onto metrics that indicate the business value of technology solutions, CFOs might have trouble seeing the true business value of the investment. Developing new metrics that more clearly represent the value of digital investments can help to clarify—for both parties—whether and to what extent new tech investments support business goals.

Bring in an Interpreter

One final suggestion is to involve an “interpreter”: a technology leadership consultant who can help bridge the gap between the IT and financial decision-making sectors of your business. Technology leadership “as-a-service” provides companies with seasoned technology consultants who also possess in-depth understanding of business strategy. Because technology leaders have a foot in both worlds—technology and business strategy—they can foster communication and decision making that helps to align a company’s digital strategy with its business goals and financial realities.