The Modern Finance Leader / strategic demands

When Strategic Demands Outpace Technology: How Legacy Systems Limit Finance's Vision

Zuora’s survey of over 900 senior finance and accounting leaders, including CFOs, CAOs, Controllers, and VPs of Finance and Accounting, across North America (NA), the United Kingdom (UK), and France, reveals how breakdowns in order-to-cash processes and technology are impeding the strategic growth and efficiency of finance teams, particularly within SaaS companies.

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Strategic Blockers

Technology Gaps

Recommendations

Finance and Accounting Leaders Are Expected To Be Strategic Advisors—But Lack The Tools To Deliver

Finance teams face an impossible equation—rising strategic demands paired with declining technological support. Yet as businesses increasingly rely on finance to drive strategic decisions, finance leaders surveyed say the tools meant to enable this transformation often fall short.

The Expectation vs. Reality Crisis

Nearly 9 in 10 finance and accounting leaders (89% across industries, 88% in SaaS) report mounting pressure to function as strategic advisors to their organizations (Table 1). At the same time, an overwhelming 98% report increased internal demands for real-time financial insights.

The reality? These same leaders are drowning in manual processes that consume strategic thinking time. A staggering 70% acknowledge their order-to-cash (O2C) technology infrastructure cannot support their expanded strategic mandate. In SaaS companies, this technology gap becomes even more pronounced—92% report their current systems actively limit their strategic capabilities (Table 1).

Table 1

The Manual Work Trap

The numbers reveal a troubling pattern: 88% of finance leaders say manual data reconciliation and cleanup work prevent their teams from pursuing high-value strategic initiatives. This isn’t just inefficiency—with finance leaders feeling the demand to play a more strategic role, there’s a potentially significant opportunity cost. In SaaS organizations, the situation is even more serious. Every single leader surveyed (100%) reports that manual data issues hold their teams back from strategic work. For 42% of these leaders, these manual burdens surface “often,” creating a constant drain on strategic capacity (Table 1).

Why Order-to-Cash Technology Gaps May Be Blocking Finance Modernization

Finance and accounting leaders know exactly what they want from order-to-cash (O2C) modernization—enhanced cash flow visibility, predictive forecasting power, and strategic decision-making capabilities. What they’re getting instead is a sobering lesson in how outdated technology can derail even the best-laid strategic plans.

The Strategic Wish List vs.
Tactical Reality

When finance executives envision O2C transformation, they think strategically. Their top modernization priorities center on business impact goals (Table 2):

Enhanced cash flow management
Superior financial forecasting capabilities
Improved data accuracy for decision-making
Greater operational efficiency

SaaS finance teams, perhaps more battle-tested by rapid growth demands, take a notably more tactical approach, ranking their goals as (Table 2):

Increased operational efficiency
Reduced manual errors
Better financial forecasting
Improved accuracy
Reduced revenue leakage

In both North America and the UK, enhanced cash flow is cited as the top priority for finance and accounting leaders. Meanwhile, better financial forecasting is top of mind for leaders in France (Table 2).

While today’s CFOs and CAOs across industries dream of strategic transformation, these leaders in SaaS are still fighting fires—focused on fixing fundamental process breakdowns before they can think strategically.

Table 2

The Growth Bottleneck Hidden in Plain Sight

The gap between vision and reality becomes stark when examining operational impact. Nearly half of all finance leaders surveyed (48%) admit their current O2C processes actively hinder company growth. In the fast-moving SaaS sector, where CFOs and CAOs tend to expect even more from their tech, this figure climbs to a majority (55%)—meaning more than half of SaaS companies say they are being held back by their own financial  operations (Table 3).

Table 3

The Technology Chasm That Changes Everything

Behind these operational failures lies a more fundamental problem: technology infrastructure that simply cannot support modern finance demands. An overwhelming 68% of finance leaders report that underlying technology gaps limit their O2C effectiveness (Table 4).

In SaaS, these technology limitations are significantly more severe. Nearly every finance leader (95%) identifies tech gaps as a barrier to O2C success.

More telling still, over half of these leaders (54%) characterize their technology gaps as “severe”—not minor inconveniences, but fundamental impediments to business processes (Table 4).

Over half (53%) of leaders in France report severe technology gaps. In stark contrast, over half (51%) of leaders in the UK report no technology gaps at all (Table 4).

Table 4

The Bottom Line

Finance teams are caught in a technological catch-22. While CFOs and CAOs are increasingly expected to act as strategic leaders, realizing this ambition is hampered by insufficient technological resources. The very systems designed to support financial operations are becoming barriers to business growth, trapping valuable strategic talent in repetitive, manual work that software should have eliminated years ago. The question isn’t whether finance can become more strategic—it’s whether organizations will invest in the technology infrastructure needed to make that transformation possible.

Strategic Recommendations

Build the business case

Tie O2C modernization directly to measurable outcomes like cash flow improvement and forecast accuracy. Quantify impact in financial terms—days to close, forecast variance, revenue expansion opportunities—to secure executive alignment and prioritize highest-ROI investments.

Design for strategic impact

Create O2C improvements that deliver real-time visibility into cash position, working capital, and revenue trends, empowering finance teams to drive strategy rather than just report results.    

Fix the foundation first

Prioritize resolving core technology deficits over incremental upgrades or new system purchases. Regularly stress-test current capabilities and optimize existing platforms through dedicated super users before investing in additional technology.  

Position finance as a strategic enabler

Frame technology investments as strategic enablers of the CFO’s advisory role, not just operational upgrades. Eliminate manual reconciliation bottlenecks to unlock team capacity for strategic planning and decision support.

Plan the architecture

Build a comprehensive roadmap for modern finance architecture that aligns with both short-term objectives and long-term transformation goals before attempting to overhaul the entire O2C process. 

Methodology

Zuora commissioned an independent research firm to survey 991 CFOs, CAOs, Controllers, and VPs of Finance and Accounting in a multi-national study in May 2025 across North America, the United Kingdom, and France about what’s driving success for accounting and financial planning. The margin of error for this total sample is +/- 2% at the 95% confidence level. Based on the survey findings, the report also includes strategic recommendations from Zuora to help overcome O2C technical gaps and improve processes.

Why Finance, not Engineering, should own Billing

Zuora Founder & CEO Tien Tzuo looks at some of the challenges facing today’s finance leaders and why an organizational shift could be holding them back.

The Risks of Misaligned Order-to-Cash Ownership

82% of leaders say IT lags in system updates, and 82% of SaaS leaders say fragmented O2C ownership causes operational challenges

Manual Overload Even in the Age of AI

93% of finance leaders prioritize AI in new financial technology investments, yet 79% say manual work still overwhelms their teams.