Building a strong relationship with the CIO will also be critical for the future CFO. Strebulaev emphasizes the importance of the CFO-CIO partnership in creating a more data-driven organization, but says it will require learning how to better understand each other. Working more closely together, they can also evaluate what technologies and financial systems are required to support CFOs and their teams’ expanded responsibilities.
“CFOs need to partner closely with CIOs on this data-driven revolution and help them understand what kind of data they need,” Strebulaev says. “The challenge in the past has been they often speak different languages, so improving that communication channel will be important.”
Loegering agrees. “Part of the role is technology and information—it’s becoming increasingly important to understand systems and data, and understand and use that information.” Loegering says this focus has forged a closer relationship with Johnson Brothers’ CIO. “Together we’ve driven a lot of where things are going, in terms of systems and projects,” he says.
Read the next installment of this blog series, “The Most Important Skills for the CFO of the Future, Part 2.” For a more in-depth look at this topic read, “The CFO of the Future.”