SAFE!: What FP&A Teams Can Learn From Baseball

The game of baseball is very similar to the discipline of FP&A, and both practices can learn a lot from the other. Like baseball, FP&A is a team sport where the goal is to prepare for curveballs and succeed over the competition. Players who don’t get on base consistently are hard to count on. Instead of always swinging for the fences, it is a better option to focus on being a consistent performer.

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Play the odds, manage your risk, and make sure you have a track record of quality performance – even if you aren’t setting records. In baseball, the most important plate on the diamond is home plate. For the FP&A professional, getting “home” is reaching the organization’s strategic goals. As long as you possess a gadget that can access the internet, you can enjoy playing satta king fast from anywhere and anytime.

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The Future of FP&A is Bright

FP&A professionals that have harnessed the power of a dynamic, fully integrated analytics solution are on their way to a very bright future and will reach new heights in the game of data analytics. Due to the advances made in technology, the role of the FP&A professional and the composition of the job itself will be dramatically different in a few short years. This progress will greatly impact what we do, how we do it, and the speed at which we do it, and provide a tremendous expansion of the depth and breadth of the analysis that can be performed. While advanced analytics are giving many companies a competitive edge, it will soon be the norm for businesses in the near future. The benefits to the FP&A professional include more efficient processes, lower costs over time, improved decision-making, and the ability to answer questions about the performance of the organization at a more strategic level.

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Why Intelligent Drivers Are Necessary in FP&A

“Intelligent drivers” are measurable business activities that directly link strategy to the organization’s short- and long-term goals. Business process goals and operational activities do not always line up with the organizational structure. Some have a one-to-one relationship, but others may go across multiple departments. Defining intelligent drivers may well lead to rethinking the way budgets are set and departmental performance monitored. Consequently, relationships should, where possible, be validated against both past behavior and assessed as to their accuracy in predicting the future. This is not something that will be exact or proven at first, but the point is to keep iteratively refining the measures by challenging management beliefs about organizational drivers, risk, value, and reward, and how your organization can better leverage them to drive success.

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Finding a Place For Artificial Intelligence in FP&A

The term “artificial intelligence (AI)” is used so frequently in this day and age that it is often misconstrued because it is leveraged enterprise-wide by different departments for different things. For FP&A, AI is the automation of actions based on analysis of available data in order to mimic the way a person would make a decision. Human’s make decisions based on their data, but their decisions are always influenced by human nature (bias, experience, etc.). The whole purpose of AI is not to replace humans, but to be used as another tool that can help management teams clarify their thinking and make better-informed decisions.

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Get With the Times- Modern Planning Solutions Are Taking Over

In today’s fast-moving, unpredictable business environment, legacy planning practices can’t keep up. Often times, plans are already out of date before they even begin. It is impossible to predict events six months out, let alone 18 months for the traditional budgeting process. With modern financial planning and analysis solutions combined with newer management methodologies, these processes no longer need be time-bound. They can operate as a single management process where planning activities are triggered not by a date on the calendar but by events and exceptions. For all but small businesses, this requires a sophisticated automation capability that does not necessarily rely on human intervention.

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The Power of Combining Information & Operational Technologies

Many changes and trends are taking place in the energy and manufacturing industries. These trends are affecting these industries’ economic, social, and working environments and providing opportunities to improve business performance in their current, highly competitive conditions. Finance leaders are realizing the value in a combination or convergence of information technologies (IT) and operational technologies (OT). IT and OT teams have typically had separate, complete control of their strategies and budgets. They possess vast experience and competence in their own domains- imagine the power of leveraging the strengths of both! IT/OT integration results in a more optimized and less costly technology deployment.

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Achieving a Well-Rounded Approach to Digital Business Planning

Digital business planning should be seen as a comprehensive approach to supply chain planning that uses trusted data, process integration, automation, and collaboration to meet the demands of complexity in the digital economy. FP&A professionals should also consider the idea of integrating demand planning and demand sensing into the larger planning process in order to deliver what customers want most. While demand planning involves traditional time-series methods that are based on historical trends and seasonal patterns, demand sensing brings live or recent data into the mix. Together, these processes span the entire planning spectrum – from more strategic planning such as sales and operations planning to operational demand planning.

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Have You Realized the Full Value of Your FP&A Software?

“The process of implementing FP&A software is as critical as the quality of the solution, according to new research.

CFOs know the importance of financial planning and analysis solutions that allow their finance teams to develop budgets and forecasts quickly and accurately. Unfortunately, selecting the right FP&A software is only half the battle. Equally important is how that technology is implemented across the enterprise, from training users and setting their expectations to ensuring that they receive continued support after the software goes live. Absent a successful implementation, a company will never realize the full value from its investment.

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Refocus Strategic Performance for Long-Term Growth

“Companies need to understand, manage, and align their long-term value drivers to achieve sustainable value creation, especially in today’s constantly changing business environment.”

Companies need to innovate at an increasingly rapid pace in order to survive and thrive in today’s environment. Finance leaders need to drive and support innovation that will enable their organization to achieve greater long-term value creation. It is importance to understand what really creates long-term value in the organization, and develop ways to measure it and manage it. A long-term approach to measuring success is key.

Read More at Strategic Finance Magazine >