Top five reasons visionary CFOs are modernizing their tech stack

Modern CFOs and their teams aren’t just managing numbers. They’re shaping business strategy, driving transformation, and leading enterprise-wide performance conversations. But too often, outdated tools and fragmented systems leave finance teams stuck chasing numbers instead of shaping the future.

That’s why forward-thinking CFOs are modernizing their finance stack with finance-owned, cloud-native solutions that offer agility, transparency, and ownership. They’re building leaner, smarter, more adaptive finance organizations and taking control of the tools that get them there.

Here are the top five reasons visionary CFOs are modernizing, and owning, their finance tech stack.

1. See faster ROI from every finance initiative

Legacy systems might feel familiar, but they come with a hidden price: rigid structures, slow implementation, limited ability to evolve alongside your business, and an inability to respond to shifting market conditions in real time. A modern, modular platform enables finance teams to start small, prove value quickly, and scale with confidence.

According to PwC, 73% of CFOs are investing in digital transformation to improve ROI from their finance functions — and the results speak for themselves. Finance-led planning tools reduce close cycle times by up to 90%, forecast and plan up to 50% faster, and identify opportunities up to 75% quicker so that your team is free to focus on more strategic work.

2. Lower total cost of ownership over time

When finance and accounting own the tools, it’s easier to control costs and outcomes. Moving from a patchwork of disconnected spreadsheets and niche tools to a single, connected platform reduces complexity and maintenance costs. And with a cloud-native foundation, there’s no hardware to manage or upgrades to coordinate.

In fact, Gartner reports that over 50% of organizations will use industry cloud platforms to accelerate their business initiatives by 2029. Add in the benefits of faster deployments and reduced reliance on IT, and the cost advantage becomes even clearer.

3. Empower finance to lead, not just support

When IT controls your solution, your team is left waiting. When finance and accounting own the solution, your business moves faster.

Modern solutions like Anaplan are designed for finance and accounting ownership. With user-friendly modeling, auditability, and drop-down menus available in the front-end, your team can respond to change in virtually real time without learning how to code, waiting for IT to resolve tickets, or for spreadsheets to be updated. New entity, currency, or on-the-fly forecasting required? No problem.

This shift gives finance and accounting more control, faster execution, and the ability to confidently make decisions that directly shape business outcomes.

4. Gain agility without sacrificing control

Agility doesn’t have to come at the expense of oversight. Today’s FP&A leaders need to run "what-if" analyses, model fast-changing scenarios, and iterate on forecasts — all while ensuring the accuracy and integrity of financial data.

Anaplan combines real-time planning with enterprise-grade controls. Whether consolidating financials across entities or updating an OpEx forecast mid-quarter, your team can move fast and stay compliant.

5. Become a stronger voice in the C-suite

Finance has more influence than ever, but that influence depends on speed and confidence. A modern tech stack gives CFOs instant visibility and unified insights across the business, enabling faster, data-backed decisions.

Anaplan helps finance stay closely aligned with sales, supply chain, HR, and operations by integrating data and planning processes across functional teams. That means less time reconciling information, and more time driving alignment and strategy.

Lead with agility, operate with confidence

Anaplan is a comprehensive, cloud-native solution built for finance and accounting teams to take full ownership of their processes — from planning and budgeting to consolidation, analysis, and reporting. It enables CFOs to modernize operations, streamline workflows, and adapt quickly to change without relying on fragmented systems or IT bottlenecks.

Whether you’re closing the books, modeling scenarios, or driving strategic decisions, our solution equips you with the agility and control to lead with confidence.