CFOs must focus on a long-term tech plan
Oct 9, 2025
Bradley Channer outlines why finance leaders should be thinking years down the line when considering what software they do and don’t need.
With the role of the chief financial officer (CFO) changing at pace, their day-to-day carries a much broader scope than in years gone by.
They’re considered more of a strategic partner and are expected to be able to communicate with all parts of the business.
It all looks a little different.
One element of the position that has perhaps transformed more than any other is the relationship the finance leader has with technology.
The modern CFO needs to keep pace with the rapid advancements we’re seeing across software and artificial intelligence (AI), and even those that are, aren’t necessarily having the easiest time of it.
The latest CFO Mindset report from AccountsIQ has looked at how finance leaders are navigating the need to implement new technology, with 94% of the 1,000 senior finance professionals surveyed admitting to making a strategic decision about software they now regret due to time, cost and stress implications.
The beauty of hindsight
Bradley Channer, CFO of UBIO and a speaker at The Finance, Accounting and Bookkeeping Show (FAB) 2026, told AccountingWEB that sometimes the idea is better than the reality.
“We always think we know what we need – until we have it and we realise it’s not what we need,” he said. “We always think that we really want a nice, shiny car and then we get in it and realise that actually it’s too expensive to run.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing and with software – which can become even more subjective as it goes on, especially with AI – I think that we’re going to continually think about what we need but in reality, it’s not going to solve the problem.”
He backed the idea of people asking more questions around implementation so a decision can be made with all the information.
“Companies say software comes with an onboarding team to help you do it but it’s not true. There’s so much that needs to be done to install new bits of software, and that could take months and months and months.
“It’s not as simple as just signing a contract. It’s the far-reaching change management where, sometimes, I think there’s a little bit of surface-level thinking.”
Channer noted that the bigger the company, the “more it happens because then there’s more decision-makers and there’s more distance between the CFO and the thing you’re signing off on”.
“The more staff you have, the harder it is to find the person who understands how your data is currently stored and how that would integrate.”
Fear of pushing back
The AccountsIQ noted that almost every CFO, head of finance, financial controller or finance director surveyed said they work weekends or evenings to clear their workload, with 64% doing so often or always.
Last year, 85% of leaders said they needed an extra 1–2 days a week to clear their work backlog, highlighting the impact adopting the wrong software can have – it eats away at valuable time.
Could CFOs fear that having such an approach might look like a weakness? Channer believes that while they might, they absolutely shouldn’t.
“This fear of getting fired, the fear of how they got their position – it’s the same with senior finance leaders and large companies as well. It’s this idea of not wanting to rock the boat if we just say yes, but the reality is, life doesn’t work like that,” said Channer.
The need for finance leaders to ask questions and push back is one Channer was passionate about, highlighting the risk of managers who “just say yes and don’t actually bother asking their staff or their team if it would work because of the fear that if they did, they might have to deliver some bad news to the people at the top”.
“They made a stupid mistake and they don’t want to get fired. Everyone has a boss, so it’s a question of “How do I now make up for that decision? I’ll just work extra hard and then it won’t look like my fault because I’m doing all these extra things.’”
Years down the line
To avoid getting into such a situation, Channer encouraged finance leaders to think ahead and have a plan.
“It’s all about what the big picture is,” he said. “For instance, in five years, where am I going, where do we want to be and what size do we want to be? Or is it going to be completely null and void?
“I was interested in a contract management system but then my plan in three years’ time is to not be offering contracts the way we currently do and get people to sign up on an online platform. So if we’re doing that, I asked myself why am I going to implement a platform or a system for the next two years that will be redundant in three years?
“I’ll be much better off just doing what we do now and hurrying up the other system to get that implemented quicker because that’s what we believe the future is – and that’s going to save a lot of money.”
He stressed that thinking ahead is “what a C-suite should do”.
“It’s about thinking ahead two or three years down the line – not today.”
[Accounting Web]
