As CEOs look to finance leaders to drive data-driven decision making across their organizations, collaboration across the C-suite will be key. Survey results highlight a divide in this area: Globally, only about one-third of finance leaders say that they have seamless collaboration with key C-suite peers.
In a world where the pace of change continues to accelerate, the relationship between CFOs and CIOs would seem especially critical for digital innovation. We found that 75 percent or more of CFOs in France, Germany, and the UK say that CFOs and CIOs need to collaborate to drive technology innovation in their organizations.
However, significant challenges stand in the way. We found that worldwide, 65 percent of finance leaders say that effective collaboration between CIOs and CFOs is limited by the fact that IT and finance don’t employ the same terminology and jargon. Or, in the parlance of our times, “speak the same language.” This language/terminology problem is considered a significant issue in France (65 percent) and Germany (66 percent). While it is less of an issue in the UK, our research still found that over half (52 percent) of respondents consider it a major barrier.
In Europe, existing priorities, such as meeting changes in accounting standards or compliance—as well as a lack of people or skills—are preventing improved performance and innovation in finance. In addition, in France, budget constraints are stunting transformation.