If there’s one thing that finance leaders can be certain about in 2025, it’s uncertainty.
While we’ve lived through many unpredictable and volatile times—the pandemic most recently, along with the aftermath of wars, supply chain woes, inflation and more—this year seems to be on another level.
Despite the wealth of tools and technology at the disposal of CFOs, finance leaders and their team members, it can be easy to feel like there are no good choices. No wise pivots to make. No quick decisions that put team members at ease and provide clarity.
That brings us to the big question for finance leaders: How do you effectively adapt, overcome and push ahead in an uncertain environment? You could go with your gut—that may yield results. Or, you could analyze the data, listen to the experts and chart a path forward to the best of your ability.
Drawing on the findings from Vena’s State of Strategic Finance 2025 report, here are a few recommendations based on the insights of over 200 finance leaders to help you push through the uncertainty of 2025 and beyond.
But first, let’s unpack the major factors driving all the ambiguity.
Several variables are making it difficult for businesses to make confident plans. Perhaps most starkly, the federal government in the United States is giving the world whiplash with changing trade and tariff policies, which change seemingly (and sometimes literally) daily.
The markets, likewise, are highly volatile, falling one day on the prospect of high trade barriers, and then jubilant the next, when it seems that those barriers were merely a tough negotiating tactic. Further, military conflicts in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and even in Southern Asia are adding to the unpredictability of the moment.
In short, uncertainty is high and pervasive. 87% of corporate executives used the term “uncertainty” during recent earnings calls, compared to 38% in the previous three months.
Optimism among CFOs also fell during the first half of 2025, according to data from the Richmond Fed. The data shows that the most pressing concerns among CFOs during Q1 2025 were trade and tariff issues, followed by inflation and monetary policy. But again, the tariff issue is the clear stand-out in the Fed’s data: during the first quarter of 2025, 30.5% of firms named it their largest concern, whereas only 8.3% said the same during the fourth quarter of 2024.
Hammering this home further, a survey conducted by The CFO Alliance in April finds that 73% of CFOs surveyed say that they’re experiencing negative effects, in some shape or form, as a result of economic and policy uncertainty.
But while times are tough, that doesn’t mean you should stay stagnant.
Vena’s State of Strategic Finance 2025 report found that the biggest concerns among finance leaders when the survey was conducted were inflation (26%), high interest rates (22%), and economic uncertainty (12%).
With that in mind, what can finance leaders do? Here are four data-backed recommendations from the report that may prove helpful in navigating the current economic environment.
Simplifying our workflows, processes and systems allows us to focus on what we can control. Reducing redundancy also optimizes costs and bolsters the company’s bottom line.
With that, your business should focus on consolidating existing systems or revamping old ones to provide the company with a higher return on its investment. You should do this exercise across every business function—especially in your own finance department.
Our report found that the most common challenges leaders had with their current financial and business planning systems tended to be:
Systems that can’t integrate with current technology at a sufficient level (cited by 46% of respondents)
Systems that lack key functionalities like data visualization (cited by 42% of respondents)
Systems that are not flexible enough for current needs (cited by 38% of respondents)
So, to reduce redundancies, start by looking inward at your finance teams to see which systems aren’t being used or create more work.
For teams still doing a fair bit of manual work, there can be plenty of duplication of efforts, siloed data issues and more. Introducing the right technology “can help you be more repeatable and defined in the things you are doing, and have more dedicated tools and processes,” said Melissa Howatson, Vena’s CFO, at Excelerate Finance 2025.
In short, find ways to streamline, consolidate and revamp your business’s tech stack. It may not help sort out changing tariff policies, but it may help reserve a bit more dry powder for firms as they navigate a tricky period.
If there’s one piece of advice regarding AI that came through in the report, it’s this: Lean in.
AI, though it still feels brand new, is already deeply embedded in many systems and software (including Vena). While many finance leaders are becoming increasingly optimistic about AI’s capabilities and potential role in finance, there is still skepticism, but only among a relative handful of finance leaders (8%), from our report.
But emerging AI tools may help leaders increase productivity, democratize data access for their firms and unlock much-needed time savings. Our report shows that a majority of firms (57%) are already using AI in their finance operations. Among them, their top use cases for AI were data analytics (cited by 55%), followed by predictive analytics and modeling (47%). 33% of finance teams leveraging AI said they used generative AI.
We’re moving past the stage of AI tools being largely experimental, a shift that will surely drive increased adoption in the next year.
“A lot of people don't want to be that pioneer and be the first one to adopt a new technology. And we're past that pioneer stage to some extent, where lots of companies have now adopted AI,” says Craig Schiff, President and Lead Analyst, BPM Partners, in our report.
Using AI to democratize data and speed up the generation of financial insights can pay organization-wide dividends. AI agents specifically created for FP&A activities, for instance, can respond to prompts in seconds with relevant data and insights.
That means key stakeholders across wider departments such as Operations, HR and Sales have quicker access to critical insights to make better-informed decisions. But in many cases, it depends on leaders embracing AI, not eschewing it.
When navigating headwinds, you should also focus on the people on your team and in your firm, not merely the tools they’ll use to get their jobs done.
Business partnering can and should become a bigger focus for finance teams, which entails working directly with other business departments to drive toward common goals.
Our report showed that heading into 2025, finance teams that identified themselves as more mature (41%) collaborate with their broader organization at a higher rate than their counterparts (30%).
Leaning on other areas of the organization through business partnering can also help maintain and grow a sense of confidence throughout the business, with finance as a focal point.
“What I have found is that if you have a really strong partnership with finance, it’ll give you an advocate in the boardroom and in business conversations, and also helps when there’s debate around the budget and setting revenue goals,” said April Oman, the Chief Customer Officer at Resilinc, said on The CFO Show. “My advice is when you want to partner with the CFO, it’s really to align on the targets.”
Forming these reciprocal relationships with other teams across the organization leads to stronger analysis, as you can better understand the context behind the numbers. And when faced with operational challenges like supply chain strains, this kind of on-the-ground understanding is invaluable.
While optimism may not be the current word du jour, it can be critical to keeping your team focused amid all of the uncertainty in the world. And, as our report showed, 81% of finance leaders were feeling an undeniable sense of optimism heading into 2025. Most finance leaders entered 2025 feeling pretty good.
Try and re-embrace those positive feelings because, despite uncertainty, challenging times may come with fresh opportunities depending on the product or service you offer. For example, customers might be more keen to buy locally sourced products to avoid higher prices from tariffs. Or a company that offers tools to support customers through financial changes or challenges could see opportunities for growth.
It may also be helpful to give your team a “motivating mission,” said Melissa at Excelerate Finance 2025. It can help teams understand how and why they’re chasing certain goals, and give them a chance to take the lead. “We want to be out front and leading things,” she said.
Keep in mind, too, that it’s also a fairly exciting time to be working in finance. There are complex, interesting problems to solve and adapt to. Businesses will need innovative solutions. Embracing the opportunity to develop those solutions may help light a fire for some finance teams.
While current market uncertainty is affecting every business in some way, challenging times like these can still generate opportunities. And finance teams are in a prime position to sift through the data, identify those opportunities and work with other departments to turn those opportunities into growth. Being decisive rather than stagnant, in that sense, can be a game-changer.
Find out how Vena can help you make confident, data-driven decisions with flexible scenario modeling.