Cost Optimisation: Moving from Cuts to Capability

For CFOs, cost management is nothing new. But the demands on how costs are controlled—and where value is delivered—have changed significantly. It’s no longer enough to just “cut fat.” The real challenge today is knowing how to optimise spend in a way that builds resilience, supports transformation, and funds future growth. 

Across sectors, we’re seeing the same pressure points: volatile markets, digital investment requirements, rising regulatory complexity, and a growing expectation that finance plays a central role in driving enterprise-wide change. In this context, traditional cost-cutting techniques—reactive, episodic, often siloed—fall short. What’s needed is a strategic, ongoing approach to cost optimisation. 

But what does that actually look like in practice? 

Beyond Budget Cuts: Why Optimisation Means More Than Reduction 

Most CFOs can identify areas to cut. That’s not the hard part. The real challenge is to ensure that cost decisions don’t just save money in the short term, but actively strengthen the business in the long run. 

This is where many cost programmes falter. As BCG points out in its recent Cost Excellence report, too many initiatives are overly focused on SG&A or driven by short-term margin pressures. They lack a clear link to broader strategy. And crucially, they often miss the opportunity to reinvest savings in the areas that create competitive advantage—customer experience, innovation, talent, and technology. 

The best CFOs are reframing their approach. They’re asking bigger questions. Which costs are genuinely misaligned with strategy? Where are we duplicating effort, systems, or resource? And how can we create a culture where cost-consciousness is embedded, not enforced? 

Strategic Levers for Smarter Cost Management 

Modern cost optimisation isn’t about a single programme—it’s a capability. And like any capability, it needs structure, ownership, and investment. 

That starts with mindset. Organisations that succeed in this area don’t treat cost as a finance-only issue. Instead, they position it as a shared, cross-functional responsibility—one that’s rooted in value, not just control. CFOs become enablers, helping teams understand where capital is best deployed and what can be improved or rethought entirely. 

Next come the operational levers. This is where much of the practical work happens: process improvement, automation, digitisation, procurement efficiency, and shared services. But even these aren’t enough in isolation. Without quality data, clear governance, and joined-up systems, the impact will be patchy. 

That’s why technology and analytics are such a central part of the picture. Today’s finance leaders have access to a toolkit that includes real-time dashboards, cloud ERP, intelligent spend analytics, and scenario planning models. But simply implementing systems isn’t the point—what matters is using them to make better decisions, faster. EY, for example, talks about “intelligent integration” as the key to aligning spend management with business strategy. It’s a helpful reminder that tools are only as good as the context they’re embedded in. 

Culture Matters More Than You Think 

A cost optimisation strategy will only go as far as the organisation’s culture allows. This is the often-overlooked element—but it’s one of the most important. 

If cost decisions are made in a vacuum, or seen as “just a finance thing,” they won’t stick. But if teams are empowered, if leaders model the right behaviours, and if cost thinking is tied to purpose and performance, it becomes something much more powerful: a competitive mindset. 

We’ve seen businesses unlock huge value simply by giving teams access to better cost data—and the autonomy to act on it. Likewise, many CFOs are now exploring alternative workforce models that blend permanent, interim, and flexible resource. This isn’t just about reducing overheads. It’s about creating agility, and ensuring the right skills are available when and where they’re needed most. 

Leadership, Talent, and the New Skillsets Required 

What all of this points to is a broader shift in what’s expected of leaders—and in the talent organisations need to attract and retain. As cost optimisation becomes more strategic and cross-functional, it demands a different kind of capability. 

For finance teams, the focus is moving from technical control to commercial partnering. Analysts and FP&A teams need to bring curiosity, data fluency, and storytelling into the room—not just spreadsheets. In tech, there’s growing demand for professionals who can bridge systems thinking with business needs—particularly in ERP, data architecture, and automation. Procurement has also stepped into the spotlight, with a need for professionals who understand supplier collaboration, sustainability metrics, and intelligent sourcing. And in change and transformation, the emphasis is firmly on leaders who can navigate complexity, align stakeholders, and embed new ways of working sustainably. 

As Chris Morrison, Group MD at Cedar, puts it:
“Cost optimisation has always been on the CFO’s agenda—but now it’s a talent agenda too. Organisations that want to sustain cost excellence need more than good systems—they need the right people in finance, tech, procurement, and change who can deliver smarter decisions, and embed cost thinking into how the business runs every day.” 

This is where recruitment becomes strategic. It’s not just about backfilling roles. It’s about building teams that can deliver insight, efficiency, and transformation at scale. 

Governance That Sustains the Gains 

One of the biggest risks with any cost initiative is backsliding. You make changes, you see results—but over time, old habits creep back in. Costs return. Complexity builds. The momentum stalls. 

To prevent this, governance matters. The best organisations are setting up dedicated cost offices or integrating cost governance into transformation PMOs. They’re also evolving how success is measured—not just looking at expense lines, but tracking cost-to-value ratios, time to impact, and broader performance metrics tied to customer, employee, and operational outcomes. 

Ultimately, what gets measured gets sustained. 

What This Looks Like in the Real World

Across our network, we’re seeing finance leaders take bold but pragmatic steps to embed these ideas. 

One private equity-backed business recently overhauled its finance systems—moving from five legacy platforms to a single ERP environment. The result? Cleaner data, faster reporting, and a significant reduction in duplication. Another organisation applied a zero-based approach to operations and uncovered nearly 20% of spend that could be reallocated without compromising quality. And in the healthcare sector, a business navigating post-merger integration used a Statement of Works model to rapidly align systems, remove duplication, and deliver cost synergies within months. 

These are not just examples of cost control—they’re examples of capability building. 

Cost Excellence as a Growth Enabler 

It’s tempting to think of cost optimisation as a constraint. But done well, it’s anything but. In fact, some of the most agile, innovative, and high-performing businesses we work with are the most cost-disciplined. Not because they cut hard—but because they optimise well. 

They understand where value is created. They have the data to act. They have governance to sustain results. And perhaps most importantly, they have the mindset that every cost decision is a strategic one. 

These are not isolated stories. The same mindset that drives successful cost optimisation—cross-functional thinking, data-led decisions, and a focus on long-term value—is what underpins successful AI adoption in finance too. Together, they form part of a new operating model for CFOs: one where finance leads not just with numbers, but with intelligence, capability, and influence. 

For today’s CFOs, that’s the challenge—and the opportunity. 

At Cedar, we work with CFOs who are looking beyond short-term savings. Whether it’s through interim finance transformation expertise, specialist talent to embed analytics capability, or Statement of Works delivery for cost-critical programmes, we help finance leaders build the teams and structures needed for smarter, more sustainable performance. 

If you’re thinking about how to take cost optimisation to the next level, or recruitment experts are ready to find the right finance talent for your business.