The Impact of Technology Adoption in Finance on CFO Decision-Making

January 16, 2025 Mimi Torrington

CFO checking software adoption rate throughout business with technology graphics overlay.jpg

In this episode of CFO Weekly, Aaron Levine, Chief Financial Officer at Prophix, joins Megan Weis to discuss the challenges and opportunities of being a CFO at a company whose technology is made for CFOs. Aaron shares insights on the evolving role of the CFO in today's tech-driven landscape, the importance of data stewardship, and how innovative financial solutions can enhance collaboration across teams, all crucial factors for successful technology adoption in finance by CFOs.

Aaron is a seasoned financial executive with vast experience in high-growth venture capital and private equity-backed technology companies. With a career that began in public accounting and transitioned through various roles, he has developed a robust skill set in business analysis, investor relations, budgeting, and P&L management. Before Prophix, Aaron held financial leadership roles at companies such as ChurnZero, EveryAction, BluVector, Fishbowl, and more.

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Megan - 00:00:38: Today, my guest is Aaron Levine. Aaron is a seasoned, results-oriented, collaborative financial executive for high-growth, venture capital, and private equity-funded technology companies. Aaron's had successful experience in business analysis, investor relations, budgeting, and P&L, including participation in multiple exits. Aaron's a strategic thinker and team player that elevates finance teams with strong analytical, communication, and managerial skills, and the ability to bring issues to resolution. Aaron is skilled at partnering finance with core operations and developing productive, cross-functional alliances that has impact far beyond the finance department. Today, he is the ideal leader for Prophix, a company fundamentally changing how people work in the office of the CFO. Aaron, thank you very much for being my guest on today's episode of CFO Weekly.

Aaron - 00:02:03: Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Megan - 00:02:05: Yeah, today we're going to be talking about the challenges and opportunities of being a CFO at a company whose technology is made for CFOs. And Aaron, I'm excited about the opportunity to learn about you and your thoughts and experiences with this topic. So let's jump right in.

Aaron - 00:02:21: Let's do it.

Megan - 00:02:21: So you've had a remarkable career trajectory in finance that spans various industries and roles. Can you share maybe a defining moment or experience that significantly shaped your approach as a financial leader?

Aaron - 00:02:37: Yeah, a career, I would say, is more than one defining moment or experience. I think it's a collection of experiences and a collection of working with different peers and different leaders with different styles. For me, over the years, I think really just seeing the importance of the go-to-market function. At the end of the day, right, everybody's job, whether you're in product or services or sales, everybody's job really is to sell and grow the company. That's what we're doing. We're trying to further our organization. So I think as a finance leader, I really keep that on the back of my mind. And I tell everybody, right, I even tell my team, my finance team, like, hey, we're not direct sellers, but we all work in the technology space. We all have contacts and associations. And our job really is to, like I said, further our organization. And although we're not selling directly, we support sales. So we walk in the door every day or we log in every day. And that really is our focus. So that's sort of the lens that I. Under really is that kind of go-to-market focused top-line CFO.

Megan - 00:03:45: And can you just kind of at a high level talk through your career and how it is that you got to where you are today and where you are today?

Aaron - 00:03:55: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I've had a pretty traditional finance career. I started in public accounting and audit. I was then the controller of two public technology companies, software businesses. Then I pivoted my career really to more of the finance side. I became the VP of FP&A at another public software company. And now I have kind of had five CFO roles. At private equity-backed software businesses. So my whole career really has been in software. I've been in a number of different industries within software. I've been in the restaurant industry, restaurant tech. I've been in the education space. I've been in the nonprofit space. And now I'm at Prophix. And Prophix sells a suite of solutions into the office of the CFO. So ranging all the way from, accounting close, accounting consolidation, all the way through budgeting and planning and forecasting.

Megan - 00:04:58: And the role of CFO has evolved a lot over the last decade or so and now encompasses a lot of responsibilities and challenges. So when you look at the role personally, how do you manage the balance between it and your personal life? And are there any routines or practices in doing so that you find particularly helpful?

Aaron - 00:05:23: So my wife and I go for a walk every morning. We start our day with the walk. The kids leave the house at 7:30. We go through a long, long walk. We walk to about, 8:30. We have the same sort of loop that we do around our neighborhood. But it's just a good way to start the day. It's a good way to kind of connect with my wife. It's a good day to get some steps in, get some exercise in. And that's just part of my daily routine. Another thing I do is I do a good job at taking vacation time. I think it's easy to get caught up in work and the routine. But I think it's been really important for me and my family to take that vacation time. So I use vacation time. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. I think it's great to use it. I'm not saying that I am completely disengaged from work when I'm on vacation. I'm always kind of available and checking in. But I do think it's really important to kind of step away from work and spend the time with the family and do fun things outside of work.

