5 Essential Digital Finance Skills Every CFO Needs in Their Team

Despite digital transformation being a strategic priority across industries, recent research paints a concerning picture for finance departments. 49% of finance departments still operate with zero automation, relying on manual processes. According to Deloitte, this gap isn't due to lack of ambition – it's a critical shortage of digital skills within finance teams.

But what exactly constitutes "digital skills" in today's finance landscape? After almost two decades of helping finance teams navigate digital transformation journeys, we've identified five core skill domains that are essential for successful automation and analytics initiatives:

1. Agile Project Delivery - Breaking down complex problems and managing implementation effectively
2. Data Literacy - Understanding, analyzing, and communicating insights from financial data
3. Solution Building - Creating practical digital tools and automations that solve real business challenges
4. Business Partnering - Collaborating across departments to drive strategic value through digital initiatives
5. Digital Citizenry - Maintaining security, privacy, and ethical standards in an increasingly digital world

By assessing each team member against these five critical capabilities, finance leaders can map their team's digital strengths and weaknesses – the first step toward building a truly digital-ready finance function.

Why Digital Finance Skills Matter for CFOs in 2025

The finance function is rapidly evolving beyond traditional accounting and reporting roles. As automation takes over routine tasks, finance professionals are increasingly expected to serve as strategic business partners who can leverage data analytics to drive decision-making. Digital skills have become crucial for several compelling reasons:

First, digital transformation initiatives can reduce manual effort by up to 80%, freeing finance teams to focus on higher-value activities. Teams equipped with the right digital capabilities can drastically improve efficiency while reducing errors in core processes.

Second, today’s executives demand real-time insights rather than backward-looking reports. Finance professionals with strong digital skills can transform raw data into actionable intelligence through advanced analytics and visualization tools.

Third, organizations with digitally proficient finance teams gain competitive advantage through better forecasting, scenario planning, and risk management. These teams can identify patterns and trends that would otherwise remain hidden in the vast amounts of financial and operational data.

Finally, as regulatory requirements grow more complex, digital skills enable finance teams to maintain compliance while improving transparency through automated controls and reporting mechanisms.

The Digital Era of Finance

The digital era has brought about a significant transformation in the finance profession. With the increasing use of technology, finance professionals are required to possess a unique blend of financial and technological skills. The finance function is no longer just about number crunching, but about providing strategic insights and driving business growth.

In this digital age, finance professionals must be able to leverage technology to drive business decisions and improve financial results. They must be adept at analyzing large amounts of financial data, identifying trends, and providing actionable insights to business leaders. The use of artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, and other digital tools has become essential in the finance function.

The digital era has also introduced new challenges for finance professionals. Navigating the complexities of digital transformation, managing risk, and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements are now critical aspects of the finance profession. As the finance function evolves rapidly, professionals must be agile and adaptable to stay relevant. Embracing these digital tools and skills not only enhances efficiency but also positions finance teams as valuable assets in driving business performance and strategic growth.

Skill 1: Agile Project Delivery

In order to successfully deliver digital transformation, staff need to first dissect a problem and manage the work to ensure the right solution is delivered.

In the context of digital skills, agile project delivery falls into two main categories; business analysis and project management. Business analysis refers to staff members ability to:

• Analyse a problem statement with enough granularity to identify the root cause of the problem that they are being asked to solve.
• Deconstruct user needs and translate those needs into the features of the digital solution
• Research and evaluate the as-is process using tools like flowcharts, swim-lanes and data flow diagrams.
• Present a "future-state" vision of the digital solution to users and stakeholders using diagrams, wireframes and feature lists

Project management then becomes critical in ensuring staff are able to deliver working solutions that meet the needs of the users (discovered by the business analysis work they performed earlier). This includes the ability to:

• Plan and deliver using agile frameworks like Scrum and Kanban or to at least operate using an agile philosophy (when working in a non-agile environment).
• Deal with issues that may block successful delivery while also managing the risks and dependencies of the project.
• Focus on delivering a working solution for users early and then frequently iterating and improving the solution where required.

Skill 2: Data Literacy

Data is front and centre to many digital transformation efforts, mainly where projects focus on the implementation of better and more advanced analytics. Data literacy, therefore, should be one of the essential digital skills for finance teams to have. Disappointingly, however, less than 20% of decision-makers believe their companies adequately support the development of data literacy skills in their organisation.

By "Data Literacy" we are referring to skills ranging from data wrangling, statistics and the ability to visualise data and craft a narrative (data storytelling). Data Wrangling refers to an ability to:

• Work with and enrich available data to form an understanding of how that data aligns with the problem statement and the planned digital solution.
• Check data for accuracy and put solutions in-place (e.g. validation) to ensure data continues to be accurate and credible going forward.

Staff should be able to demonstrate a knowledge of basic statistics such as probability, correlation vs. causation and uncertainty and have an ability to produce appropriate summary statistics

Finally, staff must be able to translate data into visualisations and then engage in data storytelling - that is, craft a narrative that helps stakeholders better understand and utilise the analysis and insights that finance presents to them. Staff must also be amenable to learning how to use tools like Tableau, PowerBI and Yellowfin.

Skill 3: Solution Building with Automation & AI

If staff are going to succeed in their digital projects, they need to be able to build solutions. This is where digital skills like programming, solution design and quality assurance become essential. Furthermore, staff need to be comfortable with learning and using new tools for automation and analytics.

When it comes to programming, the goal is not to hire or turn finance staff into software engineers. Instead, the aim is to provide staff with some exposure to coding and algorithmic thinking. Many of the modern tools for automation and analytics support languages such as SQL, Python and R. Staff who can work with these languages will add a tremendous amount of versatility in their ability to add bespoke features that are otherwise not available "out-of-the-box".

The most common types of digital tools that staff will be expected to learn and master include:

• Finance automation tools like SolveXia as well as Robotic and Digital Process Automation tools.
• Narrow AI technologies such as Natural Language Processing / Generation and Image Recognition
• Analytics platforms like YuCalc

Staff will need to develop their ability around user-centred design, allowing them to identify the "real" needs of users and stakeholders through research and then design solutions that shows precisely how the user needs will be met. When it comes time to do the work (building the solution), staff must also be well-versed in a solution development lifecycle and be competent in their ability to test their work for quality.

Skill 4: Business Partnering in the Digital Age

According to PwC, finance functions spend only 33% of their time on insight generating activities. This percentage should increase as staff utilise modern tools for automation and analytics. Business partnering, therefore, needs to be considered as an essential skill that will not only ensure finance staff can leverage their seat at the business decision-making table but also help ensure the success of digital projects - through engaging and working collaboratively with the users and stakeholders.

Staff need to develop their skills in areas such as:

• Influencing business stakeholders
• Driving and managing change
• Being a tenacious digital evangelist while also being patient and empathetic to the business.
• Networking and building relationships with other business leaders.

In addition to developing these skills through training and eLearning, finance staff should be looking to use any spare capacity generated through automation to grow by spending more time away from their desk (and spreadsheets) attending meetings and networking across the business.

Skill 5: Practicing Digital Citizenry and Cyber Awareness

In an age where data breaches have become the norm, there is a tendency to focus on the threat of anonymous boogeymen (hackers), however, 52% of data breaches are caused by human error such as:

• Weak passwords; and
• Falling for phishing scams; and
• Sending sensitive information to the wrong person.

Being a good digital citizen can easily be ignored as its impact will not always be immediate. However, the effect of being a poor digital citizen can be catastrophic, quickly tearing down any credibility and trust in a digital transformation program.

Staff need to ensure they are "in-touch" with the wider digital community (including technology vendors and service providers). They also need to be capable of aligning business stakeholders around a singular digital vision.

Staff must also set a good for the business when it comes to ensuring the privacy of your customers and the security of your organisation's data. This includes understanding and applying your companies data security and privacy policies and ensuring they have a good knowledge of things like password security and data encryption.

How to Build a Digital-Savvy Finance Team

Building a finance team with strong digital capabilities doesn’t happen overnight. It requires a strategic approach that combines thoughtful hiring, targeted skill development, and cultural transformation. Finance talent is the CFO's most valuable asset, and equipping them with essential digital skills is crucial for meeting evolving business demands.

Here are key strategies to develop a digitally proficient finance function:

Hiring Finance Professionals for Digital Potential

When recruiting finance talent, look beyond traditional qualifications to identify candidates with digital aptitude. Search for individuals who demonstrate curiosity about technology, adaptability to new tools, and problem-solving mindsets. Consider candidates from non-traditional backgrounds who bring diverse technical skills that complement financial expertise. During interviews, present scenarios that test a candidate's ability to apply digital thinking to finance challenges rather than focusing solely on technical certifications.

Upskilling and Reskilling Current Staff with Digital Skills

Your existing team represents a valuable resource of institutional knowledge. Invest in upskilling these professionals by creating personalized learning paths based on individual digital skill gaps. Consider implementing mentorship programs pairing digitally proficient staff with those seeking to develop new skills. Create rotation opportunities that expose finance team members to technology projects. Offer micro-credentials and professional development courses focused on specific digital competencies. Organize internal hackathons or innovation challenges that encourage applying digital skills to real finance problems.

Investing in Tools and Training Platforms

Provide your team with both the digital tools they need to succeed and the training to use them effectively. This dual approach ensures technology investments deliver their intended value. Consider adopting user-friendly automation platforms that allow non-technical users to build solutions. Create a dedicated budget for digital skill development. Implement learning management systems with finance-specific digital courses. Establish sandbox environments where staff can practice using new tools in a risk-free setting.

Fostering a Digital-First Culture

Perhaps most importantly, create an environment where digital innovation is encouraged and rewarded. This involves recognizing and celebrating digital wins and successful implementations. Encourage experimentation and treat unsuccessful attempts as learning opportunities. Have leadership visibly embrace and champion digital transformation. Create space for finance staff to dedicate time to digital skill development. Establish communities of practice where finance professionals can share digital knowledge.

By taking a comprehensive approach that addresses hiring, development, tools, and culture, finance leaders can systematically build teams that possess the digital skills necessary to drive meaningful transformation.

Conclusion: The Future of Finance is Digital

As we've explored throughout this article, the finance function is undergoing a profound transformation driven by technology. The five core digital skills—Agile Project Delivery, Data Literacy, Solution Building, Business Partnering, and Digital Citizenry—represent the foundation upon which modern finance teams must build their capabilities.

Organizations that invest in developing these skills will gain significant advantages: more efficient operations, deeper business insights, stronger cross-functional partnerships, and greater strategic impact. Those that fail to develop digital capabilities risk falling behind competitors and becoming increasingly irrelevant to the business.

The journey to building a digitally-savvy finance team is challenging but achievable. It requires commitment from leadership, a willingness to invest in people and technology, and a culture that embraces continuous learning and innovation.

Remember that digital transformation is not a one-time initiative but an ongoing evolution. As technology continues to advance, the specific technical skills required will change, but the foundational digital capabilities outlined in this article will remain essential. By focusing on these five skill domains, finance leaders can future-proof their teams and position them to drive value in an increasingly digital business environment.