CFOs and finance teams are facing challenges and change like never before. The volatile global economy, mountains of data, an evolving talent pool, rapid technological advances, and fierce competition are keeping CFOs up at night. Much of this stress is due to what appears to be a paradox: The CFO Paradox.

More than 70% of business leaders across organizations are looking to the finance office to help make strategic decisions, according to a study by E&Y. That same study showed that nearly 2/3 of CFOs believe that advanced analytics are the way to get there.

Even with so much at stake, only 16% of CFOs trust the insights they get from their own data teams, according to a study conducted by Forrester. To make matters worse, the same Forrester study showed only 51% of C-suite executives surveyed are aligned with the company’s data teams nor are they aligned with their company’s data and analytic strategy.

This illustrated playbook describes the 5 critical steps to break the CFO Paradox, from assessing the current state to leveraging the right technology solutions.