How to Build a Finance Transformation Roadmap

December 29, 2025
Jason Berwanger
Finance

Build a finance transformation roadmap with clear steps, practical tips, and proven strategies to streamline operations and strengthen your finance team.

A person follows a path of stairs, representing the steps of a finance transformation roadmap.

You wouldn't start building a new headquarters without a detailed architectural blueprint. So why would you attempt to overhaul your company's entire financial engine without a similar plan? A finance transformation is a complex project with many moving parts, and diving in without a clear direction is a recipe for wasted time and money. A finance transformation roadmap acts as your blueprint, providing a step-by-step guide for upgrading your financial operations. It outlines your goals, the technology you'll need, and the exact steps to get from where you are today to a more efficient, data-driven future, ensuring a solid foundation for growth.

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Key Takeaways

  • Map Your Starting Point Before Planning Your Route: A successful transformation begins with a thorough assessment of your current financial operations and clear, measurable goals. This foundational step ensures you build a plan that solves your actual problems instead of just implementing new technology for its own sake.
  • Guide Your Team Through the Change: Technology is only a tool; your people are what make it work. A successful implementation depends on a strong change management plan that includes clear communication, comprehensive training, and a phased rollout to help your team adapt and embrace new ways of working.
  • Treat Transformation as an Ongoing Process: The launch isn't the finish line. Long-term success comes from continuously measuring progress with KPIs, maintaining strict security and compliance standards, and treating your roadmap as a living document that evolves with your business.

What Is a Finance Transformation Roadmap?

Think of a finance transformation roadmap as a strategic blueprint for upgrading your company's financial operations. It’s a detailed plan that outlines how you’ll improve your processes, adopt new technologies, and empower your team to work more effectively. The ultimate goal is to move from time-consuming manual tasks to a streamlined, automated system that provides a clear, real-time view of your company’s financial health.

This isn't just about buying new software; it's a comprehensive strategy to make your finance department more efficient, reduce operational costs, and minimize risks. A well-designed roadmap guides you through every stage of the process, ensuring that each step aligns with your broader business objectives and sets you up for sustainable growth.

A Framework for Strategic Planning

A solid roadmap provides the structure you need to manage change without getting overwhelmed. Most finance transformations follow a four-part journey: Strategize, Plan, Build, and Run. This framework helps you organize your efforts, starting with high-level goals and breaking them down into manageable projects. In the strategy phase, you define your vision. During planning, you detail the specific steps, resources, and timelines. The build phase is where you implement new systems and processes, and the run phase focuses on operating and optimizing your new financial ecosystem. Following a structured approach ensures you have the right insights to keep the project on track.

Defining Your Core Goals

Before you can build a roadmap, you need to know your destination. Defining your core goals is the most critical first step. What do you want to achieve with this transformation? Are you trying to close your books faster, improve forecast accuracy, or ensure ASC 606 compliance? Be specific and set measurable objectives. Talk to your team and other stakeholders to understand their pain points and what success would look like to them. By establishing clear goals and outcomes from the start, you create a shared vision that will guide your strategic decisions and keep everyone aligned throughout the transformation process.

Why You Need a Finance Transformation Roadmap

A finance transformation roadmap is more than just a project plan; it’s a strategic guide that aligns your financial operations with your company’s biggest goals. Think of it as the blueprint for building a finance function that not only keeps the lights on but actively drives growth. Without a clear plan, you risk wasting resources on mismatched technology, falling behind on compliance, and making critical decisions based on outdated information. A well-designed roadmap provides a clear path forward, ensuring every change you make is intentional, impactful, and moves your business in the right direction. It turns your finance department from a cost center into a strategic partner for the entire organization.

Streamline Operations and Reduce Costs

Manual data entry, endless spreadsheets, and chasing down numbers for month-end close—sound familiar? These repetitive tasks don’t just drain your team’s morale; they cost your business time and money. A finance transformation roadmap helps you identify these bottlenecks and replace them with automated, efficient workflows. The goal is to work smarter, not harder. By mapping out a plan to adopt new tools and processes that integrate seamlessly, you can significantly cut down on manual labor, reduce the risk of human error, and free up your finance professionals to focus on high-value strategic analysis. This shift allows you to get more done with the same resources, directly impacting your bottom line.

