A PE operating partner blueprint: How to build your FinOps tech stack

For SaaS CFOs, it’s a common question:

“A new PE operating partner is entering the picture. What do they expect of me, and how can I ensure that I deliver results?”

Getting your FinOps tech stack optimized is perhaps the most important piece of working with an operating partner to maximize the value of your business.

 After all, your tech stack underlies everything you do as a CFO.

In this post, we’ll be exploring common tech stack problems that get in the way of enterprise value creation, and what you can do about them.

Keep reading to learn how to build your FinOps tech stack for long-term success.

Here’s what we’ll cover

Where does your business fit?

The first step in building your FinOps tech stack is to assess your business maturity.

The visual below outlines four maturity stages that companies pass through while finetuning their processes and systems.

As a SaaS CFO, you need to figure out where your organization is in this paradigm.

Knowing your company’s current challenges and capabilities will help you:

• invest your money wisely,
• save time by focusing on the right problems, and
• prioritize your organization’s specific needs and goals.

Companies can be at different maturity stages within different departments and functions.

Sales, for instance, might be integrated efficiently and humming along, while finance is still reliant on manual workflows.

From the POV of a PE operating partner, the goal is to optimize your company and tech stack for the smoothest exit possible.

So, it’s important to take a broader view of the organization overall, but also to zoom in and look at specific teams’ level of reactivity and optimization.

Do these tech stack difficulties look familiar?

Sometimes, SaaS and technology companies are so wrapped up in pursuing rapid growth that they don’t stop to think about their tech stack architecture.

As a result, there are two common tech stack challenges that PE operating partners frequently encounter.

The first can be thought of as “application spaghetti,” and the second issue is the appearance of data or application silos.

Both of these scenarios are different flavors of tech stack difficulties.

Application spaghetti is an indicator that you have a large amount of technical debt that needs to be unwound.

In other words, things have become too complex and interwoven, and you need to get your systems straightened out ASAP.

Data silos, on the other hand, are a sign that your company’s departments have become single-celled organisms.

They’re concerned with their data, rather than the big picture.

On top of leading to late reports and other issues, application silos usually require significant amounts of manual work to maintain, which is costly and inefficient.

Ideal application architecture

When you look at different types of application architecture, you’ll notice that the key components tend to be either CRMs or ERPs.

So when you’re building a tech stack, it’s important to start the entire process by thinking about whether or not those tools can easily integrate with others.

Sage Intacct, an industry-leading ERP tool for SaaS CFOs, seamlessly integrates with 350+ software solutions.

The goal here is to minimize the integration effort by pursuing best-in-class systems and applications.

This helps ensure that your data fits the system you’re using, your system fits your business model, and your business model drives revenue growth.

A properly integrated tech stack leads to:

• maintainable growth,
• better processes,
• structured data, and
• customer retention.

When you’re mapping out your business applications, pay especially close attention to the connection between your CRM and ERP.

These systems are the cornerstones of your application architecture.

H2: A SaaS CFO’s roadmap to an optimized tech stack

When it comes to building your tech stack, a big piece of your overall success depends on the mindset you start out with.

Taking a sequential approach and carefully planning each step is essential.

You’ll also need to be process-focused and data-driven.

The ideal tech stack will naturally look slightly different for every SaaS company.

However, there are five fundamental steps to keep in mind that apply in virtually all cases: 

1. Identify your business challenges

How are they impacting your company’s finances, operations, and customer retention?

2. Assess data quality between systems

This is where you’ll identify system redundancies, document your current processes, and broadly define your goals.

3. Build your roadmap

At this point, you’re ready to scope out your project budget and timeline, and specifically outline the types of ROI you’re looking for.

4. Implement your new and improved tech stack

This is where you’ll finally deploy and use your tech stack — migrating data, training employees, and conducting end-to-end testing.

5. Manage your system over time

Even after you’ve implemented your tech stack, you’ll want to continue optimizing your processes and KPIs, and maintaining proper governance.

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