CFOs increasingly are asked to play a vital role as a business partner to the Founder or CEO of a startup or SMB. It’s not enough for the CFO to oversee purely financial and accounting processes.

It’s absolutely crucial that the CFO ensure that the financial processes are aligned with customer processes. This is especially true here in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley where the emphasis on sales growth is incredibly intense.

Effectively utilizing CRM is crucial to help a company scale efficiently. The article below by 1to1Media outlines 3 key ways in which CFOs can help companies use their CRM more effectively:

• “Ensure the front and back offices are aligned: Every department within an organization touches the customer, from sales to finance to HR.”

• “Implement customer-centric business tools: Giving employees a 360-degree view of the customer through cloud-based, mobile, and social tools will allow each business unit to improve upon their respective business goals.”

• “Empower your own employees to succeed: A customer-centric CFO understands the need to invest in the tools that improve the experience of their employees”