The following column is by Dinakar Hituvalli, the chief technology officer of Deltek. Any opinions are those of the author.
The CFO role has transformed dramatically from being primarily focused on financial stewardship to increasingly acting as a strategic technology co-pilot. From capital allocation and AI governance to automation priorities and digital risks, finance leaders are playing a key role in decisions that determine both operational resilience and long-term growth.
CFOs’ rising level of involvement signals a key shift in expectations. Now, the board and the CEO assume finance executives will influence which technologies their organizations prioritize, how to measure success and where new capabilities can best align with company planning cycles, risk controls and other investment strategies.
However, to ensure that innovation drives sustainable and scalable value, CFOs need more than visibility into tech strategy. They require early operational alignment, shared accountability and greater collaboration in translating business goals into emerging digital capabilities.
The Misalignment
Historically, organizations have struggled to achieve alignment between finance and technology personnel, not due to a lack of collaboration, but rather to the friction inherent in how each function makes decisions and measures progress. Too often, finance and technology leaders operate with different assumptions, timelines and definitions of success.
This disconnect surfaces in several ways:
- Unstructured data weakens decision-making. Forecasting models and AI tools rely on clean, well-governed financial data. Incomplete or fragmented data leads to false signals that appear trustworthy but fail to reflect actual conditions. Decisions grounded in this kind of noise weaken confidence in both systems and strategies.
- Investment sequencing creates mismatched expectations. Technology leaders often prioritize infrastructure that unlocks future capabilities. Conversely, finance leaders are responsible for capital efficiency, budget planning and measurable returns. When timelines and value horizons drift apart, progress stalls and innovation stalls along with it.
- Performance metrics lack shared meaning. Finance and technology teams apply different indicators to assess impact. Technology groups may focus on system uptime or model output, while finance tracks margin gains, working capital movement and forecast variance. Without integration between these frameworks, success remains ambiguous.
- Communication habits create operational drag. Finance and IT leaders speak in different languages according to the systems they’re using. From reporting tools to terminology to planning cadence, these differences show up in budget reviews, investment pitches and execution plans. Without a shared language or rhythm, even small decisions take longer and bring more risks.
These obstacles point to the need for deliberate restructuring, one that more intentionally links technology execution to business priorities, establishes clear ownership and drives shared outcomes at every level. This kind of future depends on strong leadership, clear success metrics and alignment around financial and operational goals—and it requires CFOs and CTOs working together to achieve it.
Operationalizing Finance-Tech Alignment
The CFO’s role in technology now spans the full lifecycle—from shaping priorities to translating strategy into execution. That level of involvement requires more than structural integration; it calls for a mindset shift. One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned is that alignment begins with radical transparency, especially when it comes to risk.
CFOs deal with ambiguity every day, but to manage it effectively, they need clarity on where that ambiguity lies. When technology leaders are open about implementation challenges, data limitations or competitive threats, it builds trust and credibility, making it easier to gain support when bold technology arises.
In my experience, the following four strategies help reinforce a growth mindset and create the right conditions for sustainable, tech-enabled innovation:
Elevate financial data as a cross-functional asset. When you standardize financial input across well-governed systems, your teams can model risk more confidently, reduce rework and improve planning accuracy.
This foundation becomes even more critical as organizations integrate AI models into forecasting and planning workflows. Without high-integrity data, even the most advanced tools will produce outputs that feel precise but lack the context or reliability to drive sound financial decisions.
CFOs should consider taking a more direct role in enterprise data governance. For example, look for ways to apply structure to the way you define, validate and share financial assumptions across departments.
Your teams may want to create and use shared data dictionaries or coordinated reconciliation protocols to avoid delays and build trust in outputs that inform decisions across the finance and technology domains.
If you’re advancing core infrastructure, like a new data platform or automation layer, match that initiative with scoped near-term outcomes, such as reducing time-to-close or automating compliance checks.
Sequence investments across short-term and strategic horizons. Your company roadmap likely spans multiple planning cycles, as do your funding and performance targets. Boosting alignment across these often-siloed timelines starts with mapping initiatives by value horizon and showing how today’s investments can unlock future capabilities.
If you’re advancing core infrastructure, like a new data platform or automation layer, match that initiative with scoped near-term outcomes, such as reducing time-to-close or automating compliance checks.
It’s also helpful to frame technology discussions in business terms. Instead of focusing on technical features, emphasize how a solution will support key goals like revenue recognition, working capital improvement or faster accounting close cycles. This approach strengthens buy-in and ensures relevance to financial strategy.
Anchor metrics in a shared understanding of business priorities. When finance and technology teams define impact differently, it becomes harder to track progress or sustain alignment. Metrics help, but clarity around expectations often matters more.
If specific patterns raise concerns for you as a finance leader, speak up early. Some CFOs view overpromising as a red flag. Others value candor around competitive threats or implementation hurdles. Sharing those preferences with your technology partners improves the quality of planning inputs and enhances transparency on both sides.
This kind of alignment tends to work best when performance indicators are co-developed. For example, you might connect model reliability or system uptime to improvements in forecast variance or working capital.
Cross-functional indicators, such as decision latency or the volume of manual handoffs, can also reveal inefficiencies that impact broader outcomes. What matters most is that the metrics reflect your priorities while giving both teams a shared view of success.
Establish team structures that minimize translation gaps. If your teams spend too much time clarifying ownership or reworking deliverables, the structure may be the issue. Embedding finance leads within agile project teams is one way to stay closer to execution decisions and create more integrated workflows.
Some organizations align reporting hierarchies across departments or develop shared planning templates to reduce miscommunications. These structures not only improve coordination from day one, but also foster joint accountability for outcomes. When both finance and technology leaders share ownership of key initiatives, trust builds faster and decision-making becomes more strategic.
Shaping the Outcome
Finance–technology alignment takes shape with consistent action, not broad strokes. The choices you make every day establish the conditions for technological innovation to take root and scale with financial control.
The alignment demands more than collaboration. CFOs must develop real technology fluency and apply financial judgment to tech decisions. At the same time, technology leaders need stronger financial acumen to ensure innovation delivers business impact.
Competitive advantage no longer hinges on the largest tech budgets, but on how well financial strategy and digital capabilities align. The future belongs to financially disciplined innovators, those who strike a balance between prudent investment and calculated risk to unlock long-term value.
