Spanish companies and other countries emphasize the need to strengthen their financial structure through the adoption of new technologies, and only 35% of financial directors consider that current technology meets their needs, while a larger percentage expresses that it will not be enough to support future growth.
This is according to the report ‘How CFOs are addressing the current technology gap’ by Payhawk, which also highlights that in Spain, 94% of CFOs affirm that their role has grown in the last three years, assuming new responsibilities related to regulation, sustainability and globalization.
This trend is similar internationally, with 93% of financial leaders confirming these changes. For managers, the solution is clear: invest in financial technology that provides them with the data and tools necessary to assume this more strategic role.
“The role of the CFO has evolved from being a mere financial supervisor to playing a key leadership role,” says Hristo Borisov, CEO of Payhawk. “CFOs need to invest in the right technology to drive growth through a renewed technology infrastructure. The CFO no longer wants to be an obstacle in business management, and with investment in better technology they can avoid it.”
Technological boost for growth
Until now, fintech has focused on facilitating tasks such as financial planning, risk identification, and regulatory compliance. However, it is holding back the adoption of more complex tasks by finance managers.
In the last year, Spanish CFOs have faced problems such as limited data visibility (54%), low capacity to extract information (47%), delays in receiving necessary information (40%) and the inaccuracy of data. business data (41%). These barriers make it difficult for CFOs to maintain constant control of the financial situation and carry out analysis and predictions, preventing them from adapting their strategies to external factors such as macroeconomic, geopolitical and climatic changes, or market trends.
Spanish companies expect to increase their income by more than 10% thanks to new financial technology
Therefore, 80% of CFOs plan to renew their technological infrastructure in the next year, in line with 83% globally. The focus will be on tools that facilitate growth rather than reducing costs.
Investment in financial technology
Spanish companies will increase their investment in financial technology by 13% over the next year, and by 15% and 16% over the next three and five years, respectively. With this investment, they hope to accelerate the profitability of their businesses, with an increase of 13% in revenue, 19% in operating cash flow and 15% in the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR). In addition, technological improvement will be accompanied by a growth in staff in 49% of companies.
“Today’s CFOs embrace new challenges with the ambition to capitalize on the knowledge offered by their unique position in the company,” adds Borisov. “However, the finance department has been lax in investing in digital innovation and, as a result, can get caught up in operational issues rather than leveraging data to provide strategic insight. An example of this desire for change is the focus on increasing revenue over reducing costs, something that has not traditionally been the purview of a CFO, and the willingness to invest in the right tools to achieve this.”
Future of technology investment
The study shows that the performance of a CFO and his team depends largely on the technology available. It is crucial that this technology ensures the integrity and availability of data, as well as the connection between different financial tools.
Among the possible technological additions for the next five years, improved accounts payable solutions stand out (49%), followed by cybersecurity solutions (47%) to face the growing threat of fraud and cyberattacks, and ERPs (46%). In addition, 35% of companies plan to incorporate new expense management solutions to centralize spending on a single platform and facilitate the management and control of corporate movements.
In terms of technologies, 91% of Spanish CFOs trust that Artificial Intelligence can assume at least part of their professional responsibilities, especially in the management of accounts payable and receivable. However, for the adoption of this and other technologies, they consider that there are still barriers to overcome, mainly the lack of training (55%), the lack of time to evaluate and implement solutions, the associated cost and the lack of automation (49 %).