Megan - 00:06:21: Yep. Completely agree with both of those. So as the CFO for Profits, which creates technology for CFOs, as you mentioned, how do you balance your dual role of leading the finance function while also being a user and advocate for the technology? And what unique insights do you think this provides?

Aaron - 00:06:42: Yeah, look, it's a really cool, kind of cool role being a CFO for companies that sell into the office of the CFO. I say I am the ICP, right? I am our ideal customer profile. I'm a user of the product, obviously. I have used competing products in the past, so I think I have a pretty good handle on the space and the needs of the office of the CFO. So I think with that comes, like you said, a unique perspective that I bring. So yeah, I have all sorts of ideas on product roadmap, sort of strategically, directionally, where we'll be taking the product. I've got me and my team, we certainly have direct product feedback, certain buttons here or there that we have an opinion on. So I spend a lot of time with the product team. Also, like I mentioned, go-to-market, right? So I definitely spend time with the go-to-market function. I get to do cool things like podcasts like this. But I think I can also, as a user and someone from the space, I can also talk to other CFOs, customers, and prospects, and sort of articulate the value proposition of our product, and even very granularly talk about specific use cases. So how we use the product internally, especially as I talk to other software and technology CFOs, I can sort of give them tips and pointers and even show them how we're using the software internally. So it is pretty fun having that intimate understanding of the product. And it really helps with the kind of some tactical things around roadmap and go to market, but also just strategically, right? Kind of, I think I have a unique lens as sort of that strategic advisor.

Megan - 00:08:21: Yeah, you're probably the best sales guy on the team.

Aaron - 00:08:25: Yeah, I definitely get involved and they're not shy using me. So I'm always out there waving the profits flag for sure.

Megan - 00:08:31: Is there like a particular industry that you guys target or company size? Tell us a little bit about who the ideal customer is.

Aaron - 00:08:42: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, good question. So we are a leading mid-market platform, as I said, selling into the office of the CFO. Prophix is a horizontal solution, right? So we have a suite of account close, so account reconciliation, consolidation, right? So consolidating entities and other workflows around account close that feed right into the budgeting process, right? So we kind of span between the controller team and the FP&A team, right? If you think about it, it's really one elongated workflow that goes all the way from account close through budgeting and forecasting. So this, like, as I said, the solution is horizontal. We have a number of verticals where we have deeper penetration in. Construction is one, manufacturing is one, but look, we use it. We're a software company. We use it, as I said, internally, and it absolutely works across markets. In terms of customer size, it is a mid-market platform, right? But we really scale sort of up and down that spectrum. We have much larger enterprise businesses. We also have some smaller businesses. So we really kind of scaled the spectrum on in terms of customer size.

Megan - 00:09:58: And is it just, is it a tool that sits on top of an ERP? Is it just something that gets plugged in? Is there an implementation process?

Aaron - 00:10:08: Yeah, very good question. So one of the big benefits of Prophix, really is being able to, as you said, sit on top of an ERP or integrate with an ERP. We integrate with tools like a CRM, right, for sales data. So we can integrate with other tools like a help desk platform. So we pull in data from disparate sources. And Prophix really becomes the source of truth, right? We've all been in meetings where people come with their various Excel files. Accounting's got their numbers and sales has their numbers. And half the meeting is spent arguing about whose numbers are right or reconciling numbers. And Prophix really eliminates that. So Prophix really becomes the central repository for financial numbers. And that is really the song sheet that everybody in the organization sings off of, right? So our time is not spent, as I said. Reconciling numbers and pulling data together. It's spent analyzing the numbers and really forming data-driven business insights to push the business forward. So Prophix is a platform really that It's owned by finance, but it's a great collaboration tool and really can have a big impact sort of disseminating financial information throughout the organization.

Megan - 00:11:27: And what are some of the challenges that you've encountered in convincing other CFOs or financial leaders to adopt this technology?

Aaron - 00:11:38: Yeah. Look, we're all, everyone is busy. Everyone is time constrained. GNA is the cost center, right? So we're generally budget constrained. So I think those are some of the challenges, right, when someone is looking at an FP&A tool. But as we grow, right, businesses grow, there is a point where Excel just does not meet the needs of the business. One of the things that I love in Prophix. Is our ability to manage headcount. So we have a cube, right, that manages all of our headcount, and it's integrated with our HR system. So every time an employee is hired, every time an employee leads, that data feeds into Prophix in real time. And we always have a good view of headcount. Because for a technology company, a headcount is a large chunk of our spend, right? It's 80% plus of our spend. It's on our people, on heads. So that's an example of an area where, you know, really, I think it really becomes harder to manage. If you're a 20-person company, sure, I think you can manage heads in Excel. But, you know, if you become a 250-person company, a 500-person company plus, you really need a tool to help manage headcount planning. So that's a good example of really where Prophix comes in and can help streamline operations.

