Embracing Technology and The Employee Experience with Chris Ortega

SaaS Expert Voices presented by Maxio

This week on the Expert Voices podcast, Randy Wootton, CEO of Maxio, speaks with Chris Ortega, CEO and founder of Fresh FP&A. With almost 20 years of experience in accounting and finance, Chris is a leading expert in the field. Randy and Chris discuss the top three changes in the accounting and finance profession over the last 15 years and the impact of technology. Chris talks about the increasing value proposition of CFOs and the era of disruption in the office of the CFO. Listen as they delve into the role of AI in finance and the importance of employee NPS as a metric for success.

Quotes

• "People above profits, impact over income, purpose over praise. The more that we can have that inside the business, the more value we're going to bring outside.” -Chris Ortega [26:28]
• “You want to be able to find replicable things. The process, the information flow, and the data flow. Then you're able to layer in automation. What's interesting in the office of the CFO is there is this feeling of, I want to look at my spreadsheet because I trust that.” -Randy Wootton [07:02]

Expert Takeaways

• Technology has dramatically evolved in the accounting and finance profession, providing tactical advantages and streamlining operations.
• The value proposition of CFOs has shifted from being scorekeepers to strategic partners, bringing more value to the organization.
• The office of the CFO is poised for disruption, driven by technology and the changing role of CFOs.
• AI is not meant to replace CFOs but to level them up and enhance their capabilities.
• Employee NPS is an undervalued metric that CFOs should focus on to gauge employee satisfaction and engagement.

Timestamps

[00:00] Randy’s Intro

[00:34] Chris’ Intro

[00:59] Top three changes in the finance profession

[03:45] Embracing technology in the office of the CFO

[07:33] Resistance to AI in the accounting profession

[10:49] Prompting GPT-4 to create an ASE 606 memo for a retail client

[14:24] Impact of AI on every function, data strategy, and go-to-market

[18:21] Finding connections and insights through local meetups and events

[25:25] Undervalued metric: Employee NPS for CFOs to focus on

[26:28] CFOs partnering with HR to improve employee engagement

[28:22] CFOs prioritizing people connections and real-life interactions

[31:06] Legacy and the importance of writing one's own story

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About MAXIO

Maxio helps businesses accelerate growth efficiency with the industry’s only all-in-one billing and financial operations platform purpose-built for the needs of B2B SaaS. With Maxio, businesses unify and automate every step of the order-to-cash lifecycle – across billing, payments, accounts receivable, revenue recognition, and metrics/analytics. Maxio enables SaaS winners to operate with confidence, leverage insights they can’t get anywhere else, and scale without limits.