The Evolving CFO: Bridging Finance, IR, and Innovation
AI and IR innovation are reshaping how CFOs build investor trust.
The CFO role is evolving rapidly. Beyond managing finances, CFOs are now pivotal in connecting with investors and leveraging tools like AI to strengthen communication.
According to IR Magazine’s Global Investor Relations Practice Report, 75% of IR teams now report directly to CFOs, and companies report spending 20% more time on IR-related activities this year vs. one year ago.
Today’s CFOs are balancing strategy, technology, and transparency to build trust and engagement with investors. Here’s a look at what’s changing and why it matters.
How the CFO’s Role Is Expanding
CFOs have become key players in shaping investor communication. Most IR teams now report directly to CFOs—in concert with corp comms and marketing—to ensure alignment between financial strategies and the company’s narrative. This approach builds trust with investors and stakeholders alike.
IR Magazine’s research supports the idea that IR is becoming a more interconnected and strategic function within organizations. In North America, senior leaders are devoting an average of 54 days annually to IR, up from 45 days last year.
The requirements of the CFO role and the digitization of the investor ecosystem are transforming how CFOs approach technology, specifically AI. According to a survey by FT Longitude, 78% of senior finance leaders plan to increase their investment in AI over the next 12 to 18 months.
This shift reflects the growing reliance on AI for tasks such as anticipating investor questions, refining messaging, and analyzing sentiment. Companies like Skechers and Ciena are already leveraging AI to ensure their communications resonate with stakeholders while improving efficiency, per Wall Street Journal reporting.
In addition to enhancing processes, AI has enabled 75% of finance leaders to shift focus from administrative tasks to more strategic activities, showing its potential to free up resources for higher-value work. However, CFOs also face challenges, including proving ROI quickly—48% say that investments must deliver measurable returns within a year to justify further spending, according to the report. Despite these hurdles, AI remains a priority for driving innovation and aligning with the demands of a digitized, data-driven investor environment.
What’s driving the change?
Investor expectations are higher than ever. Next-gen investors, both retail and institutional, expect transparency and direct communication. They want easy access to updates via platforms like social media, podcasts, and interactive content.
For CFOs, this means stepping into more visible roles. Investors aren’t just focused on results—they want to understand the strategy and decisions behind them. By being authentic and clear, CFOs can build stronger relationships and trust.
AI plays a key role in meeting these expectations. It enables faster insights, better messaging, and more meaningful connections. By integrating more sophisticated technologies into IR, CFOs stay ahead of trends and provide the transparency investors value.
What CFOs can do to succeed
CFOs are stepping into an increasingly dynamic role that combines financial expertise, strategic communication, and technological innovation. Here are some key points to consider:
Embrace emerging tech for communication and insights
New technologies like AI, analytics, creative platforms, and distribution tools are changing the way CFOs communicate with investors. These tools help craft clear, engaging messages that align with your company’s goals and connect with your audience.
Emerging tech also makes it easier to share updates across channels like social media and investor portals, ensuring your message reaches the right people. At the same time, analytics tools give you insights into shareholder feedback, engagement, and sentiment, helping you adjust and improve your approach.
By using these tools, CFOs can simplify complex information, track what’s working, and refine their messaging. In today’s fast-paced environment, embracing tech is key to keeping investors informed and strengthening those relationships.
Consider both sides of the AI equation
AI isn’t just a tool for improving IR workflows—it’s also something investors use to research companies. For CFOs, this means thinking about how your company uses these tools and how your audience relies on them to gather insights.
As a Tool for Creating Content: AI can help refine and align your communications. Use it to check for clarity and ensure your messaging is on-brand and matches your company’s tone of voice. AI can analyze the overall tone—whether it feels optimistic, neutral, or overly cautious—and suggest adjustments. It can also evaluate the strength of your language, recommending words that convey confidence and impact. Beyond that, AI can help identify language that resonates with your audience by tying your messaging back to how investors are discussing your company online or in other channels. These insights ensure that your content connects effectively with the people it’s meant to reach.
As a Tool for Consuming Content: Investors are increasingly using AI tools to research companies. It’s essential to ensure that the content on your website, press releases, and other digital touch-points is structured in a way that’s easy for generative AI tools to process and deliver accurately. By doing this, you can make sure that investors are accessing consistent, relevant information.
Build a unified digital investor marketing strategy
CFOs should actively engage with teams across their organizations to amplify the impact of investor communications. This means working closely with corporate communications to ensure alignment and nurturing relationships with internal marketing teams to bring financial narratives to life on digital channels. Collaborate with IT and analytics teams to capture insights on IR website traffic and investor behavior (tools from Stakeholder Labs make this easy). Tapping into these existing resources can help CFOs optimize messaging, improve digital reach, and maximize the tools their companies already have in place.
Bringing together people, technology, and strategy will help CFOs lead with agility and impact and the public markets continue to evolve.
Stakeholder Labs builds tools for modern organizations that want to up level their shareholder analytics and engagement to support long-term growth. Contact us to learn more.