The rapid development of the IT sector and the evolving needs of a growth-phase company place high expectations on Primend’s CFO, Maarika Kuhi. Primend provides IT services for mid-sized companies across the Baltics, and as Kuhi notes:
“As a provider of business-critical services, the company must be financially reliable and resilient.”
Over the past three years, she has led the development of Primend’s financial function across the region. What once was a small business has grown into a mid-sized IT group with teams in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Primend focuses on simplifying IT services for mid-sized enterprises — from cloud services to information and cyber security to IT support.
“My role is fairly classical for a CFO: budgeting, investment and profitability analysis, cash flow management, cost calculations, and consolidation,” says Kuhi.
As a member of the Primend Leadership Team, she regularly discusses results, change drivers, and upcoming cross-Baltic initiatives. “We also take a strategic perspective, shaping a 10-year vision, building a 3-year plan, and translating it into yearly action plans,” she explains.
Balancing details and the bigger picture
The growth phase requires both attention to detail and forward-looking planning. According to Kuhi, being a CFO in the IT sector demands versatility: proactivity, the ability to switch gears quickly, and readiness to dive deep while maintaining a clear overview of the bigger picture. “In our current growth stage, I often need to be both detail-oriented and future-focused — working closely with multiple teams and leaders. In many ways, a CFO must be a multitool,” she says.
Colleagues often turn to her to understand how the company is performing, what the outlook is, and how cash flow will evolve. “I’ve noticed that business-side questions are becoming more in-depth, while at the same time the amount of available data has multiplied,” she adds.
In a growth-phase company, cash is always a limited resource. For Kuhi, this means ensuring that every decision is carefully weighed. At Primend, this translates into constant work on cash flow management, securing financing sources, and running profitability analyses. “We’ve also taken profitability analysis to the next level,” she notes.
Primend’s business model is built on managed services, where recurring monthly revenue provides predictability and stable cash flow. Still, the sector has its seasonal variations and unexpected demands.
“You always need reserves — for investments, tenders, or other opportunities. Keeping a buffer is just smart management,” Kuhi says.
CFO as a driver of strategic decisions
Financial management also plays a key role in investment decisions. “I support these with profitability analyses and financing plans. My role is to make sure high-impact decisions are data-driven and fact-based — and that the business has a clear answer to whether a step will pay off,” she explains. Financial leadership is equally critical for risk management.
The past three years have brought significant societal and economic shifts, all of which have affected the IT sector. “This has meant more frequent forecasting updates, adjusting cost projections, and monitoring adherence to budgets,” says Kuhi.
Embracing technology in finance
Tools such as Power BI and Excel, increasingly combined with AI, are now an integral part of her daily work. “The Power BI–Excel–AI (Copilot) combination is my most frequently used tool,” she notes, adding that AI works best when given clear tasks: “It’s excellent for generating summaries, and I believe there’s still untapped potential in financial analysis.”
Maintaining focus and preventing burnout
Kuhi points out that her schedule is divided by the rhythm of the year: structured planning at the beginning, followed by periods dominated by operational demands. “There have been weeks where I’ve had to rearrange my work plan every morning. I think this is a trend that’s here to stay,” she admits.
With limited time, creating clarity becomes essential. Primend’s team is lean, so every major development project requires careful planning alongside daily work. “The biggest professional lesson I’ve learned is that you cannot lose sight of the larger goal. Sometimes you need to reorganize daily routines to complete restructuring or automation projects that bring long-term efficiency,” Kuhi reflects.
Alongside all this, she emphasized that it is also very important to take care of people. Burnout is quite common in the financial sector, which is why maintaining clarity as a leader is essential — as a team, we focus on what matters most. The feeling that “everything is important and everything must be done” is unfortunately a direct path to burnout,’ she said.”
Published in Äripäev | Financial News 16.09.2025 (author Eveliis Vaaks)