Peter Spence, FCMA, CGMA, Associate Technical Director, at AICPA and CIMA explores how finance, IT, and data science have become the new trinity of value creation. As technology continues to reshape the finance function, CFOs and their teams must master this new language to effectively drive performance and build resilient organizations, and prepare for a future where financial success is inseparable from technological capability.
Finance, Information Technology (IT), and data science have become inseparable. Once seen as support functions, IT and data science are now central to how modern organizations create, protect, and grow financial value. They power efficiency, productivity, insight, loss prevention, and increasingly, innovation. For finance leaders and their teams, understanding how these disciplines intersect is critical – it’s a competency that underpins strategic decision-making, risk management, and long-term value creation.
To see how this shift unfolded over the years, we first need to look at the evolution of technology in finance – from operational enabler to strategic engine of value.
For more than half a century, Material Requirements Planning (MRP) systems and their successors, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), have improved operational efficiency, reducing the time, cost, and resources needed to run day-to-day business. More recently, production automation has enhanced productivity, enabling organizations to increase throughput and maintain competitiveness.
Today, ongoing improvements in Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) and Business Intelligence (BI) systems are creating new, data-driven insights that improve decision-making and fuel growth. By transforming how data is sourced, secured, assembled, analyzed, and presented, these tools continue to reveal opportunities that would once have remained hidden.
But as technology becomes more deeply embedded in business operations, it also introduces new vulnerabilities. The same systems that drive efficiency, productivity, insight, loss prevention, and innovation, must now be fortified against cyber threats.
Businesses are increasingly aware of the financial and reputational risks posed by these threats. Firewalls, encryption, multi-factor authentication, and well-defined response policies have become essential components of financial risk management. Yet the cyber risk landscape evolves faster than ever, demanding constant vigilance.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) adds another dimension – delivering innovation as well as new risks. From agentic AI embedded in ERP systems to diagnostic tools in healthcare, autonomous vehicles, predictive maintenance, and customer service automation, AI is redefining how organizations operate and compete. It’s also transforming cybersecurity, helping prevent financial fraud and loss before it happens. At the same time, AI is being weaponized to increase the sophistication of cyberattacks – a trend finance leaders and their teams must actively monitor and mitigate.
As cyber threats grow more complex and technology becomes more embedded in business, the CFO’s role is evolving at pace. Understanding how technology drives and defends value is a core responsibility for modern CFOs. In many organizations, IT and data functions report directly to the finance function, positioning the CFO as the bridge between financial strategy and digital capability. Even where this isn’t the case, CFOs must still ensure technology investments are sound, scalable, and capable of delivering measurable returns.
This doesn’t mean finance professionals must become data scientists or software engineers. But they must learn the language of technology – enough to hold meaningful conversations with experts and assess how these tools affect value creation or destruction. Without this understanding, they risk becoming disconnected from how these technologies can accelerate value creation in their organizations – or prevent value destruction.
Recent high-profile cyber incidents highlight the stakes. In the UK, cyberattacks have caused an estimated £300 million in losses at Marks & Spencer and a £1.9 billion in economic impairment at Jaguar Land Rover. These are not isolated cases – they are warnings.
With technology now playing a central role in financial strategy, CFOs must navigate a fast-moving landscape, balancing innovation and uncertainty. The opportunities are real – and competitors are already exploiting them. Yet the pace of innovation, especially in AI, can tempt organizations to adopt technologies too quickly, before a realistic assessment of their potential is carried out.
CFOs should therefore prioritize the adoption of proven technologies with a track record of delivering tangible financial benefits and reducing exposure to loss. This means that they will often have to ask tough questions, demand evidence of value, and resist pressure to invest based on fear of missing out.
According to Gartner (July 2025), AI has now passed the “Peak of Inflated Expectations” and entered the “Trough of Disillusionment.” CFOs should take note. As custodians of capital and value, they must balance enthusiasm with professional skepticism – ensuring that investments are grounded in strategic purpose, not reactive impulse.
To navigate the complexity of digital transformation, CFOs must do more than understand technology – they must lead the conversation around it. That leadership begins with self-education. A CFO who can demystify the connections between financial success and data, AI, and IT becomes an indispensable strategic partner to the executive team and Board.
Clear, comprehensive documentation and training are critical to successful technology adoption. Each technology investment should be clearly mapped to avoid overlaps and conflicts with existing systems. Well-documented processes also make it easier to train current employees, onboard new talent, and embed a culture of digital fluency across the organization.
As modern businesses become more interconnected, the scope of risk extends beyond internal systems. Supply chains, customer platforms, and third-party providers all introduce potential vulnerabilities. For example, a vulnerability in a supplier’s systems or a customer portal can be exploited to compromise an organization’s own systems.
Finance leaders must therefore consider cyber resilience and third-party risk management as integral to financial performance. Protecting value now requires looking beyond traditional operational boundaries – and ensuring that suppliers and partners are held to the same standards of security and accountability.
It’s never been more important for finance professionals to build on their core competencies by embracing the disciplines of IT and data science. This isn’t simply about keeping up – it’s about staying relevant in a world where financial performance is inseparable from technological leadership.
The future of finance belongs to those who can harness the technologies that bring data to life, protect the business from cyber threats, and drive strategic business value. For the modern CFO, fluency in this new language is no longer optional – it’s a necessity.