The CFO as a Growth Architect: Why It’s Time to Rethink the Office of the CFO

Over the past few months, I’ve had many conversations with CFOs, Finance leaders, and transformational leaders, spanning multiple industries and geographies. The common denominator in these conversations quickly became apparent: The expectations in the role of a CFO have greatly gained importance. But I didn’t just hear about a change in importance, I also heard a lot about how exciting this change in function was!

The CFO is no longer just there to crunch and report on numbers. There is a change in perception of this role towards being an architect of growth, a driver of transformation and being a strategic partner to the CEO. As with anything, these changes are accompanied by both opportunity and complexity. At Esker, we’ve been reflecting on these changes, and thinking about how we can support these new realities. 

Let me walk you through a few of our takeaways:

“CFO” is more than a title – or one person

When we talk about the “Office of the CFO”, we’re not just trying to find a fancy new way to say “Finance department.” The Office of the CFO encompasses everyone that contributes to a company’s financial outcomes, such as AP and AR teams, procurement, customer service and IT. In fact, it is the intersection of Finance, Operations and technology. To thrive, these roles require collaboration, visibility and adaptability at every touchpoint.

From point solutions to unified platforms

Fragmentation is never a good strategy, whether in business, in technology or in society as a whole. Yet, fragmentation continuously creeps into the CFO world: too many tools, too many processes, too many silos. In order to promote a better integration of systems that work with each other, there needs to be a shift away from point solutions towards a unified tech suite. Think of this as a business enabler that creates the clarity and control that are needed to support growth, ensure compliance and drive efficiency.

Why now?

If you’re wondering if this is really a good time to change things around, let me assure you that the time has never been better: CFOs are increasingly being asked to do more with less, and economic volatility relentlessly demands faster, smarter decisions. And now, technologies like automation and AI are finally mature enough to deliver substantial benefits.

AI as a tool for empowerment

At Esker, automation never meant that humans should be replaced with technology, and the same concept applies to AI. For us, AI is a tool that efficiently augments more than 40 use cases across the Office of the CFO. Agentic AI — intelligent assistants that reinforce human-led tasks in real time — are on the way to becoming a standard across finance operations. Esker is ready for this, with Synergy AI agents assisting Finance teams to do more, faster, with fewer errors and better insights — today.

It’s not about software – it’s about enabling transformation

We’ve stopped talking about software and features a long time ago. What we offer are solutions to the day-to-day challenges of managing a company’s financial cycle. And as anyone in this business knows, connecting individual parts that may or may not fit together can create more problems than it solves. For this reason, we focus on building a technology platform that houses a connected, intelligent and future-ready solution suite that continually evolves with the needs of our customers.

Whether you’re a CFO or any other kind of leader in the financial realm of a business, we understand that you are not just managing performance – you are shaping the future of your company.

The good news is, you do not have to do it alone, and you do not have to reinvent your systems to get there. The technology exists. The intelligence is here. At Esker, we are there to help you unlock the potential.

Let’s build that future together.