The Ledger
Curated content foranalytical business leaders
Adopt Dynamic Finance Technology or Get Left Behind
August 2, 2018
Faced with advances in technology and growing responsibilities, many CFOs are bracing themselves for more change ahead- and understand that they must adapt to be effective. CFOs are still at one remove from the center of digital-transformation efforts, even though they own and manage much of the relevant business information that feeds such initiatives. They must develop and share with other senior leaders a vision for a digital finance function and they have a clear opportunity to shape the evolution of their companies and gain valuable insights and experiences along the way. But those insights and experiences will not come at all if CFOs don’t take the first steps.
Agility is Necessary for a Successful Digital Transformation
August 1, 2018
“Large-scale digital transformation programs just don’t work for digital because technology will have developed significantly during that time. That’s why you hear about companies needing to become “agile.” Getting your finance function to work in innovative ways to go digital will not be easy. But properly explained, your teams can understand the necessity of these ways of working to accelerate delivery of digital products in your finance function, be they BI, automation, robotics, and so forth.”
Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >
AI is Gaining Meaningful Traction in 2018
July 31, 2018
According to the 2018 NewVantage Partners’ annual executive survey found that this is the year that artificial intelligence gains meaningful traction within Fortune 1000 corporations. The main finding of the survey is that an overwhelming 97.2% of executives report that their companies are investing in building or launching big data and AI initiatives. Among surveyed executives, a growing consensus is emerging that AI and big data initiatives are becoming closely intertwined, with 76.5% of executives indicating that the proliferation and greater availability of data is empowering AI and cognitive initiatives within their organizations.
Read More at The Sloan Review >
Enhance Your Budgeting with Four Steps
July 30, 2018
Budgeting can be a monotonous task, but it is necessary for business success. There are four steps that can enhance your budgeting process: Tie your budget to your strategic plan, tie it to the rolling forecast, minimize the iterations, and recognize the “80/20.” By tying in the budget with the strategic plan and rolling forecast, FP&A professionals can not only keep their budget at the forefront of their planning, but they are also continuously checking in and have the ability to tweak it as necessary. Minimizing iterations diminishes a lot of unnecessary work and recognizing the “80/20” helps to spread the analysis over the full calendar year and can take pressure off the budget season.
