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How CFOs can lead finance transformation in a data-driven world
In this episode of the Better Finance: CFO Insights podcast, host Myles Corson speaks with Alex Curran, CEO of Aptitude Software, about how CFOs can drive finance transformation through data and technology.
In this episode of the Better Finance: CFO Insights podcast, host Myles Corson speaks with Alex Curran, CEO of Aptitude Software, about what it takes to lead finance transformation in today’s data-rich, technology-enabled landscape. Drawing on findings from the 2025 Global Autonomous Finance Benchmark, they explore how finance teams are making progress through scalable initiatives, cross-functional collaboration and a focus on real-time insights.
Alex stresses that successful transformation starts at the leadership level. She discusses how CFOs, CTOs and CIOs are aligning on priorities, breaking down silos and rethinking how technology, talent and data can come together to support strategic outcomes.
She also shares how leading organizations are modernizing finance by automating manual processes, building business cases for AI adoption and shifting from a compliance mindset toward strategic partnership. As new skill sets emerge, including data science and business analytics, finance is being redefined from the ground up.
Key takeaways:
Learn how CFOs, CTOs and CIOs are aligning to lead transformation with shared priorities and accountability.
Explore why high-performing finance teams start small, prove value early and then scale successful initiatives.
Understand how clean, real-time data can help finance leaders shift from control to strategic partnership.
Discover emerging skill sets that are shaping the future of finance, from data science to cross-functional collaboration.
Recognize the importance of leadership alignment in driving successful finance transformation.
For your convenience, full text transcript of this podcast is also available.
Myles Corson
You’re listening to the EY Better Finance: CFO Insights podcast — a series that explores the changing dynamics of the business world and what it means for finance leaders of today and tomorrow.
Today I am joined by Alex Curran, CEO of Aptitude Software, to explore how finance leaders are responding to rapid change and new demands. We are going to discuss how breaking down silos, embracing AI, and building smarter data foundations are helping CFOs and finance leaders transform faster and lead with impact.
So Alex, thanks and welcome.
Alex Curran
Hi, thank you very much for having me today.
Corson
Perhaps you could start off by telling us a little bit about the company and your journey to become the CEO.
Curran
At Aptitude Software, we provide finance data management platforms to tier one, tier two and tier three organizations, basically providing them with an alternative way of supporting finance transformation.
I've been at Aptitude for a number of years. I joined initially through the graduate program and via that program had the opportunity to rotate across different parts of the business. So, from product to operations to commercial. And I would say that broad exposure helped me to find my passion for cross-functional leadership with an emphasis on go-to-market.
After leading our international efforts, I then got the fantastic opportunity, which I'm very grateful for, to move to North America to build out that region, which now represents over half of our group's revenue. And then from there, I stepped into the group CEO.
And I would say throughout my career, I’ve definitely been very fortunate to work with a number of great mentors and equally strong partners, EY in particular, which have all played a key role in Aptitude's ability to scale.
And I'm definitely a firm believer that no matter how strong your internal team is, you definitely need the right external ecosystem to grow effectively.
Corson
You mentioned this idea about cross-functional collaboration and, as you described your journey sitting in lots of different seats across the organization, you're very well positioned to sort of comment and observe on that.
And one of the things we talk about a lot for the CFO [chief financial officer] audience is building those cross-functional relationships. From your perspective, what is it that drives successful collaboration across functional barriers and silos?
Curran
Great question and that definitely relates to some of the research that we've recently completed for a global research study [Global Autonomous Finance Benchmark 2025]. So, we went out, we spoke to 1,600 senior finance leaders across nine regions and six industries and asked many questions about that collaboration.
I think one of the clearest findings was that successful finance transformation, depends heavily on how well the CFO, the CTO [chief technology officer], the CEO work together and in some cases don't.
And I think what we've found speaking not just through the survey, but on a day-to-day basis to the clients that we serve is that when those roles operate in silos, I would say transformation stalls and we're seeing a lot of organizations look at their finance operations and haven't done anything for many years and they do want to modernize.
And when there's true collaboration with shared ownership of data, technology and outcomes, that's when we see the finance team and finance department really providing that strategic value to an organization.
I would say we're seeing this in the market with our clients and I think that's because obviously finance can't transform on its own right. It really needs to see or experience that collaboration between those key roles.
As an example, the CIO [chief information officer] needs to enable the right data foundation. The CTO needs to ensure a scalable but explainable AI [artificial intelligence]. And then, the CFO then with all of that redefines how finance adds value to the wider organization.
Then you've got then the CEO creating that alignment and shared accountability across all of it. And I think the biggest barrier we see is when those roles become super siloed, where each executive focuses on their own priorities instead of collaborating around some of those shared goals.