Megan - 00:12:54: In addition to that example, can you maybe talk to us about how the implementation of Prophix's technology has transformed decision-making within your own team? And are there any examples that you can share?

Aaron - 00:13:09: We talked a little bit about consolidating data and having a real-time perspective on data and having actual numbers. That is really imperative. As a business scales, and as tech stacks have exploded, right? Over the last decade, there's technology in every function, right? Sales kind of has their own tech stack. Marketing has their tools. Services has their tools. So the proliferation of data has just exploded. There's data everywhere. Being able to bring this data in real time in profits really drives data-driven decision-making. In terms of a metrics standpoint and how strategic initiatives that we look at, we are very customer-centric. Business. I'll give you an example. So we track contract value at the customer level inside of Prophix. So we bring data in from salesforce.com. We have our customer cube. And with that, we're able to track things pretty much in near real time. So we look at customer churn. We look at growth in the customer base. We look at total contract value. So that's an area where for software companies can be challenging and Prophix really has solved it for us. As I said, I've been at eight software companies in the past. And being able to do that in a system in a semi-automated fashion is really a huge line for us as a business.

Megan - 00:14:29: And given the rapid evolution of technology within finance, what opportunities do you see for CFOs in leading their organizations and adopting innovative financial solutions? And in response to this, how do you envision the role of the CFO evolving to kind of keep up with these changes?

Aaron - 00:14:50: Yeah, the role has evolved so much, as you mentioned, over the last couple of decades. And I think it's going to continue to do so. Talked about the proliferation of data, huge tech stacks, right? Tech stacks have exploded. So that role as CFO, as data steward is really, I think, first and foremost today. That is an area where CFOs really have a unique perspective. Because we see different, we see the business holistically, right? Other than the CEO, we kind of have that bird's eye view of the business. And as opposed to other leaders in the organization, which really are focused on their individual part of the business. So with that, I think we're positioned really nicely to be able to act as that data steward. As I said, bring data together and kind of form that holistic view. And I think that will continue to happen in the office of the CFO. CFOs also, we really need to be forward-looking. And I think, obviously, there's a bunch of buzz and a bunch of talk about technologies like AI today. So I think being that kind of forward-looking leader and really driving efficiencies in the business through new and emerging technologies is really kind of, you know, more in the CFO's purview than it ever was.

Megan - 00:16:01: And we've touched on this a bit throughout our conversation, but how can technology improve collaboration between the finance department and other teams within an organization? And what are some of the best practices that you found effective in fostering this collaboration?

Aaron - 00:16:20: Right. Right. So we talked about bringing data, centralizing data, bringing it together under a system like Prophix. Everybody's looking at the same data. Everyone's sitting off the same song sheet. I think that is first and foremost imperative. Additionally, as we discussed, right, Excel just doesn't scale well with a decentralized organization, right? So as businesses grow, functions become decentralized. There's people. Prophix is a global business. We have people all over the world. So we really need a system that. Allows for collaboration and Prophix does that for us. Prophix does a great job of kind of, so we're putting our budgets together. Prophix does a great job of streamlining that process. You can set up tasks, which are then sent automatically to different individuals. Wherever you're sitting in the world, you can log into Prophix and put your inputs in a budget process, as an example. That's a big piece, right? It's really hard. I've been in businesses in the past where you're sending Excel sheets around and trying to, you know. Email data around and email these different Excel files around. And it just, it really is difficult to scale. So I think those are two areas where profits in particular and technology really leads a hand in enabling collaboration.

Megan - 00:17:35: And another thing that's changed in the last 20 years or so is corporate social responsibility. So as a company that's committed to corporate social responsibility, how is it that you incorporate these values into the financial strategies for your company and the technologies that you advocate?

