Is Your SaaS Company Missing A Financial Operations Role?

Forbes

09-04-2025

Carlos Vega | CEO & Co-founder of Tesorio | Redefining Cash Flow Performance.
Marketing has marketing ops, and sales has sales ops—so why hasn't financial operations become just as essential? For growing SaaS companies, financial operations is no longer about just keeping the books in order or ensuring compliance. It's about unlocking growth by connecting and interpreting data, implementing and automating workflows, and turning finance into the company's strategic engine. If you're missing a financial operations pro, I'd be willing to bet that you're missing out on cash flow.
Think back to the early days of marketing and sales operations: These roles didn't just appear overnight—they were created out of the necessity to streamline workflows, organize data and enable scalability. Today, modern software as a service (SaaS) teams couldn't imagine operating without sales and marketing ops.
Financial operations is now having its own moment. SaaS companies are realizing that without a dedicated focus on financial workflows and data, money is being left on the table (or, more accurately, locked in invoices and contracts). Much like Salesforce revolutionized sales operations and HubSpot popularized RevOps, leading SaaS companies are recognizing the opportunity within their finance departments. The difference? Financial ops doesn't just optimize internal functions; it can become a company's growth engine, enabling rapid reinvestment and growth by turning revenue into cash and that cash into action.
My prediction: I believe that an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled 'financial operations' engine will become the next frontier for growth-focused companies, especially in the SaaS world. Here's how:
Cash flow is the lifeblood of every SaaS company (every company, to be fair). Financial operations ensures that the flow of money—from billing to collections to reinvestment—is as efficient as possible. By minimizing bottlenecks and delays, companies can reinvest faster and scale smarter.
You already know that you need to be making data-driven decisions, but is the data you have enough? Are you analyzing it proactively or reactively? With complete data inflow and AI-powered predictive analytics, finance teams can spot trends before they happen—whether that's forecasting revenue, identifying cost inefficiencies or flagging potential churn. Compare that with 'reactive analytics,' where we're taking a snapshot of a company's financial data and trying to craft a narrative around things that have already happened, and future-focused companies will win every time.
Financial operations done right is about orchestrating the million tactical financial workflows based on a company's overarching strategy. This doesn't sound revolutionary, but it is: Too often, the tail wags the dog, and a company's vital cash is bogged down behind too many small, tactical gates that need to be manually opened. Leveraging automation to let that cash flow means your company's strategic objectives aren't encumbered—and ultimately determined—by inefficient tactical processes.
Automation and AI are transforming financial operations the way self-driving cars are revolutionizing transportation. Just as GPS systems dynamically recalculate routes, AI-powered tools can adjust financial workflows in real time—whether it's forecasting, reconciliation or collections. Here are a few of the places that I've seen real impact with AI-driven solutions in the scope of financial operations:
AI can monitor supplier portals to ensure invoices are submitted, approved and paid on time. By flagging discrepancies or delays, finance teams can avoid late fees and improve vendor relationships. Automation reduces manual intervention, making accounts receivable (AR) workflows faster and more accurate.
AI-driven tools streamline the collections process by identifying overdue accounts, sending automated reminders and prioritizing high-risk customers. This improves cash flow and reduces the time spent on manual follow-ups.
Automation simplifies cash application by matching incoming payments to outstanding invoices, even when there are discrepancies. AI can analyze remittance data, automate reconciliations and ensure that finance teams have real-time visibility into cash positions.
AI-powered systems can track, categorize and approve expenses in real time, reducing fraud and ensuring compliance with company policies. This also provides finance teams with better control over spending.
By eliminating or at least reducing manual, error-prone processes, these applications free up finance teams to focus on strategic initiatives like scaling operations and optimizing capital allocation. The result? A more agile, data-driven finance function.
The shift is already happening: More SaaS companies are adopting connected finance platforms, and those that don't risk falling behind. The tech laggards stand to have their indecision rewarded with less efficient capital and slower innovation and, as a result, may be less competitive overall.
Is your finance team ready to stop managing growth and start fueling it? The time to invest in financial operations isn't someday—it's now. Remember, revenue ain't real until you get paid.
The information provided here is not investment, tax or financial advice. You should consult with a licensed professional for advice concerning your specific situation.
Forbes Finance Council is an invitation-only organization for executives in successful accounting, financial planning and wealth management firms. Do I qualify?