The Ledger

Finance is Changing the Automotive Industry As We Know It

“You always knew digital was going to change things, but you didn’t realize how close to home it would hit. In every industry, digital competitors are taking advantage of new platforms, tools, and relationships to undercut competitors, get closer to customers, and disrupt the usual ways of doing business. The only way to compete is to evolve.” – James McQuivey, Forrester Research

Finance professionals in the automotive industry need to drive strategy in a whole new way to stay competitive. They must look beyond the immediate functions of reporting, disclosure, accounting and controlling and focus on real-time analytics.

Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >

A Trip Worth Taking for Every CFO

The ideal position for a CFO to be in is when they can accurately report on the financial position of their organization by assembling a financial snapshot that contains great detail and insight. In order to accomplish this, however, they must first have the right technology and processes in place. CFOs who are not supported by these things need to improve the tools and the ability of their finance teams to make data-driven decisions that will drive enterprise-wide innovation.

Read More at CFO Magazine >

It’s Not All About ‘Big Data’

When it comes to data, a common misconception is that the more data you have, the smarter your artificial intelligence (AI). Context matters when you are trying to extract insights from your data. This means that you can collect all the data you want, but if you don’t have a clear view of what you are trying to find and you don’t have the right data to do it, then you’re not going to end up where you want to go. Companies that can zero-in on the impact they want to see and focus finding the right data sets to map those goals have the best opportunity for generating the best results from AI. Many companies can be successful with small, high precision data.

Read More at The Harvard Business Review >

Your Competitive Advantage Depends on Your Finance Team

“Finance is a very different job than it used to be, and it’s important we have tools right at our fingertips so we can perform the right analysis to identify opportunities to do things differently.” – Loren Mahon, Oracle

Finance teams everywhere need to arm themselves with the tools that provide the real-time information needed to make strategic decisions. A business whose finance department continues to focus on reports about the past will have an extreme competitive disadvantage. This transition in the finance role reflects the need to be more agile, tapping advanced data analytics to recognize and address market opportunities and business threats.

Read More at Forbes Magazine >