How Vimeo’s CFO Tapped into a Back Office Goldmine and Turned Finance into Strategy Central
At many companies, finance has long been seen as nothing more than the boring back office bean counters — the team responsible for closing the books, processing transactions, and keeping the business compliant. But for Gillian Munson, Chief Financial Officer at Vimeo, that perspective misses the real opportunity.
“When you set the price for an order, move that through systems, and collect the money, there’s so much embedded in that,” Gillian explains. “There’s real gold to be mined in the back office. With the right systems, finance isn’t just processing transactions — we’re driving strategy.”
This is the story of how Vimeo reimagined its order-to-cash (O2C) processes. With Zuora as the backbone of its billing and revenue processes, Vimeo’s finance team has turned what once was the Wild West of disjointed back office processes into a treasure trove of insights powering business decisions, growth initiatives, and customer success.
Getting the Lay of the Land
When Gillian joined Vimeo, she encountered challenges that are all too familiar to finance leaders:
- Manual reconciliations and reporting delays. Instead of surfacing insights for the business, finance was often bogged down in spreadsheets and reactive firefighting.
- Inefficiencies in the O2C process. Billing delays, revenue leakage, and the inability to model complex pricing limited finance’s ability to support growth.
- A strategy gap. While the CEO and board expected finance to play a more forward-looking role, legacy systems were holding the team back.
“Too often, finance leaders get pulled into fixing broken systems,” Gillian says. “That distracts us from telling the story in the numbers and shaping the business.”
The frustration wasn’t about a lack of ambition. Finance had a mandate to drive strategy, but the tools in place couldn’t keep up. Manual work drained time and morale, while siloed systems prevented Vimeo’s team from seeing across the entire customer lifecycle.
Rebuilding from the Ground Up
Gillian knew that simply patching processes wouldn’t be enough. If Vimeo’s finance function was going to move from processing to strategic partner, the foundation itself had to be completely rebuilt.
But what did that actually mean? Unifying billing, revenue, and collections under a single system of record. With Zuora as Vimeo’s order-to-cash backbone, this was finally possible. Gillian’s team automated routine tasks, eliminated manual reconciliations, and gained the ability to test every single transaction.
“With Zuora, we moved from thresholds to full transparency,” Gillian explains. “I can sleep at night knowing every transaction is tested. That’s a game-changer.”
This shift not only strengthened compliance and controls but also freed up capacity across the team. Instead of chasing errors or mitigating issues due to system gaps, finance could focus on gathering insights and partnering with the rest of the business.
With Zuora, we moved from thresholds to full transparency, I can sleep at night knowing every transaction is tested. That’s a game-changer.
— Gillian Munson
Chief Financial Officer at Vimeo
Striking Gold and Digging Deep
Once the systems were modernized, it helped bring the real value and opportunity into focus. Buried in the order-to-cash process was a wealth of data about customer behavior, deal dynamics, and product usage.
- Finance could see why certain deals stalled or fell through and share that intelligence with sales and product teams.
- Collections data provided early indicators of churn risk, helping customer success teams act proactively.
- Revenue trends revealed patterns in adoption and pricing, informing go-to-market strategies.
For Gillian and her team, what had once been viewed as “back-office processing” was suddenly a wellspring of insights with direct impact on growth.
When finance can bring insights from the back office to the table, you stop being the team that says no. You become the team that helps the business grow.
— Gillian Munson
Chief Financial Officer at Vimeo
A Broader Trend: Letting Finance Take the Reins
In reality, Vimeo’s transformation is part of a larger movement in the finance world.
“What Gillian has done at Vimeo is exactly what we see top finance leaders doing today — turning O2C from a blocker into a strategic asset,” notes Matt Dobson, Zuora’s Chief Accounting Officer. “It’s proof that when you modernize finance systems, you’re not just fixing processes. You’re fueling growth.”
Zuora’s research backs this up. In a survey of over 900 finance and accounting leaders, 9 in 10 said they feel increasing pressure to be more strategic. Yet 70% admitted their systems can’t support those demands, with manual work consuming time that should be spent on strategy
The result is a growing gap between the role finance leaders want to play and the reality their systems allow. Companies like Vimeo show what’s possible when that gap is closed.
Telling the Story in Numbers
For Vimeo, modernizing O2C with Zuora delivered tangible results:
- Faster reconciliations and shorter close times. Automation eliminated manual errors and sped up processes.
- Increased confidence in compliance. Every transaction could be tested, dramatically reducing risk.
- Capacity unlocked for strategy. Finance team members who once chased spreadsheets now surface insights for sales, product, and customer success.
- Direct business impact. Finance insights informed deal strategy, customer retention efforts, and go-to-market decisions.
What changed wasn’t just the process. It was finance’s position in the company. Vimeo’s finance team went from being perceived as a cost center to being recognized as a strategic growth driver.
I think about numbers as telling a story. Every time someone who can see the numbers from the top down can tell that story, you can lead.
— Gillian Munson
Chief Financial Officer at Vimeo
Advice from the Frontiers of Finance: Don’t Leave Money on the Table
What advice does Gillian offer to other finance leaders still wrestling with legacy systems and manual work?
- Recognize the opportunity. Order-to-cash process and system gaps can have major ripple effects; take stock of the impact across the business.
- Make the business case. Modernizing O2C isn’t just about efficiency. It’s about growth, compliance, and strategy.
- Find the right partners. At Vimeo, success came from pairing finance expertise with technology specialists who understood the systems.
Don’t wait. No one relishes the idea of implementing a new system, but waiting will only make things hard. Start working on your modernization plan sooner rather than later.
Start Tapping into Your Own Back-Office Treasure Trove
Vimeo’s journey is proof that finance doesn’t belong in the shadows of the back office. With modern systems, finance teams can surface insights that shape pricing, strengthen customer relationships, and drive growth.
What forgotten nuggets of data are buried in your back office? Discover how Zuora can help you tap into your own goldmine.
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