And therefore, for us, the real opportunity lies in coming together around a broader ambition.
So treating finance transformation not only as a one-off IT [information technology] project, but as a platform for enterprise-wide insight and also value creation.
And that's something that we encourage, obviously, our sales team to articulate based on outcomes and value-based selling. And it's something that we partner obviously with the likes of EY on very, very closely.
Corson
You mentioned, obviously, this issue about siloed thinking having an impact on successful transformation. And you sort of observe it because you're selling to CFOs, you work with a CFO within your organization.
Is there some things you'd say that you observe successful CFOs doing well to avoid that siloed thinking and to drive that engagement?
Curran
Because our product fynapse enables a real time P&L [profit and loss], has forward-looking data information to work off, it’s able to support the front office.
So, the marketing teams as an example. And therefore, what we're seeing on a more regular basis is actually the finance team integrating a number of marketing individuals, within their team to create that cross-collaboration so that the back office, essentially finance, fully understand what the front office is hoping to achieve and also what their promotional activities are going to be over the next month, quarter and so on, .
Then therefore, the back office can actually support more revenue-generating activities. So actually, seeing functions that have not necessarily sat together being integrated together.
Corson
Those themes of collaboration and communication are the ones we come back to very frequently in these conversations on the podcast. So, it's great to have that validation on your side.
You mentioned the research that you do, which is on autonomous finance. So, I'd love to pick up on some of the themes. I obviously looked at some of the key findings, some interesting stuff coming through there, but perhaps just to start, you could describe what you believe autonomous finance is or means because it's a term that gets bandied around a lot and I think has different meanings, different people, just be good to get your evaluation of it.
Curran
Yeah, of course. So autonomous finance, I think, look, at the moment, you have lots of organizations that have large numbers of individuals, manually processing and accounting across their organization and supporting the finance function.
What we mean by autonomous is actually organizations automating those finance functions so that those functions, those processes enable them to become autonomous and actually focus on analyzing the real-time information that they have in front of them to better mitigate risk, drive their business forwards and essentially end up being the copilot for their business.
Corson
That's helpful in defining it in that way. And so, to come back to some of the themes that I think stood out in the research, the first one is one that's very close to my heart, which is, again, this isn't just around technology, it's about culture transformation.
To really embrace the opportunities of technology, you've got to get the cultural transformation right. And I think one of the findings was AI is actually enabling a change in the culture of finance. Do you want to talk a little bit about that, what the findings were and what it means?
Curran
Yeah, so in terms of finance, embracing AI, I think, look, for me, the promise of AI in finance is ginormous, it's enormous. But I think, so is the uncertainty. And I would say in our research, 77% of our finance teams or the finance teams that we surveyed say they now have access to AI tools, but less than 20% are basically able to measure any return on investment connected to that. So, there's definitely a gap between potential and execution.
So for us, I think what we see when we were talking to our clients, the key is mindset. What we're seeing is that finance needs to move from control to enablement and from perfection to iteration. And AI isn't just about speed. It's about intelligence.
So for us, the real value comes from better forecasting, smarter scenario planning and faster decision-making. I would say, the most successful teams that we spoke to are starting small and that's what our product, Fynapse, enables them to do.
It enables them to prove out and prove quick wins, which then supports additional investment in adoption and building lots, lots more confidence.
And again, I would say they're not waiting for IT. I think obviously we encourage them to collaborate with IT, but they're not waiting for IT. They're definitely moving forward with data readiness, strong governance and clear business cases, which then they then collaborate with IT to then select the correct and proper solution for their business.
And I think, let's not forget, you know, this is change management, not just technology. It's cultural as we've referenced and, as we all know, right, the impact of AI could be super transformative and we believe that Fynapse and Aptitude is definitely at the center of that shift.
Corson
And so, on that point about the mindset and culture, obviously there's a role for finance leaders to play in role modeling what this looks like. Are you seeing leaders that are really sort of doing this well, are there things they're doing differently that you'd call out?
Curran
Yeah, I think in line with the theme of the role of finance or even data in the finance function, I would say that what we're seeing is finance is definitely undergoing a complete transformation.
I think the pressure on the CFOs has never been higher. As I said earlier, they're expected to drive growth, manage risk, and as I kind of act as that strategic copilot.
But I think what they're doing at the moment is that they're doing all of this while working with outdated systems and fragmented data and overly manual processes. And our research showed clearly that the old tools don't match those new expectations.
So, the traditional ERP [enterprise resource planning] vendors, we see them having been built for traditional record keeping, not for real-time decision-making or AI enablement.
And again, even if, when they're used for automation, the implementation obviously takes years and costs tens of millions of, if not hundreds of millions of dollars, with typically disappointing results.