Make Better Decisions with Real-Time Data

Making big decisions based on last quarter's data is like driving while looking in the rearview mirror. To stay agile, you need a clear, up-to-the-minute view of your company's financial health. A finance transformation roadmap is your plan for getting there. It outlines the steps to implement tools that provide real-time analytics. When your finance operations are simpler and faster, you get immediate access to the information you need to pivot quickly, capitalize on opportunities, and address issues before they become major problems. This empowers your leadership team to make proactive, data-driven decisions that support your company's overall goals and keep you moving forward with confidence.

Minimize Risk and Ensure Compliance

Staying on top of financial regulations and preparing for audits can be a constant source of stress. A finance transformation roadmap helps you build compliance directly into your processes, rather than treating it as a last-minute scramble. By planning ahead, you can ensure your systems and workflows are designed to meet all necessary standards, like ASC 606, from the very beginning. This involves documenting all your new processes, which is crucial for creating a clear and defensible audit trail. A proactive approach not only minimizes the risk of costly penalties but also gives you, your investors, and your auditors confidence that your financials are accurate and reliable.

Gain a Competitive Advantage

In today's market, the companies that win are the ones that can adapt the quickest. A finance transformation isn't just about internal housekeeping; it's a powerful tool for gaining a competitive edge. When your financial house is in order, your business becomes more agile. Your roadmap acts as a blueprint for connecting your people, processes, and technology in a way that supports innovation and growth. With streamlined operations and real-time data at your fingertips, you can spot market trends faster, allocate resources more effectively, and make strategic moves while your competitors are still sorting through spreadsheets. It transforms your finance function into an engine that fuels your company’s ambitions.

Key Components of a Finance Transformation Roadmap

A successful finance transformation doesn’t happen by accident. It’s built on a thoughtful, well-structured roadmap that guides every decision. Think of it as your blueprint for building a stronger, more efficient finance function. While every company’s journey is unique, a solid roadmap always includes a few essential components. These pillars ensure you’re not just adopting new technology but are fundamentally improving how your finance department operates and contributes to the business’s overall success. Let’s walk through the five key pieces you’ll need to put in place.

Assess Your Current State

Before you can map out where you’re going, you need to know exactly where you stand. This first step is all about taking an honest look at your current financial operations. Document your existing processes, identify the bottlenecks causing delays, and pinpoint where inefficiencies are costing you time and money. Talk to your team and other stakeholders to understand their pain points. At the same time, define what success will look like by setting clear goals and establishing the key performance indicators (KPIs) you’ll use to measure progress. This initial assessment creates the foundation for your entire strategy.

Set Strategic Goals

With a clear picture of your current state, you can define your destination. Your strategic goals should be specific, measurable, and directly tied to your company’s broader objectives, like scaling operations or entering new markets. Are you aiming to close your books 50% faster? Or maybe you want to reduce manual data entry by 80%? These goals give your team a clear sense of purpose and direction. They transform the project from a vague idea of "making things better" into a concrete plan with tangible outcomes. This clarity is crucial for getting buy-in and keeping everyone motivated throughout the process.

Choose and Integrate Technology

Technology is the engine that will power your transformation, but it’s important to choose the right tools for the job. Look for solutions that solve your specific problems, whether it’s automating revenue recognition or providing real-time analytics. Consider the long-term value, not just the initial cost. The right platform should also work well with your existing systems. A solution with seamless integrations prevents data silos and ensures information flows smoothly across your entire organization. This creates a unified tech stack that supports your goals instead of creating new headaches.

Plan for Change and Training

Even the best technology will fail if your team isn’t prepared to use it. That’s why a solid change management plan is non-negotiable. Start by clearly communicating why these changes are necessary and how they will benefit everyone involved. Provide comprehensive training to ensure your team feels confident with the new systems and processes. It’s also helpful to identify champions within your organization who can encourage their peers and provide support. Remember to celebrate small wins along the way to maintain momentum and show everyone that the transformation is delivering real results.

