CFO vs. CIO – Is there room for both in a SaaS world?

Recently, ZDNet weighed in on a growing issue in C-suites – how is Software as a Service (SaaS) changing the roles of CFOs and CIOs? With the data accessibility and cost savings that SaaS can bring, especially with enterprise resource planning (ERP), CFOs are finding that, with the increased knowledge and information SaaS financial solutions provide, they are able to expand their roles and focus on higher-level strategic functions. We recently blogged about a Deloitte study regarding CFO challenges that can be addressed by SaaS solutions and the expanded roles CFOs can enjoy once these solutions are implemented.

The ZDNet article states that the increasing availability of SaaS services not only changes the CIO role, but may actually make that role obsolete. While the experts in the ZDNet article disagree, our experience at DataServ has shown that most effective SaaS platform deployments occur when there is a good working relationship between the business side (CFO) and technology leadership (CIO). This focus of these roles, however do need to change and evolve to meet the very different organizational needs and business opportunities presented to businesses that embrace SaaS solutions. Some of the more dramatic shifts in focus concern:  managing security access and risk in the cloud, helping users to take full advantage of the greater accessibility to data and powerful reporting  and - probably the most significant change - moving to a more agile development mentality and approach. Organizations that quickly adopt this new technology and successfully navigate change will find their businesses more productive and able to more quickly move to turn key business opportunities into improved performance. 

We’d like to hear your opinion on the effects SaaS solutions are having on C-suite roles, so please share your thoughts with us in the comments below or on our LinkedIn page or Twitter feed (we’re at @DataServ).