Aaron - 00:17:55: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. We are committed to corporate social responsibility. It's a big part of our kind of company culture and our company makeup. We do a couple things in that area. We offer opportunities to donate financially to organizations. So we have a platform which we use and employees are able to log in and, as I said, make financial donations to organizations which are of interest to them. And then there is a matching company donation as well that comes along with that based on the company achieving certain goals, right? So it sort of ties back the company progress with CSR and the function. We also offer volunteer opportunities. It's a big part of, again, our culture of volunteering is very important. We offer opportunities to volunteer at different organizations as a team, right? It's a really fun sort of team building day. So you can, we just did one actually as a finance team where we volunteered at a food bank in the Toronto area, a companies based in Toronto And we had a really fun time learning about the food bank and spending a good half day there. Which was great. So those are a couple of things that we do internally. And look, these don't have to be huge dollar investments. We're not setting aside millions and millions of dollars in terms of financial commitments to these types of programs, but they are a time commitment, right? It is a time commitment. And as I said, there are benefits with that time commitment. Look, I think it helps with things like employee recruitment, employee retention. It's again, it's a good example of a good team building and kind of helps with retention and employee engagement. So CSR is very important to us. And I think it's kind of a two-way street. There are also benefits for sure to the organization.

Megan - 00:19:40: Yeah, totally agree. I think people want to feel like they're making a difference.

Aaron - 00:19:44: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Megan - 00:19:46: And let's talk about scalability for a bit. How is it that Prophix helps address challenges for CFOs that are facing scalability issues? And what features do you think are the most beneficial for scaling finance operations?

Aaron - 00:20:03: Yeah, yeah. One thing that, again, I've talked about is the importance of bringing data together. So I think when you're looking at technologies that are going to help grow your function and grow your business, really focusing on the technology's integration capabilities. Integrating data is so important, and it's actually difficult. So I think as you're looking at technologies, really kind of digging into the integration capabilities are something I always look at when I look at new technologies. I talked a little, as an example, right, I talked about headcount planning, just sort of how that is a piece of a budgeting and planning process that gets outgrown very quickly using manual processes. Right? If we don't have that integration build out between an HR system and a planning tool, it becomes very difficult. So I think just really focusing on a system that is going to be able to store. External data sources, integrate with external systems, store external data sources, and have specific features and functionality that address your pain points of your specific business. I mean, those are the challenges that are faced by finance organizations today. I think it's really important as you're looking at tools to be able to really zero in on what the specific features are and what the specific pain points are in your business that will really, technology will really help move the needle along.

Megan - 00:21:26: And with the growing demand for tech savvy finance professionals, what skills do you believe are essential for future finance leaders? And how are you developing these skills within your own team?

Aaron - 00:21:37: Yeah, generally accounting and finance people, right, we have good kind of analytical minds, right? We're kind of smart folks. We've got more good strategic thinkers. So I think, you know, you always need that sort of analytical skill set. And with that, I think there's a curiosity, right? A general sort of human curiosity that needs to exist within finance, right? So it's not just about... Presenting numbers and accumulating data, it's about analyzing the numbers and then having a natural curiosity to dig deeper. So why? You always ask why, right? Like headcount is, R&D expense is up, as an example. Why? Oh, it's up because of headcount. Why? So just kind of having that curiosity to drill down and really get to the root cause of variances or issues is crucial. The last thing I'll point out is really just having that. Technology is so important, as we've discussed. Yeah, so I think being comfortable with technology is just a crucial skill for finance professionals today. We're more than just bookkeepers doing debits and credits. We really, as we talked about, we really have our thumb on the tech stack. Across the organization and being able to understand how data flows, how tools are interconnected. It's just so, so important.

Megan - 00:22:50: Yeah, and I assume that as AI proliferates, it'll be more important than ever to continue to ask why and not just take something at its face value.

Aaron - 00:23:01: Exactly, exactly. Yeah, I mean, we haven't talked about AI. I am really excited about AI, just in what it's going to do for finance in general as a discipline. And I think you're right. I agree with you. AI will spit out answers. It'll spit out different transactional processing. So I think our ability as a finance team to really step back and analyze what technology is spitting out. And again, being able to sort of step back, maybe we use AI as sort of a tool that we can use to help with some mundane transactional processing and finance really becomes more of the strategic thinking arm. I think that's a muscle that finance will continue to rely on more as technology evolves and AI in particular, the use cases for AI are rolled out.

Megan - 00:23:47: Is AI something that's incorporated into your technology? And if not, is it something that's in possibly the next generation of the product?

Aaron - 00:23:57: It absolutely is. We have several features inside of Prophix that use AI. I'll give you an example. We have a narrative reporting. So we'll spit out a budget versus actual report, right? And I know having done it in the past and having worked with an FP&A my whole career, one of the first things, you pick up your budget versus actual and you say, hey, G&A is up X million dollars and Y percent. Because, headcount is up and you sort of go on. So. AI does a great job with that, especially the first part, right? It takes time for finance teams. You got to get out your calculator manually, calculate how much percentage has changed. So I think this narrative reporting tool inside of Prophix does a great job. I think it gets you on second base, I would say. It doesn't answer every variance for you, but it does sort of structure the wording in a narrative report, in a variance report. And it gets you, as I said, it gets you on second base. It lets the, take some of the mundane work off of the finance team and allows them to really ask those why questions and drill down and sort of blow out the variance reporting. But I think it does a great job of getting us 58% of the way there.