As we've talked through, you can't run AI on spreadsheets and manual workflows. What we're seeing in terms of the role of the finance function and the role of data is that leaders now need an intelligent platform that's basically built for this new era, one that provides real-time information, access to financial data, enables intraday P&Ls and delivers insights directly into decision-making, I’d describe them as moments.
And that's why we developed Fynapse. And that is designed to give organizations a completely different path forwards. It can be implemented in weeks, not months, and it puts finance in control of its data, again, without relying on upstream customizations.
It's not about automating what already exists, it's about reshaping how finance operates in a much more, I guess, not agile way, but also insight-led way. And I would say that this shift is definitely happening across all different industries, across all different sectors, across all different regions. And it's definitely defining what the future of finance looks like.
Corson
You touched on this, one of the themes in the research was data is the biggest gap.
Curran
Yup
Corson
And to your point, we're all striving for this goal of delivering better insight, more timely, helping with the business partnering role that finance leaders aspire to be doing.
To your point, I think one of the challenges is, for finance organizations, where do you start? And oftentimes, the whole boiling the ocean and having to get everything right before you can make any immediate progress is kind of a blocker.
So, are there particular areas that you see finance organizations targeting in terms of being able to demonstrate some short-term tangible wins and actions just to start building that momentum, get the flywheel spinning?
Curran
I think, for finance transformation, there's been a perception that they can only do finance modernization or achieve finance modernization in a kind of a big bang approach.
And what we're seeing more of our organizations, even if they have a global requirement to roll out and support finance transformation, modernization across the group, actually looking at which divisions are impacted and then picking one division that they can get up and running in a matter of weeks, to prove to the rest of the organization that they can stand up a solution super quickly, get their data into a good state and start driving value, and then once they've gained value and have something up and running, then they essentially kind of clone and go.
That, for us, is enabling us to land smaller in terms of budget expectations, which then makes and supports a faster sales process. So, very compelling to us and the partners that support us.
Then primarily and really importantly, it's enabling our clients to showcase that value incredibly quickly to retain and maintain that stakeholder buy-in, and then to essentially support additional funding to then continue to roll that out across the organization. So, we're definitely seeing much more of a trend towards starting at a divisional team level or a team level and then rolling it out across the group.
Corson
You mentioned that, obviously, it's creating the case for further investment. And I think, this is one of the big challenges for finance organizations is, you know, how do you measure ROI [return on investment] on new investment and make the case? And I think particularly with the new technologies like AI, where perhaps the return is difficult to measure.
It can be difficult to secure that funding. So again, any examples you have of how organizations have been able to think about that and to secure investment in these newer areas where there may be less certainty about what the return looks like.
Curran
We work very closely with our clients on building those business cases and we encourage them to look across the entire end-to-end process. So, from risk mitigation to revenue generation and again to collaborate with the wider departments that potentially will be able to make use of the real-time information that historically they haven't had access to.
But first of all and foremost, large number of organizations are using large number of individuals and teams to essentially automate basic accounting and to close the books. So, there's typically a compelling ROI business case when you are looking at just being able to achieve basic automation.
So, some organizations only have 20 individuals doing it, but others have up to two or 300 individuals doing it and potentially can support up to 30,000 and upwards manual adjustments.
So again, quite a manual intensive process. And actually, when you look at the ROI that can be achieved at the back of automating all of that and actually having some of those individuals, yes, either move out of the organization or be repurposed for more revenue-generating activities, the ROI is clear.
And then, we look at how an organization can launch products to the market much faster ahead of the competition. What we tend to see are organizations not actually being able to launch products to the market in a good time. Typically, an organization can take up to three months to be able to just launch a new promotional offer to the market.
Whereas our product, as an example, can enable them to do that in a matter of hours. And therefore, they are then able to calculate potentially how many more offers they could then launch across that period and therefore calculate again the ROI.
They are two typical areas where we see clear business cases being built upon, and that's something that we work extremely closely and carefully with our clients on.
And I would say, more and more organizations are definitely looking at the outcomes that we can support as part of the implementation of our software and are wanting to see those outcomes be delivered again in a matter of weeks or months versus years which they've traditionally had to wait for.
Corson
You're right. A lot of finance leaders have historically looked through this very much as a lens of cost takeout. Because that's measurable, it's something very tangible. But what you're describing in terms of the pivot to value creation, actually, how are you enabling revenue growth, value creation by enabling better decision-making more timely is so important.
So, the example you alluded to, particularly in, for example, the consumer product space, where actually, because we've got access to so much more data, the amount of analysis we can do to actually be much more targeted in some of those things like discounting and actually make sure we retain value because we can be much clearer where we need to make bigger investments in promotions, etc., is a role that finance can play.
