Category: News

As the business landscape continues to evolve in response to shifting social and economic trends, companies of all sizes are facing new challenges. From the financial sector to human resources, organizations must adapt to the changing behavior and needs of the modern workforce, especially with the rise of new generations entering the job market who have very different needs and outlooks. Staying ahead of the curve and successfully navigating these changes is crucial for businesses to thrive in today’s dynamic environment.

With firsthand knowledge of the evolving challenges and needs facing the business world, at Apertura we delve into the insights and experiences to find key pieces of information that can help our clients thrive and succeed. The Chief Financial Officer, a key player on a company’s leadership team who plays a vital role in ensuring the financial stability and sustainability of the organization, is one of the roles that has come under our lens, and we would like to share with you our understanding to help your business thrive.

Our research included interviews with experienced CFOs from diverse industries. The objective was to gain a more thorough understanding of the issues and prospects facing finance executives in today’s complex business climate. Throughout the interviews with these CFOs, several operational challenges and emerging issues were highlighted as being crucial for today’s industries focused, surprisingly given their financial role, on human talent.

Retaining top talent and talent shortages

Retaining top talent is one of the biggest challenges for CFOs today, as stated by George Simons, a Fractional CFO. The CFO requires a highly trained, organized, effective and detail-oriented staff, essential for both small and medium-sized businesses to build their structure and encourage innovation. Remote work, a new generation with different personal needs and outlooks, and talent shortages in certain areas are just some of the issues mentioned in this area.

The dangers of turnover in the CFO’s team are especially relevant, not only given the sensitive nature of the information but also the need to follow strict protocols and adhere to the software systems in place, with requires often training and oversight of new employees.  The two most critical challenges we found currently for CFOs are the following:

Skill and experience gaps

A mismatch between job requirements and employee skills, also known as the skill gap, is another issue. This leads to a shortage of qualified employees as workers struggle to keep up with new technologies. A highly skilled team with a focus on continuous learning is crucial for the CFO to ensure the company remains competitive, can increase productivity, and also enhances employee satisfaction.  Companies often have their own financial systems, and employees might have broad financial skills yet lack a specialization in a certain area or software.  Especially in the case of small firms, finding a “jack-of-all-trades” to handle many jobs in the financial department is becoming harder and harder.

Corporate culture and environment

Many CFOs acknowledge that retaining top talent and establishing a strong corporate culture is an even greater challenge than offering competitive salaries. Building a great workflow and a strong corporate culture requires investing in a variety of non-tangible initiatives, such as employee learning and development, effective onboarding processes, wellness programs, and employee engagement activities. These types of investments require a focus on the human element of a business.

In conclusion, the challenges faced by companies today continue to trend toward the shortcomings of their workforces. This touches upon all areas of the business, and even for CFOs, their needs are also in the human talent area. The CFOs interviewed, face significant skill gaps within their teams, the lack of adequately skilled personnel, poor prior professional experience, and difficulty in establishing a positive organizational culture within these teams. 

However, they are surrounded by opportunities for improvement. Addressing these challenges requires a proactive and strategic approach, including investing in employee development and considering partnering with an outsourcing company. Outsourcing companies like Apertura offer access to highly skilled and experienced professionals, enabling companies to quickly fill critical talent gaps and focus on their core competencies. Additionally, outsourcing firms provide cost savings, increased efficiency, and improved workflow.

By outsourcing certain skill-specific duties outside your core business, companies can focus on enhancing their core competencies, fostering a positive business culture and the development of their in-house talent in their relevant business area, and a supportive organizational culture that fosters collaboration and innovation. By seeking an outsourcing company, you know you have a professional partner ready to do the work you need without having to worry about recruiting, training and oversight, especially to resolve those gaps in your company and be able to continue growing quickly.

Take advantage of the opportunity to elevate your company’s performance by partnering with Apertura. Our outsourcing services provide access to highly specialized and experienced professionals, saving you time and effort in the hiring process.

Are you ready to boost your performance?

The Venture Capital business constantly is changing, and these alternations are now happening with ever-increasing momentum. The number of companies seeking funding increases exponentially every quarter, and cornering the attention and remaining relevant in new investment markets has become a tough job. This situation gets more complicated if we factor in new developments, including the current tighter funding lines, focus on climate change, international conflicts, supply chain constrictions, and the new 3.0 web, which must be addressed if you want to take your business further.

How does this play out for the VC market? On one hand, the new funding horizon is forcing them to optimize returns and keep on top of changing trends to ensure they pick the winners. On the other hand, it calls for adopting new strategies and developing a broader investment focus. In addition to the above, one of the challenges brought by the transformation of the VC industry is the shortage of talent in all ranks from CEO to financial analysts, causing recurring delays in operations and hindering the effective flow of business.

So, how can you step up and confront VC trends and challenges and have your business come out on top? The following are the 3 key trends that you need to understand to address them in your business model.

Automation for deal management (H2)

Successful VC firms are devoting much of their resources to innovating around the use of automation and process optimization. Although this business is still being handled manually and individually in most cases, digitization is gaining ground.

The use of technology has proven to be one of the success factors of different investment businesses that have replaced coffee chats and notebooks, as stated by Jules Maltz, General Partner at IVP.

Networking, task management, databases and operational efficiency tracking are essential in the investment business to be aware of the behavior of operations. IT strategies include automating CRM platforms, the use of data analytics and big data, customer service through outsourcing firms such as Apertura, as well as leveraging project and task management resources.

Know your insights and be willing to adapt (H2)

In order to become a smarter investor, it is important not only to analyze the competition but also to have deep analytics to identify your own insights as a growing business. VC founders invest in data analysis to interact with their information and develop new ways to improve operational efficiencies and identify patterns in every previous investment success.

Increasing use of data trends approaches businesses with ways to gain detailed insights into their performance and adapt to every new challenge VC is facing nowadays. Also, these resources allow the business to get to know specific audiences, investors and networks. Digitization, AI, relationship intelligence and business intelligence are still the top strategies to decrease costs and improve the ROI of VC teams.

The most important part of this strategy is to generate a clear picture from the chosen business model and determine a budget to invest in financial tools, but also in business introspection to understand the adaptability of the company, the impact of risk to the VC firm and other data that will place them one step ahead of crises. Remember, data isn’t just for finance teams anymore.

Outsourcing allies to succeed (H2)

VC firms invest a lot of time in automating, optimizing and maintaining the performance of a company. That’s why many innovative firms prefer to hire outside help in specific tasks their teams lack knowledge in, thus becoming more effective and efficient. These are the tasks that are holding up their growth and slowing down their company’s progress.

One of the best ways to achieve this workforce optimization is by hiring outsourcing professionals. These professionals can help with tasks like accounting, writing marketing materials, and managing social media accounts—all of which can be cumbersome, time-consuming, and, if done without specialized knowledge, can hurt the brand and the company.  

At APERTURA we have been advising investment, VC and private equity businesses for over 15 years on how to boost their performance to their fullest potential, while we take care of processes that can be improved and optimized, such as financial modeling, market research, data analysis, contact center, presentation developments, safety procedures, regulatory compliances, cyber security, IT, content creation, brand management tech services, SEO optimization and corporate strategies. In short, we can find a skilled professional to address any of your specific needs, for the time and the jobs you need them to perform.

Investment in outsourcing has become a key strategy for firms to improve growth and successful business investments. In fact, the number of companies using outsourcing services is growing at a rapid pace, and this trend is expected to continue decreasing costs and improving businesses’ performance. Are you ready to increase your business potential? Contact us to find out ways to revolutionize your processes and discover new ways to stand out from your competitors with our outsourcing services.