The Ledger

How Technology is Re-Shaping Your Business Models

Effective business models must include three features: the target customers of the business, the value proposition for those customers, and the value chain architecture. Innovation in digital technology allows organizations to redefine and recreate their business models by giving organizations the flexibility to redraw their value chain architecture. This not only creates new value propositions for existing customers but can also change the customer set. Redrawing business models start with changing the sequence of the value chain.

Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >

Your Data Strategy May Not Be as Stable As You Think

Data is now considered the world’s most valuable asset. There are plenty of great ideas and techniques in the data space: from analytics to machine learning to data-driven decision making to improving data quality. However, there is an overwhelming amount of data and it takes a lot of time and effort to succeed with it. Bad data makes it nearly impossible to become data-driven and adds enormous uncertainty to any technological progress.  Companies need a means to monetize that data, essentially a business model for putting the data to work, at profit. The ultimate goal is to leverage your data in ways that create new growth, cut waste, increase customer satisfaction, or otherwise improve company performance.

Read More at The Harvard Business Review >

Food And Beverage Companies – Do You Understand Your Profitability?

“A large food company recently inquired about the profitability of each of its distribution channels. It was considering expanding further into food service versus its club store business and wanted to know if it was a wise decision. In analyzing this simple question but very complex area, there are many factors and a disciplined approach that can be followed by companies faced with decisions about channel, customer or product profitability.”

Read More at Forbes Magazine >

The Role of Management Accountants: Redefined

 “Technology is redefining the role of the management accountant while changing the business landscape and the management accounting profession at an unprecedented speed.”

A key factor driving this change is the relentless evolution of technology. While technology has always been an important part of the management accountant’s skill set, that importance is increasing dramatically. Technological advances are reducing, and in some cases eliminating, many of the routine tasks performed by management accountants, freeing them to add more value as business partners with the rest of the organization. Strategic management, which includes strategy formulation, validation, and implementation, is becoming an essential competency for management accountants to possess.

Read More at Strategic Finance Magazine >