Manage and Secure Your Data

As you centralize and automate your financial processes, the integrity and security of your data become more important than ever. Your roadmap must include a robust plan for data management. This involves establishing clear rules for how data is handled, implementing strong security measures to protect sensitive information, and planning for regular cybersecurity checks. Having a clear protocol for data governance not only protects your business from breaches but also ensures the information you’re using for strategic decisions is accurate and reliable. You can find more helpful tips and strategies in the HubiFi blog.

How to Assess Your Current Financial State

Before you can build a roadmap to your destination, you need to know exactly where you’re starting from. Assessing your current financial state is the foundational step of any transformation. It’s about taking an honest, clear-eyed look at your people, processes, and technology. This audit gives you the clarity needed to set realistic goals and build a plan that addresses your most pressing challenges. Think of it as drawing the "You Are Here" marker on the map—it’s the only way to chart an effective course forward.

Evaluate Current Processes and Systems

First, take stock of your existing financial operations. Document how your team handles everything from invoicing and revenue recognition to monthly closing and reporting. What software are you using? How much manual work is involved? Be specific and map out the workflows as they exist today, not as you think they should be. This exercise will help you pinpoint current problems and establish a baseline. From there, you can define what success will look like and set the key performance indicators (KPIs) you’ll use to measure progress, ensuring your transformation goals align with your company’s broader growth plans.

Identify Pain Points and Inefficiencies

Once you’ve mapped your processes, the pain points will likely become obvious. Are you dealing with unstructured or fragmented data that makes accurate reporting a nightmare? Is your team spending weeks manually reconciling spreadsheets instead of analyzing trends? These inefficiencies aren't just frustrating; they hinder decision-making and introduce risk. Many businesses struggle with data siloed across different platforms, which makes getting a single source of truth nearly impossible. Identifying these bottlenecks is critical because they represent the biggest opportunities for improvement. Solving them will deliver the most significant impact on your team’s efficiency and your company’s bottom line.

Gather Stakeholder Input

Your finance transformation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It impacts everyone, from the sales team waiting on commission reports to the C-suite relying on financial data for strategic decisions. Talk to people across different departments to understand their frustrations and needs. What information do they wish they had? What processes slow them down? Getting this input early on is crucial for building buy-in. When you share your vision and explain why changes are necessary, you can turn potential critics into your biggest champions. Their feedback will ensure the roadmap you build solves real-world problems for the entire organization.

Assess Your Team's Skills

Technology is a powerful enabler, but it’s your team that will bring your new financial vision to life. As automation handles more routine tasks, the role of a finance professional shifts from number-crunching to strategic analysis. Take an honest look at your team’s current skill set. Do they have the expertise in data analysis, strategic thinking, and communication needed to thrive in a more automated environment? Identifying skill gaps now allows you to plan for training and development. This isn’t about replacing people; it’s about empowering them to take on higher-value work, which you can explore further by scheduling a consultation.

What Technology Should You Consider?

Choosing the right technology is a cornerstone of any successful finance transformation. It’s not about chasing the latest trends, but about strategically selecting tools that align with your goals and solve your specific problems. The right tech stack acts as the engine for your roadmap, automating tedious tasks, providing clear insights, and empowering your team to focus on high-value work. When you’re evaluating options, think about how each piece of software will support your desired future state.

Your technology should streamline processes, not complicate them. Look for solutions that are user-friendly, scalable, and secure. The goal is to create a cohesive ecosystem where data flows freely between systems, eliminating manual data entry and reducing the risk of human error. This interconnectedness is what turns raw data into actionable intelligence, allowing you to make faster, more informed decisions. As you explore your options, consider platforms that not only meet your current needs but can also grow with your business, ensuring your investment pays off for years to come.

Automated Revenue Recognition

If your team is still manually tracking revenue in spreadsheets, it’s time for an upgrade. Automated revenue recognition software takes the guesswork and manual effort out of one of finance’s most complex tasks. This technology automatically applies the correct accounting rules to transactions as they happen, ensuring you’re always compliant with standards like ASC 606. For businesses with high transaction volumes, this isn't just a nice-to-have—it's essential for accurate and timely financial reporting. By automating this process, you can close your books faster, reduce the risk of costly errors, and free up your team for more strategic analysis. You can find more insights on our blog about how this works.