And frankly, there may need to be more people, if actually you've got more data, more needs to be engaging with the commercial functions in the organization. So, I think that's so well said.
So, going back to the theme of mindset change, I think this collaboration with other areas also requires more of an innovative mindset. And one of the things we talk about a lot is how do we kind of create that innovation muscle memory in finance people that perhaps are more known for liking certainty, for liking trusted, well-controlled ways of doing things.
So, Alex, the question for you is how do you create that sort of innovation skill set in teams? Because it is, I think, going to be so important to enabling what you're describing.
Curran
I think, our clients, once they've stood up our software are going, okay, you know, I have 50 accountants, might not need 50 accountants anymore because we've automated everything.
So, it's definitely changing the skill profile that finance teams are looking to onboard and integrate within their functions. And I would say, absolutely, the role of the accountant is very important, keeps organizations safe, financially controlled.
But obviously, Fynapse is our product and enables and provides that books, records, quality information in a real-time manner, which then individuals with the skillset of maybe a data scientist or an analyst can then be brought in to be integrated within the finance team to actually utilize the data, analyze the data and become a business partner for each of the functions .
So, we're seeing the role of finance change and also the skillset change within each of the teams that we're supporting.
Corson
Fantastic. And just to come back to the findings from the research, the third finding that really stood out to me was this idea of a big reality gap.
So, can you maybe talk about what that is? Certainly, from my perspective with AI, I think there's the usual hype cycle effects where everyone assumes everyone else is doing lots of things really well and I'm missing out or I'm behind.
Is that reality? Where do you think the gaps are and should people be worried?
Curran
Yeah, I think people should be thinking about AI and how best to use it. They should avoid the temptation of, I guess, supporting projects on the sides of their desks.
I think for me, it's really important, as I said earlier, right, to make sure that they have the data clean, they have the right data governance processes around it, and that they have data-controlled data books and records quality data and, where possible, financial data combined with operational information; so that therefore. the AI technologies are able to support super-sophisticated AI scenarios.
I think what we have seen historically are lots of organizations putting AI technology on the top of general ledgers. General ledgers are designed to support management reporting and aggregated information.
I would encourage organizations to make sure that they have a finance data platform that holds vast quantities of information processes, vast quantities of information super quickly.
As I said, books and records quality to support more sophisticated AI scenarios versus basic scenarios on top of aggregated information.
Corson
Fantastic. Well, I think you've actually sort of articulated there a bit of a roadmap for where to focus and some recommendations. But as we wrap up, anything else that, as you're thinking about, where our listeners and senior finance leaders should be focused that you'd also share?
Curran
I think, for me, getting the data into a good state and clean is a priority. And obviously, I'm a vendor, but I would encourage finance leaders, CTOs to make sure that they're working collectively with the vendor that they've selected in support of their project versus doing it in isolation and then having to do it again with the vendor once they've selected the solution.
But for me, data is key and making sure that each of the function understands the importance of collaboration to make these types of projects successful.
Corson
So well said, I think, again, the organizations that are going to be successful here are the ones that put in a very solid data foundation and create the cultural transformation that we talked about.
That's going to be the key differentiator for organizations that really embrace the potential of AI. Alex, thank you. That was wonderful. In wrapping up, we always like to have a few quick-fire questions to get to know you a bit better. The first one is, is there a particular all-time favorite quote that you have and you refer back to and why?
Curran
Yeah, favorite quote would be “What you do has far greater impact than what you say” by Stephen Covey. I think for me, leadership is visible through action and culture isn't defined by values on the wall. I think it's definitely shaped by what leaders do every day.
Corson
Great, I like that one. Has there been a particular piece of advice or mentorship that's been most impactful during the course of your career?
Curran
I would say don't bring problems without solutions or options. I think that advice fundamentally has shaped how I lead and also the expectations I have of my team and wider team members across the organization.
I think it's easy to point out what's broken but I think what matters is bringing solutions even if they're not perfect. I think that then builds a culture of accountability and momentum. So yeah, that would be my most impactful piece of advice that's ever been given to me.
Corson
And then finally, we all have many pressures in many different directions. Is there anything you do to try and maintain a sense of wellbeing and balance?
Curran
Yeah, you know, travel is a big part of the job that I have. It's important for me to stay disciplined in terms of, I'd say, very boring, right? But early workouts, time outside and switching off or trying to switch off when I'm with my family. But having or maintaining that discipline helps to keep some balance and keeps me sharp and grounded.
Corson
Fantastic. Well, it's been great talking to you. Really appreciate you sharing the insights and thanks once again.
Curran
Thank you very much. Thank you for having me.
Corson
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