Predictive Insights Are Advancing the Oil Industry

“Data-driven decision making and predictive capabilities will be essential across the life cycle of our unconventional assets-from delineation and appraisal through full field development” – Bruce McCullough, CIO at Marathon Oil

Being able to think and act differently than the competition is the goal in every business, and the oil industry is no different. Understanding what is happening below the surface has been the focus for oil companies over the years and adding digital technology into the equation allows these companies to creatively leverage their large data sets to gain deep insights into the business. Looking at the data through an analytical lens allows businesses in the industry to rely on predictive insights to answer questions like, “Where is the best place to drill? How far apart should the well walls be? And, what will be the ultimate recovery for the well?”

Read More at The CIO Review >

Forward-Thinking CFOs are Investing in Robust Analytics Platforms

Today’s technological advances are enhancing companies’ ability to increase efficiencies and anticipate trends and events that impact operations and the bottom line. In response to these advances, companies are investing more money in these technologies. The motives behind these analytics investments are to understand their customer data (for better experience, retention and service), data visualization and reporting to better understand business performance, trends and opportunities. However, the challenge is knowing what technology best suites their individual business needs.

Read More at The Wall Street Journal >

New Priorities For Modern Cost Management

According to Deloitte’s global cost management survey, cost reduction is now a global imperative, with 86% of global respondents saying their companies are likely to undertake cost reduction initiatives over the next 24 months. Cost management ha become a strategic enabler with the power to disrupt entire industries and fundamentally change how companies do business and remain competitive. To help avoid falling behind, companies in every part of the world should understand the potential impact of digital so they can position themselves to capitalize on the opportunities, particularly regarding automation, analytics and cognitive technology. Now we are seeing the rise of advanced, next-generation cost management solutions that harness the power of digital technologies to dramatically improve efficiency and effectiveness, and to enable fundamentally new business models and new ways of working.

Read More at The Wall Street Journal >

Six Elements of a Robust Business Analytics Platform

 “As companies face a thinning margin for decision error, the ability to use business analytics effectively—everything from correlation, segmentation, clustering, regression analysis, as well as forecasting and predicting outcomes—is becoming mission-critical.”

There is a strong need for business leaders to gain insights, foresight and inferences from their data. However, with the amount of data they are managing, they need a business analytics tool with visualization to quickly gain real-time insights. So, how do you know what software tool is right for your business. There are six key components that, when embedded with analytics, provide powerful decision support.

Read More at The Journal of Accountancy >

Is Cost-Plus Pricing Right for Your Business?

The idea behind cost-plus pricing is simple: the seller calculates all costs (fixed and variable) incurred in manufacturing the product, then applies a markup percentage to these costs to estimate the asking price. This method can lead to powerful differentiation, greater customer trust, reduced risk of price wars, and steady, predictable profits for the company. It is essentially the opposite of value-based pricing, where prices are customized based on their target customer. Every businesses’ goal is to reduce costs, increase profits and retain customers, and the way a business prices its products can have a major effect on that.

Read More at The Harvard Business Review >

The Cost of Inaccurate Financial Data

Executives are tasked with making the best decisions for the business every day, and they rely on financial data to inform many of those decisions. The key to making the best decisions for the business is trusting the data, because inaccuracies in financial data can have a very negative impact. This impact includes significant reputational damage, potential inability to secure additional investment, and increasing debt levels. Additionally, many organizations spending endless hours fixing financial errors in their accounts. An integrated automation platform helps maintain the integrity of numbers and processes in several ways.

Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >

Automated Technologies Could Be the Key to Agility

Today more than ever, finance teams are examining how agile methodologies can improve productivity, reduce market entry time for products, and increase profitability.  One of the ways that finance departments can improve their agility is through the adoption of new technologies that offer many opportunities to automate repetitive and manual departmental or enterprise-wide processes. When applied to these types of problems and scaled across multiple sites or groups, large cost savings and additional process improvement benefits can be achieved. These savings can help the finance team become more agile and focused on higher-value-added work, resulting in improved performance and job satisfaction.

Read More at Strategic Finance Magazine >

Why You Need the Right Tools to Build an Intelligent Enterprise

Modern businesses are leveraging advanced technologies that are the driving force for rethinking how business is done and remaining competitive. To build an intelligent enterprise, businesses must make sure they are choosing the right platform that will accelerate their speed of delivery and drive better business outcomes both for their customers and themselves. As the pace of innovation quickens, speed and agility are essential for companies to stay relevant and compete effectively.

Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >

Better Decisions with Transparent Costing and Profitability Insights

“With companies under pressure to improve profitability, many seek higher levels of transparency into financial performance to uncover insights that can enhance decision-making and create value.”

Business leaders need actionable analytics to recommend actions that improve the bottom line; such as adjusting pricing, reducing product costs, and rationalizing unprofitable products or services. However, many companies rely on two-dimensional reports featuring a significant amount of words and numbers to facilitate a discussion or communicate a point. But in many cases, the information lends itself to more questions, requiring iterative versions to provide the answers.

Read More at The Wall Street Journal >