Seamless Software Integrations

Your finance technology doesn't operate in a vacuum. It needs to communicate with your other business systems, like your CRM, ERP, and payment processors. Seamless software integrations are critical for creating a single source of truth for your financial data. When your systems are connected, information flows automatically, eliminating the need for manual data transfers and reconciliations. This ensures data consistency across the board and gives you a complete, real-time view of your business performance. Before committing to a new platform, make sure it offers robust integrations with the tools you already use. This connectivity is key to building a streamlined and efficient financial operation.

Real-Time Analytics and Reporting

Traditional financial reporting often looks in the rearview mirror. To make proactive decisions, you need access to real-time analytics. Modern financial platforms can pull data from various sources and present it in easy-to-understand dashboards, giving you an immediate pulse on your company’s financial health. This capability allows you to spot trends as they emerge, identify potential issues before they become major problems, and capitalize on opportunities quickly. Instead of waiting for month-end reports, your team can access up-to-the-minute insights to guide daily operations and long-term strategy. If you want to see how this works, you can schedule a demo to see our platform in action.

Cloud-Based Financial Platforms

Moving your financial operations to the cloud offers a powerful combination of flexibility, scalability, and security. Cloud-based platforms allow your team to access critical financial data from anywhere, at any time, which is essential for remote and hybrid work environments. These systems are typically more cost-effective than on-premise solutions, as they eliminate the need for expensive hardware and maintenance. Furthermore, reputable cloud providers invest heavily in security, often offering a more robust defense than what a single company could build on its own. The scalability of cloud-based pricing also means the platform can grow with you, adapting to your needs as your business evolves.

How to Create Your Implementation Strategy

With your goals defined and technology choices made, it’s time to map out the execution. A great strategy is only as good as its implementation plan. This is where you translate your vision into a concrete series of actions. Breaking the project down into manageable phases with clear ownership and open communication will keep your team aligned and the transformation on track. Think of this as the step-by-step guide that turns your ambitious roadmap into a reality, ensuring your new systems and processes are adopted smoothly and effectively.

Adopt a Phased Rollout

Jumping into a massive, all-at-once overhaul is a recipe for chaos. Instead, treat your finance transformation as a journey with distinct stages. A phased approach allows your team to adapt, learn, and build momentum without being overwhelmed. You can structure your rollout into four main parts: Strategize, Plan, Build, and Run. This method lets you test new processes on a smaller scale, gather feedback, and make adjustments along the way. It minimizes disruption to your daily operations and gives you opportunities to celebrate small wins, which is fantastic for team morale.

Set Realistic Timelines and Milestones

A successful roadmap needs a realistic timeline. It’s tempting to be optimistic, but setting achievable deadlines is crucial for keeping the project on solid ground. Break your larger goals into smaller, measurable milestones. According to IBM, a solid plan should have clear goals and outcomes that allow you to see progress along the way. For example, instead of a single goal to "implement new accounting software," create milestones like "complete software selection," "migrate Q1 data," and "train the finance team." This makes the entire process feel less daunting and provides clear checkpoints to ensure you’re heading in the right direction.

Allocate Resources and Assign Roles

You can’t execute a plan without the right people and resources. Start by clearly defining who is responsible for what. Assigning ownership for each task eliminates confusion and ensures accountability. Next, make sure your team has the budget, tools, and time they need to succeed. It’s also essential to document all your new processes as you go. Having clear documentation not only helps with training and consistency but is also critical for passing audits and maintaining compliance. This is a step that pays dividends long after the initial implementation is complete.

Create a Communication Plan

Technology and processes are only part of the equation—your people are what make a transformation successful. A thoughtful communication plan is non-negotiable. You need to keep everyone in the loop about what’s changing, why it’s changing, and how it will affect their work. As experts at BPM note, you need a plan to tell employees about the changes and train them on new systems. Without it, even the best technology will fail to be adopted. Regular updates, training sessions, and open forums for questions will help your team feel supported and invested in the new way of working.

How to Address Compliance and Security

As you modernize your finance department, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of new software and streamlined workflows. But none of that matters if your foundation isn't secure and compliant. Addressing compliance and security isn't just a box to check; it's about building a resilient financial operation that earns trust from regulators, investors, and customers. Your finance transformation roadmap must treat these elements as core components, not afterthoughts.

Think of it this way: as you bring more of your financial data into centralized, automated systems, you’re also creating a central point of risk. A single breach or compliance failure can have serious consequences. That’s why your plan needs a proactive strategy for protecting sensitive information and adhering to all relevant financial regulations. This involves more than just installing security software. It requires a deep understanding of your legal obligations, a thorough assessment of potential vulnerabilities, and a commitment to transparent documentation. By building these practices into your roadmap from day one, you ensure your transformation leads to sustainable growth, not just short-term efficiency gains.

Meet ASC 606 and Other Regulations

Staying on the right side of financial regulations is non-negotiable. Standards like ASC 606 aren't just guidelines; they are complex rules that dictate how you recognize revenue, and getting it wrong can lead to costly penalties and restatements. Your transformation plan must detail how your new processes and systems will ensure compliance. This means choosing technology that is built to handle these requirements. For instance, an Automated Revenue Recognition platform can apply the five-step model consistently across thousands of transactions, removing the risk of human error. Make sure you document every new process thoroughly—this paper trail is exactly what auditors will ask for to verify your compliance.

Establish Data Security Protocols

Your company’s financial data is one of its most valuable assets, and you have a responsibility to protect it. As you adopt new technologies, you also introduce new potential entry points for cyberattacks. Your roadmap should include a plan for robust data security. Start by conducting a risk assessment to identify any weak spots in your current systems. From there, you can establish clear protocols for data handling, access controls, and incident response. This isn't just a job for the IT department; the finance team needs to be actively involved in safeguarding the information it manages. Secure integrations with HubiFi and other platforms are critical to ensuring data is protected as it moves between systems.

Maintain Clear Audit Trails

Clear audit trails are your proof of compliance and security. They provide a detailed, chronological record of every transaction, entry, and change made within your financial systems. A strong audit trail makes it easy to trace any number back to its source, which is invaluable during an internal review or an external audit. Manually creating these trails is tedious and prone to error. Your new technology stack should generate them automatically. This ensures that every action is logged without extra effort from your team, creating a transparent and tamper-proof record. This level of documentation not only simplifies audits but also helps you quickly identify and resolve any discrepancies that arise in your day-to-day operations.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid in Your Finance Transformation

Embarking on a finance transformation is a major undertaking, and even the best-laid plans can go off track. Knowing where others have stumbled is one of the best ways to ensure your own project succeeds. When you’re redesigning the financial core of your business, you’re dealing with complex systems, established habits, and critical data. A single misstep can lead to delays, budget overruns, or a solution that doesn’t deliver on its promise.

By anticipating these common challenges, you can build a more resilient roadmap from the start. It’s not just about choosing the right software; it’s about preparing your people, refining your processes, and securing the right support to see the project through. Let’s walk through four of the most common pitfalls and how you can steer clear of them.

Focusing Only on Technology

It’s easy to get excited about a new piece of software that promises to solve all your problems. But technology is a tool, not a strategy. One of the biggest mistakes companies make is trying to force new software to fit old, inefficient processes. Before you even look at demos, you need a clear understanding of your goals and the operational changes required to meet them.

Start by mapping out your ideal workflows and identifying where the real bottlenecks are. A successful transformation involves adopting better ways of working first, then finding the technology that supports those new methods. Otherwise, you’re just automating a broken process, which only helps you do the wrong things faster.

Lacking Stakeholder Buy-In

A finance transformation impacts nearly every part of the business, from sales to operations. If you don’t have strong support from key leaders and department heads, your project will face constant resistance. Many transformations fail because of "people issues," not technical glitches. When your team doesn't understand or agree with the changes, adoption will be slow and frustrating.

From the very beginning, you need to communicate the "why" behind the transformation. Explain how it will benefit the company and make individual roles easier. Getting this stakeholder buy-in ensures you have the champions you need to move the project forward, secure resources, and encourage a positive attitude across the organization.

Overlooking Change Management

Implementing new technology and processes is one thing; getting your team to embrace them is another. This is where change management comes in. It’s the structured approach to helping people transition from the old way of doing things to the new. Without a solid change management plan, you risk low user adoption, decreased morale, and a poor return on your investment.

Your plan should include clear communication about why the changes are happening and what to expect. Provide thorough training on new systems, identify champions who can support their peers, and celebrate small wins along the way. This keeps everyone motivated and helps solidify new habits until they become second nature.

Underinvesting in New Processes

Finance transformation projects are complex and require a diverse set of skills. You can’t expect your already-busy finance team to become experts in process improvement, data migration, and systems integration overnight. Underinvesting in the resources and expertise needed to properly design and implement new processes is a recipe for failure. These projects require specialists in finance, technology, and risk management.

Be realistic about the internal capacity of your team. You may need to bring in outside experts or consultants to fill knowledge gaps and guide the project. While it’s an added expense upfront, getting it right the first time will save you significant time and money down the road. You can schedule a consultation to see how specialized expertise can streamline your transformation.

How to Measure Success and Track Progress

Once your finance transformation roadmap is in motion, how do you know if it’s actually working? You can’t just cross your fingers and hope for the best. Measuring success requires a deliberate approach to tracking your progress against the goals you set. This isn't about a final report card; it's about creating a feedback loop that allows you to adjust your strategy as you go. By establishing clear metrics from the start, you can make data-driven decisions, demonstrate the value of your investment, and ensure your transformation delivers real financial results.

Define Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

The first step is to define your key performance indicators (KPIs). Think of these as the vital signs for your finance department. Your KPIs should be directly tied to your strategic objectives, providing clear, quantitative evidence of your progress. For example, if a core goal is to streamline operations, you might track "time to close the books" or "invoice processing cost." The key is to choose metrics that truly matter to your business outcomes. These aren't just numbers on a dashboard; they are the indicators that tell you whether your transformation is on track or if you need to make a course correction.

Analyze Revenue and Profit Margins

Ultimately, a successful finance transformation should have a positive impact on your bottom line. That’s why keeping a close eye on revenue and profit margins is non-negotiable. With improved data accuracy and real-time analytics, you can move beyond high-level numbers and dig into the details. Are certain product lines more profitable than others? Has your customer lifetime value increased? Analyzing these metrics helps you identify what’s working and where you can find new opportunities for growth. This level of insight ensures your transformation efforts are directly contributing to a healthier, more profitable business.

Track Cash Flow and Budget Accuracy

Healthy cash flow is the lifeblood of any business, and your transformation should strengthen it. Tracking metrics like days sales outstanding (DSO) and cash conversion cycle will show you how efficiently you’re managing money. At the same time, monitor your budget accuracy. A transformation that includes better forecasting tools and integrated data should lead to more precise budgets. When your actuals consistently align with your forecasts, it’s a strong sign that your financial planning has become more reliable and strategic, allowing you to allocate resources effectively.

Monitor Performance Continuously

Measuring success isn’t a one-and-done task you check off at the end of the project. It’s an ongoing process. You should establish a regular rhythm for reviewing your KPIs, whether it’s weekly, monthly, or quarterly. This continuous monitoring allows you to catch issues early and make timely adjustments to your roadmap. Think of it as an iterative process—you implement, measure, learn, and refine. By creating these feedback loops, you build a culture of continuous improvement that ensures your finance function remains agile and aligned with your organization’s evolving goals.

How to Ensure Long-Term Success

Launching your finance transformation is a huge accomplishment, but it’s not the finish line. The real success comes from treating your roadmap as a living document—one that evolves with your business. A successful transformation isn't a one-time project; it's a shift in mindset toward continuous growth and adaptation. By staying proactive, you can ensure your finance function remains a strategic asset that supports your company’s goals for years to come.

This means regularly checking in on your progress, keeping your tools sharp, and making sure your team feels confident and supported. The goal is to build a resilient financial operation that can handle whatever comes next, whether it’s rapid growth, new market opportunities, or changing regulations. By focusing on a few key areas, you can maintain the momentum from your initial rollout and build a truly future-proof finance department.

