CFO should be in place before additional hires can be made

May 8, 2018
CFO should be in place before additional hires can be made

Different companies view their CIOs differently, whether this executive is responsible for information, innovation, improvement or intelligence processes within a company.

When CFOs are tabulating their long-term outcomes, they must consider the role that other senior executives, especially CIOs, will play in a business’s development. CIOs are unique in that many of them are responsible for business processes influenced by technology, which is constantly evolving.

As such, CFOs face a challenge in determining how these executives fit into an organization’s long-term financial planning.

“Since building rather than buying brings some serious benefits when it comes to finding future leaders, it behooves CFOs to think about what kind of CIO their company will need to employ down the road,” according to a February CFO.com article. “Better to identify the right kind of leader and groom him or her than to do a rip and replace at the 11th hour.”

As deeply invested as CIOs are in using technology to solve problems, there may be other tools they can use to achieve more efficient and expedient outcomes. CIOs should be flexible and consider solutions that primarily use information to address problems, not necessarily technologically advanced platforms.

CFOs need to decide what their best solution could be for hiring those who fulfill senior information and intelligence jobs. Many organizations have begun outsourcing some process related to information sharing, including telephone answering services and cloud computing. For some businesses – such as J.C. Penney, which recently eliminated its CIO position – these third-party services are more affordable than hiring in-house experts.

Before making this determination, companies should first ensure they have the right CFO for their needs. When headhunting CFOs during a financial professional search, companies should work with job search firms that have experience connecting companies with the right senior executive. Once this CFO is hired, a company can begin its long-term organizational planning.

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