PwC's - Redefining finance's role in the digital-ageTodd DeStefano
Finance functions within insurance companies are evolving and assisting supported businesses with actionable data and developing "what if" situations for mid course corrections to navigate the business through turbulant economic and competitive scenarios.
Ben Chamberlain, UMT360: PPM + Financial Intelligence = Greater ROIUMT
Ben Chamberlain, UMT360 gave this presentation at Microsoft and UMT event Project Portfolio Management Exchange at Microsoft San Francisco office on January 14, 2014.
The new ‘A and B’ of the Finance Function: Analytics and Big Data - -Evolutio...Balaji Venkat Chellam Iyer
Published in 2013, this White Paper discusses how the finance function would evolve with the combined forces of Big Data and Analytics and the levers that could help catalyze the change and has drawn upon the Global Trend Study conducted by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on how companies were investing in Big Data and deriving returns from it.
Bridging Mission and Management: A Survey of Government Chief Operating OfficersBooz Allen Hamilton
What role do COOs play in agencies? What are their top priorities and challenges? What is the state of management in federal agencies? Those are the questions the Partnership for Public Service and Booz Allen Hamilton set out to understand in this inaugural report, “Bridging Mission and Management: A Survey of Government Chief Operating Officers.”
This report is intended to be the first in a series on the state of federal management from the perspective of those senior officials most accountable for results: the government’s chief operating officers and other equivalent top management officials. The goal of this series is to document the state of federal management from the perspectives of the leaders ultimately in charge—
the agency COOs.
PwC's - Redefining finance's role in the digital-ageTodd DeStefano
Finance functions within insurance companies are evolving and assisting supported businesses with actionable data and developing "what if" situations for mid course corrections to navigate the business through turbulant economic and competitive scenarios.
Ben Chamberlain, UMT360: PPM + Financial Intelligence = Greater ROIUMT
Ben Chamberlain, UMT360 gave this presentation at Microsoft and UMT event Project Portfolio Management Exchange at Microsoft San Francisco office on January 14, 2014.
The new ‘A and B’ of the Finance Function: Analytics and Big Data - -Evolutio...Balaji Venkat Chellam Iyer
Published in 2013, this White Paper discusses how the finance function would evolve with the combined forces of Big Data and Analytics and the levers that could help catalyze the change and has drawn upon the Global Trend Study conducted by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on how companies were investing in Big Data and deriving returns from it.
Bridging Mission and Management: A Survey of Government Chief Operating OfficersBooz Allen Hamilton
What role do COOs play in agencies? What are their top priorities and challenges? What is the state of management in federal agencies? Those are the questions the Partnership for Public Service and Booz Allen Hamilton set out to understand in this inaugural report, “Bridging Mission and Management: A Survey of Government Chief Operating Officers.”
This report is intended to be the first in a series on the state of federal management from the perspective of those senior officials most accountable for results: the government’s chief operating officers and other equivalent top management officials. The goal of this series is to document the state of federal management from the perspectives of the leaders ultimately in charge—
the agency COOs.
Tricks of the Transformation Trade: Disruptive Disintermediation, Agility Age...UMT
A vast majority of U.S multinational firms – 93% in fact, according to a recent survey – are at some stage
of undergoing or preparing for business transformation initiatives. This is being driven by an unprecedented
confluence of changes in customer behavior, disruptive technology and domestic competition, among other
key triggers. It’s constantly “transform or wither” in today’s volatile global business, and
agility is the executive imperative of the day, albeit an elusive one. An organization’s long term success or failure
depends on its capacity to consistently identify opportunities and risks and renew itself faster than rivals do.
Business leaders need to be more efficient and effective at updating and implementing strategies than ever
before. If wielded correctly, an important weapon in their agility war chest is a new style of enterprise program
management office (PMO) that is more comprehensive than in the past.
CohnReznick Information Management and AnalyticsCohnReznick
In today’s economy, executives need to make smart decisions fast, see opportunities where competitors haven’t, and continuously innovate to create advantage. While e-commerce, IoT devices, and social media are creating an unprecedented volume of data, organizations wrestle with disparate systems, silo’d infrastructure, and fractured decision-making. As a result, companies fail to recognize opportunity, manage risks, and create value.
Bill Huber from ISG, a research, consulting and advisory firm at the marcus evans CFO Summit XXIV Spring 2012 and Energy CFO Summit 2012, shares his views on why finance executives must accomplish a holistic view of data.
Interview with: Bill Huber, Partner, ISG
Use Case based on a fictions example Asset Management Corp. showcasing how iteraplan can be used for an impact analysis (for restructuring services to specific customer types)
Use Case based on a fictions example Asset Management Corp. showcasing how iteraplan can be used for an impact analysis (for restructuring services to specific customer types)
Information Governance (IG) is truly a strategic initiative of any organization. However, many organizations either fail to recognize the value of a sound IG strategy, or fail to make the connection to organizational strategy. This session will review the top ten reasons why IG strategy implementation efforts can fail, and then discuss how do we start to change the paradigm toward a Winning Strategy.
Culture Snapshot: Because Culture Makes or Breaks New LeadersLeader OnBoarding
Culture Snapshot is a tool that measures operational effectiveness early in a New Leader’s role. Snapshot surveys up to 35 key stakeholders (from 6 rater groups) to provide the New Leader with information they need, in living color, when they need it.
This revolutionary tool harnesses the power of the Denison Organizational Culture Survey, applied within the context of leader transition. Snapshot was developed in partnership with Denison Consulting, global experts in culture and leadership.
Using Snapshot, a New Leader works with a skilled facilitator to learn about the current performance climate within days of starting the new role, and gains input from a broad group of key stakeholders
Analytics in Financial Services: Keynote Presentation for TDWI and NY Tech Co...Fitzgerald Analytics, Inc.
Keynote Presentation Given in New York City on March 30th, at a joint event of The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) and the New York Technology Council. This keynote presentation by Jaime Fitzgerald focused on "Bridging the Gap" between business goals in the data and analytic enablers of achieving these goals.
" FP&A professionals are increasingly called upon to work collaboratively with the business. There are three aspects to becoming a better business partner: building the trust with the business leaders, deploying the right collaborative technology and realigning the finance organization to support a closer working relationship. This guide explores each of the three and offers tips on how to improve the relationship between finance and operations."
In it Together: why “collaboration” is now an essential skillset for asset ma...StatPro Group
Traditionally, asset management teams have worked in silos. But with asset classes and the data becoming more complex, greater collaboration is now needed. Find out why.
Stepping into the cockpit- Redefining finance's role in the digital agePwC
Insurance finance functions have been refining their
operating models to better align with business partner
demands, as well as adopting leading practices on how
to best utilize people, process and technology. The
challenge is that the business landscape is continuously
shifting and the pace of change is rapidly accelerating.
Using Mobility to Expand Planning and Performance Management Best PracticesSAP Analytics
http://spr.ly/Finance_PM - Explore how finance organizations can use mobile solutions to help expand planning and performance management best practices in order to transform business (Beyond Budgeting, 2013).
Tricks of the Transformation Trade: Disruptive Disintermediation, Agility Age...UMT
A vast majority of U.S multinational firms – 93% in fact, according to a recent survey – are at some stage
of undergoing or preparing for business transformation initiatives. This is being driven by an unprecedented
confluence of changes in customer behavior, disruptive technology and domestic competition, among other
key triggers. It’s constantly “transform or wither” in today’s volatile global business, and
agility is the executive imperative of the day, albeit an elusive one. An organization’s long term success or failure
depends on its capacity to consistently identify opportunities and risks and renew itself faster than rivals do.
Business leaders need to be more efficient and effective at updating and implementing strategies than ever
before. If wielded correctly, an important weapon in their agility war chest is a new style of enterprise program
management office (PMO) that is more comprehensive than in the past.
CohnReznick Information Management and AnalyticsCohnReznick
In today’s economy, executives need to make smart decisions fast, see opportunities where competitors haven’t, and continuously innovate to create advantage. While e-commerce, IoT devices, and social media are creating an unprecedented volume of data, organizations wrestle with disparate systems, silo’d infrastructure, and fractured decision-making. As a result, companies fail to recognize opportunity, manage risks, and create value.
Bill Huber from ISG, a research, consulting and advisory firm at the marcus evans CFO Summit XXIV Spring 2012 and Energy CFO Summit 2012, shares his views on why finance executives must accomplish a holistic view of data.
Interview with: Bill Huber, Partner, ISG
Use Case based on a fictions example Asset Management Corp. showcasing how iteraplan can be used for an impact analysis (for restructuring services to specific customer types)
Use Case based on a fictions example Asset Management Corp. showcasing how iteraplan can be used for an impact analysis (for restructuring services to specific customer types)
Information Governance (IG) is truly a strategic initiative of any organization. However, many organizations either fail to recognize the value of a sound IG strategy, or fail to make the connection to organizational strategy. This session will review the top ten reasons why IG strategy implementation efforts can fail, and then discuss how do we start to change the paradigm toward a Winning Strategy.
Culture Snapshot: Because Culture Makes or Breaks New LeadersLeader OnBoarding
Culture Snapshot is a tool that measures operational effectiveness early in a New Leader’s role. Snapshot surveys up to 35 key stakeholders (from 6 rater groups) to provide the New Leader with information they need, in living color, when they need it.
This revolutionary tool harnesses the power of the Denison Organizational Culture Survey, applied within the context of leader transition. Snapshot was developed in partnership with Denison Consulting, global experts in culture and leadership.
Using Snapshot, a New Leader works with a skilled facilitator to learn about the current performance climate within days of starting the new role, and gains input from a broad group of key stakeholders
Analytics in Financial Services: Keynote Presentation for TDWI and NY Tech Co...Fitzgerald Analytics, Inc.
Keynote Presentation Given in New York City on March 30th, at a joint event of The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) and the New York Technology Council. This keynote presentation by Jaime Fitzgerald focused on "Bridging the Gap" between business goals in the data and analytic enablers of achieving these goals.
" FP&A professionals are increasingly called upon to work collaboratively with the business. There are three aspects to becoming a better business partner: building the trust with the business leaders, deploying the right collaborative technology and realigning the finance organization to support a closer working relationship. This guide explores each of the three and offers tips on how to improve the relationship between finance and operations."
In it Together: why “collaboration” is now an essential skillset for asset ma...StatPro Group
Traditionally, asset management teams have worked in silos. But with asset classes and the data becoming more complex, greater collaboration is now needed. Find out why.
Stepping into the cockpit- Redefining finance's role in the digital agePwC
Insurance finance functions have been refining their
operating models to better align with business partner
demands, as well as adopting leading practices on how
to best utilize people, process and technology. The
challenge is that the business landscape is continuously
shifting and the pace of change is rapidly accelerating.
Using Mobility to Expand Planning and Performance Management Best PracticesSAP Analytics
http://spr.ly/Finance_PM - Explore how finance organizations can use mobile solutions to help expand planning and performance management best practices in order to transform business (Beyond Budgeting, 2013).
White Paper: Predictability Through Planning AgilityHost Analytics
Outperform your competition by making financial processes more relevant in driving organizational excellence, efficiency and informed decision-making, while improving forecast and budget accuracy.
With a fundamental shift in the CFO mission, the finance function has become a critical change agent across organizations. The role of financial leaders such as CFOs is evolving, from a traditional financial controller, to one that drives performance improvements across the organization.
Includes articles on the following:
Gold at the end of the Rainbow; Successful Merger Integration, Delivering Cost Savings in the Public Sector, Building Local Capability, USA, Banking; Passing the Point of No Return, Project Management in a Dynamic Environment, Chaucer Way to Successful M&A, The World Cup
Closing Complexity and Integration GapsDean Sorensen
Research estimates the cost of complexity at up to five percent of sales for global organizations. What’s more, most executives view internal complexities as a key barrier to growth – one that needs to be better managed. By extension, complexity management is a challenge that’s becoming of similar importance to Finance executives – especially those in treasury and financial planning and analysis (FP&A) roles.
One major obstacle stands in the way of more effective complexity management: the processes and structures that organizations use to plan, manage and govern their business. More specifically, immature and outdated ones that obscure risk, rein-force functional silos, suboptimize resource allocation and impede change. The underlying problem: inadequate integration
Planning and Forecasting - Aligning Finance Models to Streamline Business Pro...QueBIT Consulting
Many of the companies we work with are burdened by the errors and complexity of managing separate finance models for each of their business processes, even though the models are based on the same sets of data. We help them align their models to create flexible, forward-looking tools that serve the business effectively throughout the year. For more information and to schedule a demo please visit http://quebit.com/ .
You’ve created a powerful and focused strategic plan. Your business is undergoing significant transformation. Now comes the hard part. Implementation. You know what you have to achieve, but how can you make sure everyone is aligned and focused on execution.
My Single Point keeps you on top of the situation with real-time monitoring and full visibility of all activities to achieve the strategic objectives. What-if simulation modeling enables you to understand different options, simulating the implications of change across the organization and budgets, giving you tools for fast decision-making. My Single Point even provides automated alerts that require immediate attention.
Contact us for a demo:
IT-as-a-Service Consulting S.P.R.L
18 avenue Jean XXIII
1330 Rixensart – Belgium
Tel: +32 2 318.12.71
Fax: +32 2 318.81.41
Mobile: +32 478.40.30.12
Email: info@itaasc.com
web: www.itaasc.com
1. Integrated Planning Part 1: Synching
Financial and Operational Views
Published on September 29, 2016
Nilly Essaides, Director & Practice Lead, The Association for Financial
Professionals
This is the first of a two-part post on integrated planning. Part 1 focuses on how companies use
integrated planning to make smarter business decisions; part 2 delves deeper into the technology
implications.