Commit to Continuous Improvement

Your finance transformation roadmap shouldn't gather dust on a shelf. Think of it as your guide for ongoing improvement. The best way to do this is to create a feedback loop. Regularly ask your team what’s working and what isn’t. Schedule quarterly reviews to assess your processes and systems against the KPIs you set. Are there new bottlenecks? Have your business goals shifted? Use these insights to make small, consistent adjustments. This approach helps you refine your operations over time, ensuring your finance function always runs as efficiently as possible.

Keep Your Technology Updated

The financial technology landscape changes fast. While you don’t need to adopt every new tool, it’s smart to stay informed about what’s out there. Look into how emerging technologies like machine learning for analysis or predictive analytics for forecasting could further streamline your work. The right technology should do more than just automate old processes; it should open up new ways for your team to add strategic value. Keeping your tech stack current ensures you’re always using the best tools for the job and can easily integrate with new platforms as your business grows.

Invest in Ongoing Team Training

Your team is the engine of your finance department, and even the best technology is ineffective if no one knows how to use it properly. Training shouldn't stop after the initial implementation. As you update systems or refine processes, provide continuous learning opportunities to keep everyone’s skills sharp. A solid change management plan is key here. Explain the "why" behind any changes, celebrate small wins to keep morale high, and create an environment where your team feels empowered by new technology, not intimidated by it.

Future-Proof Your Finance Strategy

A truly successful transformation is built for the long haul. This requires looking beyond your current needs and thinking about where you want your business to be in five or even ten years. Will you be expanding into new markets? Launching new product lines? Your financial strategy should be scalable enough to support that growth. By regularly revisiting your long-term vision and aligning it with your current operations, you can make strategic decisions today that will set your company up for future success. This forward-thinking approach is what turns a good finance department into a great one.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a finance transformation typically take? There’s no one-size-fits-all timeline, as it really depends on your company’s size, the complexity of your goals, and the resources you have. A smaller company might see significant changes in six months, while a larger organization could be looking at a multi-year journey. It’s helpful to think of it less as a project with a hard end date and more as an evolution. The initial planning and building phases have clear milestones, but the final "run" phase is all about continuous improvement.

Is a finance transformation roadmap only for large corporations? Not at all. While large companies certainly need them, the principles of creating a roadmap are just as valuable for growing businesses. A roadmap for a smaller company might be less complex, but the core purpose is the same: to create a clear plan for scaling your financial operations efficiently. Any business that wants to move beyond manual spreadsheets, ensure compliance, and make decisions with clear data will benefit from this strategic planning.

I'm feeling overwhelmed by all this. What's the single most important first step? It's completely normal to feel that way. The most important thing you can do to start is to simply understand where you are right now. Before you think about new software or processes, sit down with your team and map out your current workflows. Identify the one or two biggest bottlenecks that cause the most frustration or waste the most time. Focusing on solving a real, immediate problem is the best way to build momentum and make the entire process feel more manageable.

My team is resistant to change. How can I get them on board? This is one of the most common hurdles, and it almost always comes down to communication. Instead of just announcing a new system, you have to sell the vision. Start by listening to their frustrations with the current process. Then, frame the transformation as the solution to those specific problems. When your team understands how these changes will make their jobs less tedious and more strategic, they're far more likely to become supporters instead of critics.

Do I need to hire an outside consultant to create and implement this roadmap? It really depends on your team's internal expertise and how much time they can dedicate to the project. Some teams have the skills and bandwidth to manage the transformation internally. However, bringing in an expert can provide a valuable outside perspective, help you avoid common mistakes, and keep the project on track. A consultant can be especially helpful if your team is already stretched thin or lacks experience in large-scale process and system changes.

Jason Berwanger

Former Root, EVP of Finance/Data at multiple FinTech startups

Jason Kyle Berwanger: An accomplished two-time entrepreneur, polyglot in finance, data & tech with 15 years of expertise. Builder, practitioner, leader—pioneering multiple ERP implementations and data solutions. Catalyst behind a 6% gross margin improvement with a sub-90-day IPO at Root insurance, powered by his vision & platform. Having held virtually every role from accountant to finance systems to finance exec, he brings a rare and noteworthy perspective in rethinking the finance tooling landscape.