The Ledger
Curated content foranalytical business leaders
Deriving Analytical Value from Real-Time Data
May 23, 2018
“The amount of data generated by devices and machines continues to rise. Exponential data growth places an enormous amount of pressure on systems that must keep that information moving at high speeds from machines to data lakes or warehouses and into analytics platforms. Data storage and management are only a subset of today’s data-driven requirements — deriving analytical value is also extremely important. That value is difficult to show without systems that can analyze streams of information in real time. In particular, organizations are trying to enable non-technical users to elicit value from their data using off-the-shelf visualization tools.”
Read More at Forbes Magazine >
How Technology is Changing the Retail Industry
May 22, 2018
Retail today continues to change at lightning speed, and technology is helping leaders rewrite all the rules. Taking into account shifting consumer expectations and an unrelenting flood of data, a single digital core is essential to executing a winning consumer experience strategy (no matter where or how they shop), which is the key to driving future growth and market share. Technology is fundamentally redefining the way consumers live, work, and communicate with one another. As a result, consumers prefer to interact with brands and retailers in new ways – and every aspect of retail should also be reimagined with technology in mind.
Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >
The Supply Chain Has Moved to the C-Suite Agenda
May 21, 2018
Most companies do not have a role for supply chain expertise in the C-suite, and often do not see the need for one. By default, the CFO often takes on that responsibility. The CFO understands dollars, and a lot of those dollars are tied to the supply chain. The supply chain has an important influence on revenue. Essentially, supply chain management relates to almost any business activity and has, in effect, been a key element in overall business strategy. It entails the management and optimization of resources and business processes to meet specific business objectives. Without someone providing the correct overall guidance, companies often make efforts to improve operating efficiency and reduce costs, which takes time away from value-adding activities.
How To Adopt Continuous Planning For Better Agility
May 17, 2018
“If you’re in financial planning and analysis (FP&A), then you’ve likely been on the continuous finance and accounting journey for a while—by moving to rolling forecasts. Rolling forecasts and continuous planning vary in the level of maturity at many organizations, from focusing mainly on the revenue side of the equation to forecasting expenses. More broadly, it can extend to full-fledged integrated continuous planning, which incorporates both financial and operational facets of the business.”
Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >
