The Ledger

Intelligent Technologies Are Revolutionizing Finance In Midsize Businesses

Midsize businesses across virtually every industry are actively adopting new technologies to drive better insights that support business strategy. However, recent IDC research suggests that only 50.2% of best-run midsize companies are supported by finance organizations that understand the power of data when ensuring timeliness, accuracy, and insight. Additionally, the research found that the biggest challenge for best-run midsize companies is the inability to provide timely financial insight relevant to decision makers in other departments across the enterprise. The biggest reason for this is that many finance organizations still subscribe to maintaining a growing inventory of spreadsheets, disconnected data sources, and manually created reports. To remain competitive, these businesses must be proactive about transforming their finance function with technologies that enable long-term growth.

Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >

Creating Business Advantages from Variances

Variance analysis is a crucial for business leaders to gain insights into performance while improving future planning efforts. The key to identifying variances is having access to an end-to-end view of business processes in real-time.  An organization is rarely successful when they lack the proper tools to evaluate how the business is performing and the ability to drill-down into their data to identify the root cause of variances. In today’s volatile marketplace, managers need to not only understand the variations in data, but also be able to measure business impact and make the necessary changes in a timely manner. Identifying and understanding data variations allows managers to make more powerful predictions, establish control, and improve performance while gaining a major competitive advantage.

Read More at The Harvard Business Review >

Increasing Profits with Mid-Year Adjustments

Mid-year adjustments to business plans help many companies improve their tactics while staying on track with long-term initiatives. While many businesses only have impromptu approaches to adjusting business plans, a more structured approach provides flexibility and focuses concentration on the right levers of profitability. Checking in on mid-year financials allows executives and decision makers to not only see how the business is performing, but also to see how their plans are faring mid-year and determine any variances. Furthermore, the ability to identify the root cause of the variance and make a thoughtful adjustment to the business strategy is crucial to optimize business performance and drive profits.

Read more at Forbes Magazine >

Boost Finance Agility with Modern Technology

“The relentless introduction of new technologies and innovative business models has accelerated the velocity of change in the business environment. To survive and thrive, companies must be attuned to shifts in market conditions and ready to make decisions fast – and implement them quickly – to alleviate their impact.”

According to The Hackett Group, there is a strong positive correlation between greater organizational agility and financial out-performance. While there is not a single way for executives to make decisions faster and expedite their execution, they can leverage a dynamic, integrated modern technology platform that enables agility across the organization.

Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >