The Ledger
Curated content foranalytical business leaders
How to Strategically Cut Costs Across the Enterprise
September 25, 2019
There are several steps businesses can take to develop a structural process for an enterprise cost reduction program in a way that positively impacts every aspect of the organization – not just the bottom line. For decades, businesses have made cost reduction a priority to increase profits and drive growth. In recent years, digital disruption, changing consumer preferences and fierce competition from new market players have entered the mix – posing a threat to margins and profitability. Today, rapid advances in technology are propelling organizations to undertake enterprise-wide cost transformations to remain agile, flexible and profitable in a time of constant change.
Re-imagine the Finance Function with Intelligent Technology
September 24, 2019
The CFO’s role is evolving, and intelligent technology is helping them work more efficiently and add greater value to the businesses. Intelligent technologies are no longer just a “nice to have” pipe dream; they’re a business reality that is changing how organizations function. Through an intelligent finance operating model, CFOs can help transform the finance function; moving from transactional and reactive to proactive and strategic. This isn’t just about achieving operational excellence, but reshaping the way businesses fundamentally work and engage with technology. CFOs are now able to overcome the burden of manual, time-consuming accounting and reporting by implementing intelligent finance applications and processes enterprise-wide to improve efficiency and free up time for more strategic tasks.
Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >
A Futurist’s Framework For Strategic Planning
September 23, 2019
When it comes to long-term planning, many FP&A professionals should be able to answer these questions: Where do you want to have impact? What it will take to achieve success? How will the organization evolve to meet challenges on the horizon? These questions are the foundation for any achievable plan, both long and short term. Many businesses get stuck cycling between strategy and tactics, and while that process might feel like serious planning for the future, it results in a perpetual cycle of trying to catch up: to competitors, to new entrants, and to external sources of disruption. “Futurists” see their planning timelines as more of a cone that measures certainty and charts actions, rather than simply marking the passage of time as quarters or years. The result, ideally, is a flexible organization that is positioned to consistently and effectively respond to external developments.
Read More at The Harvard Business Review >
What Makes a Future-Focused Finance Organization?
September 19, 2019
The systems used by many companies for important business insights have many inconsistencies. They lack integration, automation, and a single version of the truth about their business. Additionally, many lack the ability to view their data in real-time to really understand what their data is trying to tell them. Today’s volatile marketplace requires more flexible finance, and modern finance leaders have leveraged intelligent technologies to provide the real-time data and reporting capacity that empowers them to drill-down to the most detailed level of information. Having one universal truth from one set of data available in real-time is extraordinarily powerful for finance leaders because it empowers the business to be faster and more agile.
Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >
