Why CFOs and CIOs Must Align on Data Strategy for SAP Ecosystems

Data is the most valuable yet underused asset for many organisations. This is because businesses tend to treat it less as a strategic asset and more like a data swamp. The reason for this often lies in a quiet tug-of-war between the C-suite’s two most critical data stakeholders: the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), who champions financial prudence, and the Chief Information Officer (CIO), who pushes for platform innovation. This stalemate leaves value that an organisation’s data can provide on the table. However, a path to alignment can be built on a shared understanding of governance, automation, and measurement.

From Silos to Seamless Governance

The first step is a handshake on governance. While the CFO views data as a regulated financial asset requiring strict controls to survive an audit, the CIO worries that a purely financial lens will create silos and restrict the enterprise’s ability to innovate. Therefore, the resolution lies in a formal partnership between these two functions.

At a recent roundtable moderated by DXC Technology, the speakers agreed that co-ownership by both functions is necessary to overcome this challenge. They recommended the creation of a joint CFO-CIO data stewardship board with shared KPIs on data quality and reconciliation time reduction. This collaborative spirit extends to automation as well.

The Three Wave Plan

Instead of battling over short-term ROI versus long-term potential, the aligned path is a co-sponsored, three-wave plan:

• The first wave involves stabilising the system with a clean core discipline.
• In the second wave, automation efforts are laser-focused on high-friction, end-to-end processes such as Record-to-Report (R2R) and Order-to-Cash (O2C), where the strategic gains are the highest.
• Finally, to justify foundational investments such as modernising a legacy system for the AI era, the alliance is cemented with a jointly published, quarterly value scorecard.

This robust methodology shifts the conversation from lagging return on investment (ROI) to leading indicators that connect SAP platform health to financial outcomes. By tracking metrics like forecast accuracy and time-to-decision, the CIO can demonstrate progress in terms that the CFO values.

Thus, converting data into a strategic asset is not a technology problem alone. It’s an organisational challenge that is solved when financial discipline and SAP platform strategy are fused. This partnership is the non-negotiable foundation for building a resilient, AI-powered enterprise.

What This Means for Mastering SAP Insiders

Reframe the data ownership debate to joint stewardship. A shift from ownership to stewardship by the CFO and CIO changes the entire dynamic of the organisation and turns data from liability into a trusted asset. Mastering SAP Insiders must formally charter a cross-functional data governance board co-chaired by leaders from finance and IT. Their first task should be to leverage a platform like SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) to create a single semantic layer for data across SAP and non-SAP systems. This provides the technical underpinning for governance policies, allowing organisations to create curated data products that are pre-validated for both financial accuracy and technical soundness.

Use a modular strategy to end the all-or-nothing dilemma. By embracing SAP’s modular Business Suite, organisations can adopt standard, best-practice functionality for commodity processes while preserving the flexibility to innovate. The unified data foundation of SAP BDC ensures that even when the business extends functionality or integrates third-party tools, it is working from a consistent, governed data core. To achieve this, CFOs and CIOs must conduct a joint review of their current SAP landscape. This helps them to create a matrix to classify processes as ones that can default to the SAP standard, or where extensions built on the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) can provide measurable competitive advantage.

Manage automation and AI as a balanced portfolio. A portfolio approach towards automation and AI includes blue-chip automation projects with predictable cost-saving returns, like using SAP Business AI agents to automate the financial close or invoice processing. This builds credibility and funds growth initiatives such as experimental AI models for predictive cash flow or supply chain optimisation. Therefore, CIOs and CFOs must co-sponsor automation and AI initiatives. They must use embedded SAP Business AI capabilities within SAP S/4HANA and other core applications for quick wins that demonstrate immediate value. For more ambitious projects, create joint teams where the CIO’s group manages the proof-of-concept and technical validation, while the CFO’s team is responsible for building the business case, defining success metrics, and measuring the financial impact.