Chrome River’s Newest Money Manager

As an expense reporting and invoice automation software tool, Chrome River serves as the go-to tool for its clients’ CFOs in need of visibility into enterprise spend. Among the chief financial offers using Chrome River is its very own, Daniel Machock, who was announced as the company’s new CFO just a few weeks ago.

The executive has a dense history of managing finances at corporations, including Software-as-a-Service and tech firms. Now, his more than 20 years of experience puts him in an interesting position. Machock took a moment to speak with PYMNTS about what it’s like to serve as CFO for a company that services other CFOs through technology.

“As a CFO, we’re constantly trying to have other departments in the organization do more with less,” Machock said, adding that he believes his experience as a financial chief at other companies allows him to relate to his own organization’s clients. “I think a technology like Chrome River allows a CFO to manage their organization with less.”

Before he was announced as CFO at Chrome River last month, Machock held the same title at Outspoken, a Software-as-a-Service mobile marketing firm, and has also held financial management roles at other technology companies, like DexOne and EY.

With corporate treasury becoming a more tech-savvy segment, now’s a pretty good time for a tech CFO to join a firm like Chrome River.

“Throughout my career, I’ve always found I enjoy working with tech companies that are creating innovative products,” he said. “I’ve done it across several areas: in software, SaaS, online services and mobile services — across the technology spectrum.”

With this kind of experience under his belt, Machock’s biggest goal, he said, is to continue Chrome River’s existing growth.

“I think my biggest opportunity and challenge is to continue to help our team manage growth, keep focusing on achieving our sales plan, while we are investing in areas as we expand our footprint beyond the U.S.,” the CFO explained.

Earlier this year, the company reported “record growth” for 2015, releasing some new stats about its expansion.

Among them: 430 enterprise clients now use its SaaS tool, and the company now penetrates more than 90 countries. Highlights of the year included a $100 million Series D funding round in June, a strategic collaboration with U.S. Bank and the rollout of DATA EXPLORER, the company’s data analytics module to help CFOs make use of the data that lives on the Chrome River platform.

Machock added that he’ll be helping the company continue to ink strategic partnerships and land new markets across the globe. But down to the macro-level, he said, the role will be about managing employee and corporate spend — something he noted should certainly include technology.

“SaaS tech is something that CFOs really need to embrace across all the functions they manage,” he said, adding that Chrome River as a SaaS provider does for Machock and the organization what it’s intended to do for other businesses. “It enables us to control costs, seek out spending efficiencies and vendor discounts. It makes it easier to enforce expense policies and minimize excess spend.”

Key to implementing these strategies is making use of the data provided by cloud-based tools like Chrome River itself.

“Really, as a CFO, it’s my team’s responsibility to manage expenses across the organization,” Machock explained. “Chrome River enables us to do that without a lot of manual intervention or number crunching; our analytics tool really enables us to analyze our employee spend more effectively.”

He added that the automation capabilities offered by expense management SaaS tools allow a CFO to grasp the power of automation — leading to efficiency, a faster grasp of information and more accurate insight. “It does allow you to do your job better,” Machock said.

For Chrome River clients, it may be a comforting sign that a tech-savvy CFO can get behind his new company’s own product built for fellow money managers. But the firm’s newest C-Suite executive said he was impressed with the rest of his fellow coworkers.

“I’ve been in some demanding roles,” Machock said. “I think I’m working with some of the most talented people in our industry.”