Perhaps one of the most important relationships, the head of any technology department can develop, is the one with the company’s CFO. (It is important to remember that in many organizations, the head of tech already reports to the CFO for several reasons, one of which I suppose, is that of control over the expenditures in technology). Often, these relationships are usually not as close or tight as they should be. That’s probably a result of decades of senior leadership always thinking of technology as a necessary evil or a cost center. We know now that technology is more than just a cost center or necessary evil, and in the 21st century, if the technology is not at the heart of your business, it will be whether you like it or not. Be it agriculture, a small business, or laundry service, technology will be a core component of your business, and your clientele will be demanding that you’re up to the latest technologies.

So, as a result, the business leaders making financial decisions around technology must understand and help define what the value proposition is that they’re looking for out of their technology investments and what outcomes they want to drive and for that they need to have a level of understanding of said technologies. Conversely, it is essential that whoever runs the tech Department — I’ll keep that as broad whoever– needs to build those relationships and understand the language that the business stakeholders and business leaders speak; specifically around finances, cost centers, and return on investments. These can’t be simple or anecdotal propositions of “people will be more productive.” Build strong arguments by building a good relationship with your CFO. In Redefining AI Leadership in the C-Suite, from MIT’s Sloan School of Management, the author addresses the importance of the relationship between the head of the technology department and the CFO.

The article goes a bit too deep down the finance vertical because they’re talking specifically around machine learning and artificial intelligence and all the values that could it can bring to that department. But overall, this article lays out a good case of how you, as a leader of your tech Department, should be thinking about how to engage in conversation with your CFO and making that relationship a tight and mutually beneficial relationship and not one that’s too contentious around costs and vision.