Omar Choucair, CFO, Trintech, has spent 20+ years leading financial and administrative organizations for public and private companies.

As businesses prepare for a post-pandemic world, I’ve reflected on how the role of the CFO has changed over the last 18 months. CFOs have traditionally focused on budget ownership and critical asset protection, but the pandemic required a radical reimagination of conventional strategies. In fact, a recent Accenture study found that nearly three-quarters (72%) of CFOs are introducing non-traditional skills into the finance function, including business agility, analysis, value architecture and even storytelling.

As CFOs explore what the future looks like for the office of finance and break down the traditional silos that once existed, these leaders can (and must) be more strategic. A newly defined strategic lens is needed to inform approaches to complex business challenges brought on by the pandemic and to plan for success long after it ends.

CFOs today need to expand their skill set and must:

Be fluent in technology.

Technology is advancing quickly, and with that, both its adoption and its influence on the bottom line are increasing. As technology becomes increasingly intertwined with topline business strategies, it’s crucial that internal teams have the resources and the executive support to onboard new products and services that will help achieve ROI and related revenue goals.

My team conducts an annual global survey, the Global Financial Close Benchmark Report, to learn from finance and accounting (F&A) professionals about what challenges and opportunities are most critical to them. Of the 486 financial professionals within 430 organizations who contributed, 46% ranked remote work as their top challenge, which was especially true among CFOs and their teams during the monthly close of the company’s books; 51% ranked meeting deadlines/time-pressures as their biggest challenge, reinforcing the stress felt by added workloads this past year and a half, as expectations around the quick delivery of critical business insights increased across the business.

The complex nature of today’s tech landscape requires a greater degree of buy-in from the C-suite but equally high levels of buy-in from those implementing the changes. A third of respondents in the benchmark report identified overtime/employee burnout as the biggest challenge companies will tackle over the next five years. The CFO must not only understand which technologies and adaptive workflows can help to advance an organization but also become a champion for adoption of those technologies, freeing efficiencies, increasing agility and improving employee retention and morale.

Be a strategic collaborator.

As finance executives develop post-pandemic strategies, the need for strong relationships with executive counterparts has never been more valuable. According to Gartner’s 2021 Board of Directors survey, “organizational silos represent one of the most common and chronic barriers to digital business success.”

A key component of the CFO’s new mandate is facilitating interdepartmental conversations across the wider organization. CFOs are also leading efforts to build team communication and rapport, reimagining existing processes that are not as effective today as they were pre-pandemic. In order to be successful, the modern CFO must be able to communicate and gather relevant and actionable information effectively to assess potential risks and identify areas of growth.

In this sense, the CFO must see himself/herself as the initial agent of cultural change to identify dependencies, create successful change alternatives, foster greater understanding, secure executive buy-in and ultimately create a more unified organization.

Be hungry for feedback.

As the head of the office of finance, it is the CFO’s responsibility to translate and distill raw financial information and data into meaningful commentary and actions. As a part of that process, it is imperative that the CFO solicits feedback from key stakeholders — from the C-suite down to junior team members.

Unfortunately, too often organizations do not have clear methods to be able to gather crucial feedback to learn from and improve processes. A 2018 report from McKinsey found that only 30% of CFOs surveyed had formal processes in place to review investments made three to five years ago, while even fewer (25%) used innovative ways to identify projects to fund or defund.

While it’s true that the CFO is also tasked with the responsibility of mitigating risk and cutting costs, this shouldn’t stifle innovation. As the finance function moves from efficiency (its cost in serving business needs) to effectiveness (its ability to deliver on those same needs), not only are feedback loops necessary for proper evaluation but actually serve as catalysts for successful business transformation.

Be aggressive in pursuing talent and new technology.

A CFO isn’t always the first to be seen as a “people person.” However, being able to identify, retain and empower the right talent is a critical component of the overall success of an organization. As CFOs become the cornerstones of driving business strategy and facilitating cross-departmental conversations, who better than the CFOs to apply this knowledge and leverage these resources?

According to a recent BDO survey, 42% of CFOs interviewed said that they will increase spending in HR/talent this year. Therefore, as the shift in — and the competition for — talent is accelerating, not only is a fluency in technology needed for the entire office of finance, but it also needs to be integrated into the recruitment and development process. The CFO and office of finance need to establish a digital transformation road map, execute on this financial transformation road map and leverage tech to streamline routine redundant tasks, which will help achieve related efficiencies resulting in more freed up time to invest in value-additive, strategic thinking.

As we look to the rest of 2021 and beyond, the most successful CFOs will be those who prioritize workforce optimization, quickly implement efficiency-boosting technology and attract and retain talented personnel for their organizations. By embracing technology that leverages automation for manual repetitive processes and enabling employees to focus on more productive work, CFOs can build or enhance their workplace culture into one that is more likely to attract talent and boost employee morale, which leads to happier customers overall.