Insight

6 essential questions finance leaders are asking about data and analytics

New tech, faster forecasting, advanced insights: Here’s how finance can navigate—and lead—the shift to becoming a true data-driven enterprise.

The future of finance isn’t shrouded in mystery. It’s being driven by advanced data, analytics and insights (DA&I) that are transforming finance.

CFOs and their teams are uniquely positioned to lead this data transformation across the company, creating an agenda for disruption that will measurably and meaningfully advance the entire business. To do this, finance professionals must partner with enterprise teams in three areas: data governance and management; business planning and analysis; and intelligent forecasting.

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Governance

Business planning and analysis

Intelligent forecasting

Data governance and management

Better data delivers better insights. Finance must lead the effort to identify and curate the data most important for companywide performance, ensuring that data is high-quality, highly accessible, and regularly reviewed and updated. This establishes a rock-solid enterprise data foundation that enables ongoing governance and optimization.

1

What is data governance—and what role should finance play?

Those fancy tools and leading-edge data visualization sound great. But they won’t mean a thing if the data isn’t right. Establishing a consistent foundation of high-quality data, and then regularly managing and enhancing that data is the core of data governance. And here’s why it’s a job for finance.

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2

How do I get the entire enterprise aligned on data management?

Yes, data is everyone’s responsibility—and now everyone wants a seat at the table. But someone must lead. Increasingly, finance—with its unique view and trusted relationships across the entire business—is taking that leading role, partnering with other teams, and ensuring that data initiatives are business-led and technology-enabled.

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Business planning and analysis

Data-driven organizations are giving financial planning and analysis (FP&A) a makeover. The traditional view of FP&A as a siloed function is over. Today, data is empowering finance to broaden its services, generate powerful new forward-looking insights and become an essential business partner for the entire enterprise.

3

How can I help my organization adapt to a more volatile business environment?

Climate risks, social and political unrest, disruptive competitive threats from improbable unicorns … no, the era of business volatility didn’t start with the pandemic. To stay ahead, here’s a six-step plan to help finance leaders reimagine their approach to planning and analysis and mitigate the inevitable risks ahead.

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4

How can my finance team be a more impactful business partner?

Expanding the finance team’s portfolio of services is now table stakes amid a business environment filled with fast-changing risks and opportunities. Here’s a guide to how CFOs can reimagine finance ’s people, processes, and technologies—and transform their teams from company scorekeeper to enterprise planning partner.

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Intelligent forecasting

The promise of next-generation forecasting is here—faster and more accurate forecasts that incorporate predictive analytics, AI, external data and more. Now it’s up to finance to take that promise the last mile by identifying the data and tech that will unlock powerful new insights companywide.

5

How can I get my business planning and forecasting to move faster?

Successful businesses are resilient businesses. They thrive because of their ability to adapt to rapid change and pivot quickly when needed—and often based on advanced data and smarter forecasting and scenario modeling. Here are five steps to transforming traditional financial reporting into impactful and intelligent forecasting.

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6

What new capabilities, technologies and process upgrades will make our forecasting more dynamic?

Yesterday’s financial forecasting tools and processes weren’t built for the demands of today’s intelligent business forecasting. It’s time for finance to upgrade its data-driven reporting arsenal. Here are three innovative ways to build a better forecast.

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