Integrated planning is becoming the new buzz phrase in finance. It means merging the financial
and operational planning processes to allow management to make smarter decisions up and down
the value chain.
To execute on this mandate, finance must combine disparate streams of information into one
view, which includes financial and non-financial information, so everyone can feed the same
data into their models. Finance, business, and management need to see down to the transaction
level how changing business drivers affect financial performance today and in the future.
2. According to Dean Sorensen, an independent consultant and integrating planning expert, the
approach helps companies handle the growing complexity of their businesses. As complexity
rises, integration provides the means to accomplish objectives that become increasingly difficult
to support with fragmented processes and systems. Integrated planning gives companies a real
advantage.
· It provides greater insight into financial and operational risks
· It optimizes operating performance, by breaking down functional silos
· It optimizes investment ROI, by managing risks associated with project cash flows
· It cascades realistic and adequately funded targets
· It helps them to respond quickly to change.
The drivers of change
The primary reason integrated planning is become more of a household term is the changing role
of the CFO. “The CFO is becoming more important,” said Pras Chatterjee, senior director of
product marketing, enterprise performance management at SAP. In the past, the budget and
planning were done at a centralized, high level only. Today, finance functions are embedded in
regional and functional entities and each create its own budget. According to Chatterjee,
Integrated Planning is the glue that holds all these together, allowing senior finance leaders to
have a line of sight into various budgets and allowing budget owners to make sure they’re all
looking at the same numbers. “Technology brings all these plans together,” he said.
Integrated planning is happening within a broader context. According to Christian Gheorghe,
CEO at technology vendor Tidemark, three shifts are affecting the office of CFO and driving
companies to take a holistic view of the business:
1. The impact of digitalization: Companies are changing the way they are thinking about
how to compete and measure performance in the digital economy. To have a clearer line of sight
into what’s ahead, companies must engage more people in the activity of forecasting. “In the
past, planning was an activity handled by a few. Going forward, the pressure of this new
environment will force companies to push it into the periphery of the enterprise,” Gheorghe said.
2. Shifting business models: The digital transformation also is forcing companies to rethink
their business models. “The finance team is moving from a small ‘a’ to a big ‘A,’ from analysis
to analytics.”
3. A secular shift in technology. Finally, new technologies are not just about handling ever-
larger sets of data, but also bringing together different data sets. “We’re moving into the
intersection of collaboration, mobility, conversation platforms, consumers and internal data,” he
said.
3. Cox Wood: How Integrated Planning Works
A good example of how integrated planning works in practice is Cox Wood, an industrial
manufacturer of treated wood products. Matt Yaun, Chief Administrative Officer, oversees
enterprise wide functions in the areas of finance, HR, IT and business analysis. He relies on a
solution called River Logic to bring all these parts together into a single integrated platform, so
he can run models that connect operational decisions to financial outcomes and vice versa. For
example, Cox models how capex decisions affect its credit capacity and how pricing decisions
impact operational choices.
Finance plays a key part in the company’s integrated business planning approach, according to
Yaun. “Finance verifies that the models remain current; it also runs different scenarios that help
discern the income statement and balance sheet impact of operational decisions in real time,” he
said.
Finance and operations must work hand-in-hand in the budgeting process. “At the C-level we
guide Finance to run different scenarios to test how the budget will perform at different levels of
capex expenses and pricing,” Yaun said. “Planning is only as good as understanding how
demand will impact the organization’s financial performance,” Yaun said. “You can’t reach back
into the supply chain with promises or requirements without that understanding.”
Integrated business planning enables Cox to make tough resource-allocation decisions. Cox
Wood is privately held and has limited financial resources, namely a bank revolver and some
access to family equity. As a result, managing capital capacity is essential. “I need to know what
my balance sheet will look like in three, six and 12 months,” Yaun said. To do that, “I need to
run all these scenarios and continuously improve our capability for prescriptive analytics.” Not
figuring those out upfront can mean not having capacity later to take advantage of attractive
opportunities.
Conclusion
Today’s finance departments face a very different set of challenges, according to Meredith
Hobik, Product Line Leader, Finance, at Anaplan. The stakes are higher and the pressures are
greater. “To perform its basic tasks and get the enterprise conversation going, FP&A need tools
that break down organizational silos. When you’re not connecting finance and operations it’s
hard to make smart decisions.” According to Hobik, “it’s an opportunity for FP&A to take on
more responsibility.”