The document, presented by Matt Giroux of CohnReznick LLP, focuses on the role of analytics in enhancing financial decision-making for CFOs. It emphasizes the importance of leveraging analytics to derive actionable insights, drive strategic changes, and improve organizational performance through storytelling. Various case studies illustrate how companies can uncover hidden opportunities and optimize operations by refining their analytical approaches.

1. Presented by: Matt Giroux
Managing Director
CohnReznick LLP
Elevate Your Financial Analytics:
Advice from CFOs

2. E l e v a t e Yo u r F i n a n c i a l A n a l y t i c s
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What are your analytics telling you?
Perhaps more importantly,
what aren’t your analytics telling you?
The Thinker, Auguste Rodin

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Illustration by:
M.C. Escher
The Paradoxical Art
of “Inception”
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Painting by:
Norman Rockwell
“The Vetrinarian”
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5. What’s in an Analytic?
5
CFOs today should see analytics…
as a way to instill a deeper understanding of the value
behind the questions we ask across the organization.
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6. E x a m p l e S t o r i e s f r o m C F O s
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Call
Center
Booking
System
HR
System
Story development:
• Call center analytics showed spikes
identified as “primetime”
• Bookings were low or absent during this
same primetime period
• Operators delayed entry into booking
system to increase call throughput
• Operator incentive based on call volume
Alter operator incentive from call volume to booking volume.
Chargebacks from airlines dropped $1M per month
Call to Action:
Value Created:
A travel commerce company is experiencing larger than expected
chargebacks from airline customers.
Scenario: Find hidden
profit centers!
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ERP
CRM
System
Story development:
• Began by analyzing buying patterns
of customers
• Found relationship between
Average Customer Spend (ACS)
and Average Units Purchased (AUP)
per transaction
Segment customers based on Average Customer Spend & Units Per
Transaction to build personalized marketing campaigns.
Increased customer engagement and average spend.
Call to Action:
Value Created:
A luxury consumer retail chain is looking to maximize customer
spend.
Scenario: Traditional KPIs
Elevated
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ERP
Retail
Competition
Inventory
Story development:
• Standard metrics like Stock to Sales ratio
not providing a complete picture
• Combined beginning on hand
inventory levels with units sold including
competition across entire portfolio
determined the “Sell Through” ratio
• “Sell through” as compared to other
retailers on a period basis showed
product is moving
Decrease footprint at larger retailers demanding markdowns based
on current “Sell Through.”
Higher profits realized after big retailers agreed to carry inventory at
normal price.
Call to Action:
Value Created:
A wholesale distributor is facing increased mark-down requests from
big retailers.
Scenario: Improved
Negotiating Power
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Reservation
Fleet
Management
Locations
Story development:
• Looked historically at rental patterns
across the brands
• A pattern emerged where Brand A was
found to rent more often during the week,
while Brand B on the weekend
• Deeper analysis suggested Brand A was
geared towards business while Brand B
was rented for those seeking pleasure.
• Average vehicle idle time was opposite
for both Brands.
Drive cars from Brand A lot to Brand B lot over the weekend.
Lower combined fleet size and increased utilization.
Call to Action:
Value Created:
A car rental company is looking to maximize utilization of the fleet
across multiple brands.
Scenario: Strengthen Fleet
Management
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11. Analytics have the unique quality of presenting your
organization’s story.
Person
Activity
Workflow
Processes
Algothrims
Place
Thing
Sales Finance
Resources
Operations
StoryData
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12. Through story telling CFOs are able to effect change and
dynamically impact the outcomes!
Descriptive
Analytic:
Sales trending down
due to reduced leads
Increase Sales Leads
Action One
Incentivize Earlier
Close Rates
Action Two
More sales closures
due to increased
opportunities to close.
Outcome:
Descriptive outcome analytics
tells the story of success.
Analytic creates call to action!
Descriptive analytics drive the story of declining sales
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Understanding how these stories impact your
organization’s starts with appreciating the DNA of analytics
DNA of Analytics
Analytics are used for:
Value is achieved when there is:
Analytics need to continuously
evolve to:
• Describe what has happened!
(Descriptive Analytics)
• Tell you what might happen in the
future! (Predictive Analytics)
• Recommend what path should be
taken! (Prescriptive Analytics)
• A call to action!
• A visualization of an
issue/opportunity!
• An educational event!
• Reflect changes in the
organization.
• Build on what was learned.
• Predict the future based on
what has past.
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Define the hypothesis
of your story
Step Three
Develop the theme of
your story
Step Two
Quantify the activities
included in the story
Step Four
Write the story
Step Five
Edit the story
Step Six
Validate the stories
call to action
Step Seven
Define
Quantify Publish
Write Validate
Edit
Publish the story
Step Eight
Identify
Develop
Using the DNA of analytics, stories can be written and published,
providing continuous value to the organization.
Identify the person, places
and things in the story.
Step One
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Published stories drive actions, identify future trends and
determined optimum paths.
Successful stories instill
action. The value is derived
from the actions taken.
Actions
Successful stories not only
describe the past but
indicate what is possible in
the future. The value is in
understanding future
opportunities.
Trends
Successful stories assist
decision makers in making the
optimum choose based on
the information available. The
value is in reducing the risk in
choosing a path.
Optimization
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02 • Identify production
systems and source
data needed to
solve problem
Better question =
Better answer
Data you can trust
Easily deployed
across enterprise
03
• Build interfaces
• Apply data
processing
rules and
standards
04
• Summarize data
• Apply tool specific
transformations
• Build performance
optimization
05 Prepare for end-
user consumption:
• Analytics apps,
presentations
06
• Evaluate
problem
definition
• Compare
expected v.
realized benefits
• Provide
feedback to
assess for next
analysis
01 Problem definition,
including proposed
solution and
expected benefits
Using an agile analytics framework with Qlik® decreases IT
development time
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Matt Giroux
Managing Director
CohnReznick LLP
Matt.Giroux@CohnReznick.com
Visit us at Booth #500
to see how we can help you elevate your analytics.
And Pick Up your
Complimentary
Analytics T-shirt!
What’s Your
KPI?
May 16, 2017