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How BPA Automation Relates to 3 Strategic Priorities for CFOs in 2026
As the year 2025 draws to a close, CFOs look ahead to their strategic priorities for the upcoming year. In preparation for the new year, the global research and advisory firm Gartner surveyed over 200 CFOs about what they expect in 2026.
The research highlights three key CFO priorities—what Gartner calls “Strategic imperatives”—rooted in technology. To position your company for success in 2026, it’s critical to clearly understand how Business Process Automation (BPA) software specifically addresses these top priorities and directly empowers CFOs to achieve their goals.
Strategic Imperatives
In their report “2026 CFO Agenda,” Gartner highlighted three top “strategic imperatives” while also acknowledging that the current business “landscape [is] shaped by competing priorities.” It likely comes as no surprise that even while trends emerge from data, not all CFOs are in agreement regarding the top priorities in their companies. Still, we can learn from these outliers as well as the trends.
1) “Embed cost discipline while seizing first-mover opportunities”
Gartner’s first strategic imperative reflects the survey’s result that “More than half of CFOs (56%) see enterprisewide cost optimization among their top 5 priorities.” CFOs are concerned about costs, cash flow management, and reducing risks. Improving the efficiency of financial processes, as well as forecasting and analysis, are similarly high priorities. At the same time, many CFOs are also prioritizing growth opportunities and strategic investment.
2) “Accelerate AI adoption and cultivate digital talent for long-term value”
As we’ve seen in other recent surveys of CFOs and finance leaders, Gartner found a tension between CFOs’ desire to implement AI adoption and mistrust of AI technology. Their survey found declining confidence in technology even while CFOs prioritize investments in AI and other digital technology. It’s impossible to ignore AI, but many companies struggle to implement this new technology effectively. CFOs in 2026 intend to prioritize AI adoption and investing in “hiring and retaining digital finance talent.”
3) “Prioritize ruthlessly to navigate constraints and expand margins”
CFOs face some intense challenges going into 2026. Almost no one has access to the budget they need to finance everything they’d like to prioritize. Alongside that, many companies face challenges in hiring and retaining talent. The “budget limitations and headcount shortages … intensify the tension between short-term cost cuts and long-term growth investments.” With the potential for rising operating costs and the push to make decisions when outcomes are uncertain, CFOs face tough decisions about what to prioritize and what to cut.
How BPA Technology Can Help
Business process automation is a great resource to help CFOs navigate modern strategic priorities. While BPA isn’t a magic solution to all financial challenges, it does provide tools that make a CFO’s job much easier. By streamlining business processes with BPA software, you can cut costs, improve oversight, maximize efficiency, and more.
1) Improve Financial Management and Oversight
Optimizing costs and investing in growth can be competing priorities, but the right technology tools can help CFOs balance those goals. With BPA software for managing complex operational and capital expense budgets, CFOs gain increased oversight into and control over costs and investments.
Capital budgeting and project management software make large-scale expenses and investments much easier to manage. Here at NextProcess, our CapEx software includes customizable budgeting tools. You can configure the tools to match your company’s needs. Our Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model lets you set up a single centralized management hub, consolidating all the data and communication related to a project into one software program that updates in real time.
2) Implement BPA, AI, and Other Technology Wisely
There is so much technology now that seems essential to doing business in the modern world. BPA, AI, SaaS, and RPA (robotic process automation) are hot tech trends for companies looking to improve their software solutions. But do you need to combine them all and create a hyperautomation system? Should you mix-and-match software when implementing a solution? Can you really trust AI?
Understanding the types of AI available and your options for financial process automation can help CFOs navigate the challenging digital landscape. Implementing a modern BPA solution can quickly modernize your existing ERP and put a type of AI called machine learning to work for your company. As your finance teams use BPA software with machine learning, the software “learns” how your company does things and gets more and more effective. And as you implement the software, make sure you’re also preparing your finance team members for working with automation.
3) Use BPA Software to Ease the Load
Implementing BPA software can help ease the burden of headcount shortages that so many CFOs face today. It doesn’t replace your employees, but it does make it much easier to manage financial processes. Surveys show that implementing BPA software in your company improves employee efficiency and satisfaction, making it a win-win for the company and employees alike.
BPA software can also help your company optimize cash flow. Automation helps CFOs proactively manage working capital. It also tracks data related to finances in real-time, providing accurate and timely access to financial transactions. In addition, BPA software automatically logs all this information and you can use it to generate reports that enable robust financial planning and analysis.
An End-to-End Financial Solution for 2026
NextProcess offers a powerful suite of software modules to automate your capital project management, procurement and purchase orders, accounts payable, travel and expense, document management, and payment disbursements. It’s rare to find a true end-to-end solution that covers budgeting, project management, purchasing, accounts payable, and payments.
Our SaaS software is highly customizable and integrates seamlessly with your company’s existing ERP. We also take the burden off your IT department by handling integrations, software updates, and data security. To see how well our software can help your company achieve your strategic priorities for 2026, contact us today to set up a free demo.
