How COOs and CFOs can work together to create business harmony

Chief Operating Officers (COOs) and Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) might live at different ends of businesses, but your day-to-day schedules are often as jam-packed as one another’s. Whichever side of the business you sit, find out how you can combine your industry expertise to create harmony through digital transformation.

The ongoing problem

Chief Operating Officer (COO)

As a COO, you are often busy working on many long-term projects to enhance business operations. You are also forward-looking and want to make strategic plans for the years to come. Yet, fire-fighting problems as they arise to keep departments and external parties happy is often a harsh reality of the job. Plus, with disjointed processes and mismatched business portals, payment gateways and marketplaces to contend with, things are easily missed and it’s up to you to come up with a solution.

While you’re familiar with competing demands across the operation, some hit harder than others, and protecting business data is one of them. A recent report states, “COOs worry about and struggle with risk management challenges far more than any other aspect of their jobs.” For instance, keeping data safe is business-critical, but it can put you under immense pressure to prevent cyber-attack within the business, and the only true answer is enhanced technology. As a result, you’re looking to onboard new software to not only protect the business, but keep the day-to-day operations running smoothly.

Chief Finance Officer (CFO)

Meanwhile, the finance department withstands the worst from poor-performing technology. Research shows that only 27% of finance executives provide support to their business in driving innovation and responding to market disruption. As a CFO, some of the pressures you face include “digitizing critical business activities and managing cybersecurity, in addition to traditional finance duties.” Tie these in with month-end and year-end closing procedures, and there is no denying you have your work cut out for you.

As a CFO, onboarding new technology is one of the biggest strains in your already mounting workload. This often leads to you choosing quick fixes from technology that will avoid the “heavy lifting” necessary for the onboarding process. Rather than cutting corners by implementing inefficient technology, it makes business sense to invest in a solution that will stand the test of time.

Create business harmony across departments

The link between COOs and CFOs is a need for digital change. So, working together to achieve a much-needed transformation is the answer to creating C-level harmony.

By integrating external platforms such as courier portals, payment gateways and ecommerce marketplaces into ERP software, COOs can better track external services and prevent any backlash from the likes of missed deadlines. On the flip side, CFOs don’t want to say goodbye to much-loved accounting platforms in the finance department, and the investment of a new ERP solution can easily fit around existing systems. Platforms will integrate with quality software and enhance the team’s day-to-day operation as a result. This removes the need for users to rekey information from multiple sources, creating less legwork for the finance department as a whole.

As a COO, you need to adopt connected technology to keep your finger on the pulse. And, as a CFO, you need to have better control of your financial processes to handle peak periods. By uniting the two departments with integrated ERP software, it becomes the perfect recipe for digital transformation. Together, you will future-proof operations, increase productivity and create harmonious working for everyone in the business.

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