CFOs are under increasing pressure to justify each investment—particularly in financial technology. As digital transformation initiatives accelerate across the Office of the CFO, sponsors and CFOs alike are asking themselves one question: How do we actually measure the ROI of a finance technology investment?
In other words, CFOs need a way of assessing whether a fintech project is worth the time and money.
For organizations considering new platforms (AI, ERPs, CRM, planning/analytics solutions), the answer isn’t always straightforward. What is clear is that building an investment business case rooted in measurable outcomes is essential to project success.
Here are four ways to measure ROI to ensure that you’re getting the most juice from your tech investment squeeze:
1. Time savings and resource reallocation
If your finance team is overwhelmed with manual data pulls, spreadsheet consolidation, and offline calculations, they likely don’t have the time to focus on high-value-add tasks. In fact, finance teams today routinely spend hundreds of hours per month managing inputs instead of delivering insights.
Automating these workflows with finance technology not only reduces effort but frees up top talent to focus on strategic activities. For example, if your finance team is spending 200 hours/month on manual processes that could be automated, that’s over 1,400 hours saved annually and a potential return of over 200%—a massive increase in productivity and reduction in costs.
2. Improved decision making
It goes without saying: smarter, faster business decisions save you money and implementing technology that drives accurate scenario modeling can elevate Finance’s ability to make better business decisions. This is especially true during periods of volatility; CFOs need tools in place that enable quick decision-making pivots and confident resource allocation as they weather any storms of uncertainty that come their way. In fact, enhanced decision-making can generate an ROI of more than 300%—even before factoring in the additional efficiency gains.
3. Error reduction and process controls
Disparate data, inconsistent methods, and poor controls aren’t just a sluggish inconvenience. In fact, not only do they cause errors and erode trust in numbers, but they cost real money—leading to expensive rework, missed deadlines, and inflated audit fees.
Implementing technology (for example, automated checks, standardized templates, and real-time validations) can improve auditability, accuracy, and governance that significantly reduces the costs of error connection and rework. For example, a 60% reduction in error-related costs equates to an ROI of ~180%—driven by avoided rework and greater confidence in financial data.
4. Additional qualitative benefits (that still drive ROI)
All this said, ROI doesn’t always need a numerical percentage to make it worthwhile. Modern digital finance systems unlock additional qualitative benefits that have a direct impact on EBITDA, such as:
- Faster access to insights and more agile responses
- Improved data governance and version control
- Stronger collaboration across business functions
- Standardized onboarding and cross-training
- Upskilled FP&A teams through platform adoption
- Risk mitigation
Each of these contributes to a more resilient, scalable, and strategic finance function, and elevates the office of the CFO as a key provider of business insights that drive value.
Telling the technology story
For CFOs to get the tech investment blessing from their sponsors, they need to tell a compelling story of transformation—reframing system implementations from back-office upgrades to engines of enterprise-wide transformation. To do so, it’s wise for CFOs to highlight tech investment in terms of labor efficiency, strategic agility, risk mitigation, and organizational enablement. Those are the things sponsors care about—and the things that directly drive meaningful ROI.
At Accordion, we don’t implement technology for technology’s sake. We align technology with strategy to optimize finance operations, future-proof your planning capabilities, and drive tangible ROI for EBITDA enhancement.