Megan - 00:25:08: In a technology-driven finance environment, how do you define and measure success? What are the key performance indicators that you're prioritizing?

Aaron - 00:25:17: For finance teams specifically, we look at things like speed of close, which obviously technology plays a big part in. Things like collections metrics for a finance team are important. Collections are a big part of the business. We have a whole collections dashboard and some collections metrics built out inside of profits. But broadly speaking, as a business, again, customer growth is critical for us. We look very closely at customer metrics. So we look at growth rates. We look at customer growth by geography. We look at churn, our ability to retain customers. It's a critical metric for us. And customer time of value, right? So you asked before about implementation time. We want to make profits as painless as possible. Then implementation, our typical implementations are 60 to 90 days. And we need to get customers up and realizing the value of the product as quickly as possible. So customer time to value is something we look at as well. But these kind of customer centric metrics are really what really where our focus is spent, our time is spent.

Megan - 00:26:23: And last question, looking ahead, what trends do you foresee shaping the role of the CFO? And how do you believe that profits will adapt to these trends?

Aaron - 00:26:33: Yeah, we talked about the evolution and kind of the role of CFO as data steward. And I do think that will continue to develop, continue to evolve. CFOs, again, we have this unique sort of perspective on the business. We have this bird's eye view. So we are the natural sort of leader in an organization to help bring data together and centralize it and produce data-driven strategies across the organization. So I think that will continue to evolve. And look, with that, we are kind of being more seen as this forward-looking technology innovator within the organization. We just talked a little bit about AI. Be other technologies that continue to hit the market. And I think CFOs really need to have their finger on the pulse of kind of these emerging technologies. And the goal, like I said, the goal is really to help grow and scale a business. And technology can obviously help do that. It can help do it in an efficient and cost-conscious way.

Megan - 00:27:30: Aaron, thank you so much for being my guest today.

Aaron - 00:27:32: Thank you. It's a lot of fun. Thank you.

Megan - 00:27:34: Yeah, I really enjoyed speaking with you. And thanks for finding the time to be here with us today to share your experience and knowledge. And I wish you and Prophix all the best. And to our listeners, please tune in next week. And until then, take care.


In this episode, we discuss:

  • The importance of technology adoption in finance to aid CFOs in decision-making
  • How Prophix's technology impacts decision-making and collaboration within finance teams

  • The growing demand for tech-savvy finance professionals

  • What skills future financial leaders must possess to succeed

Key Takeaways:

Leading as the ICP

Being both a CFO and a user of the technology his company creates gives Aaron a unique edge: he's the ideal customer profile (ICP) in action. This dual perspective allows him to deeply understand the needs of CFOs, provide hands-on product feedback, and shape strategic decisions for the product roadmap. Using the software internally and engaging with other CFOs allows Aaron to articulate its value with authenticity, share practical tips, and showcase real-world use cases.

Quote leading technology adoption in finance

“It's cool being a CFO for a company that sells into the office of the CFOs. I am the ICP. I am our ideal customer profile. I'm a user of the product.” Levine claims. - 06:22 - 11:27

How CFOs Are Leading the Finance Technology Revolution

The role of the CFO is evolving rapidly, shifting from a numbers-focused leader to a strategic data steward and forward-looking innovator. With a unique bird's-eye view of the business, CFOs are well-positioned to centralize data, foster collaboration, and drive efficiencies using technologies like AI and tools like Prophix.

Quote Aaron Levine, Chief Financial Officer at Prophix

As Levine said, “CFOs really have a unique perspective as we see the business holistically. Other than the CEO, we have that bird's eye view of the business.” - 14:30 - 17:35

The Future-Ready Finance Leader

To thrive as a future finance leader, it's essential to combine strong analytical skills with relentless curiosity, always asking "why" to uncover root causes and drive deeper insights. Additionally, finance teams must go beyond crunching numbers to understanding how data flows and tools interconnect across the organization. As AI reshapes the discipline, finance professionals have the opportunity to offload routine tasks, leveraging AI for efficiency while focusing on strategic analysis and decision-making.

Quote future-ready finance technology for CFOs

“We're more than just bookkeepers doing debits and credits. We really have a thumb on the tech stack across the organization, and being able to understand how data flows and tools are interconnected is just so important.” According to Levine. - 21:26 - 25:08

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