At the Gartner CFO Conference, Coupa leaders João Paulo da Silva and Geoff Kelly urged CFOs to pair curiosity with control, using data, talent, and technology to move beyond cost-saving and position finance as a catalyst for growth, resilience, and transformation.
At the Gartner CFO & Finance Executive Conference in London, one theme kept surfacing: finance leaders can no longer afford to be passive guardians of the balance sheet. They must be catalysts – curious, agile, and willing to orchestrate data into strategy.
For João Paulo da Silva, Regional President for EMEA and APAC at Coupa Software, and Geoff Kelly, SVP of Growth Marketing, that shift is already reshaping what CFOs expect from their teams and their technology.
“The CFO of today must be much more curious,” da Silva told The CFO.
“Not just a safeguard, but a catalyst. They already control all of the company’s information. The differentiator is how they orchestrate it to drive growth and manage risk.”
He pointed to scenarios where finance can decisively shape direction: entering new markets, evaluating acquisitions, or steering investments toward competitive advantage.
“It’s not only about saving costs,” da Silva said. “It’s about using information to outperform rivals.”
For da Silva, talent is the decisive factor. “I’m very people-driven. People are always the key,” he said. “Technology should not replace people, but augment them.”
He cited Barclays as an example: staff once tied up in routine procurement were redeployed into negotiating early payments, a move enabled by Coupa’s digital tools and one that turned cost-saving into revenue generation.
Kelly added that the barrier is often access to usable data. “Forty-six percent of CFOs say they don’t have the data they need to make decisions,” he said.
“And with AI, the output is only as strong as the foundation. Coupa’s advantage is scale – $8 trillion in anonymized spend data, 10 million buyers and suppliers. That enables benchmarking and trusted recommendations.”
Coupa’s platform spans the entire procurement lifecycle, from category strategy to supplier onboarding, payment, and risk management.
For da Silva, this breadth means CFOs can elevate procurement into a driver of strategy.
“You can define whether a category is about cost, sustainability, or resilience. You can optimize your supply chain, assess tariff impacts, and benchmark against the best in class. The system then triggers recommendations, helping CFOs and procurement teams manage by exception,” he explained.
The risks of ignoring this are clear. He pointed to industries like pharma, where the failure of a single high-risk supplier could derail millions in R&D.
“Technology gives CFOs visibility to prevent those risks from becoming existential,” he said.
In a recent project with Suez, Coupa’s tools helped streamline operations, digitize procurement, and accelerate decision-making.
“They reduced costs and risk across their operations, but more importantly, they gained speed,” da Silva said.
“That acceleration of execution is often the biggest value.”
Looking ahead, da Silva urged CFOs to focus on three priorities: real-time intelligence, scenario simulation, and sharper questioning.
“It’s like driving in London,” he said. “You may know where you’re going, but without Google Maps, you’ll hit obstacles. Intelligence is the map. But you also need to ask the right questions. AI is powerful, but if you don’t challenge it, you risk amplifying mistakes.”
He also pointed to the expanding CFO remit. ESG, once championed across the C-suite, now sits firmly under finance.
“As areas mature, they move under the CFO because finance guarantees compliance and continuity. But the challenge now is not only to safeguard, it’s to steer transformation and rebundle business models in ways that create advantage.”
Kelly agreed, noting the criticality of the CFO–CIO partnership. “That relationship is now hand in glove,” he said.
“The CFO cannot shape transformation without technology, and the CIO cannot deliver value without alignment to financial outcomes.”
For both executives, the biggest lesson from the conference was a reaffirmation of identity.
“The idea of being a catalyst applies to every function, not just finance,” da Silva said.
“It’s about combining the right talent with the right technology, listening closely to the market, and anticipating change. That’s what will define the future CFO.”