The Ledger

A Strong D&A Function Takes More Than Technology

Having the right tools when it comes to data and analytics is critical, but executives tend to overlook the importance of the people and structure required to build strong business processes. Creating a strong data and analytics strategy requires people who really understand both the business challenges and how the business works. They then need to set and work toward realistic goals with executives involved along the way. In an age where data is created on a scale far beyond the human mind’s ability to process it, business leaders need data and analytics they can trust to inform their most important decisions.

“D&A should be the pulse of the organization, incorporated into all key decisions across sales, marketing, supply chain, customer experience, and other core functions.”

Read More at The Harvard Business Review >

Innovation in Healthcare

Creating innovation in highly regulated industries, such as the healthcare industry, is very challenging but necessary. Often times we forget that healthcare is a business, not just a service when we are sick. Even the healthcare industry relies on innovation to gain a competitive edge and thrive. The first step in bringing innovation to the table is talking to all the right people. You must talk to legal, regulatory and compliance colleagues early and convince them of the benefits before moving forward. It is easier to get buy-in when you start early and they help tweak the plan from the beginning to ensure it follows the organization’s protocol. Regulated industries need time to adapt, and they need to understand innovation, its risks and benefits.

Read More at The Harvard Business Review >

Overcoming the Obstacles In Your Analytics

Business analytics platforms have evolved over the past decade and are now being used enterprise-wide extracting new types of insights from vast volumes of data. This evolution, while encouraging for many finance professionals, also brought a few obstacles to realizing analytics’ full value. Surprisingly however, these obstacles are not related to the technology- but to the people. There are three significant hurdles that most of these firms are facing- their company structure, culture, and approach to problem solving. Once this is realized, executives can find resolution by putting the appropriate processes in place that will take away the human obstacle in their analytics, and be on their way to making more strategic business decisions.

Read More At The Harvard Business Review >

Driving Execution With FP&A

More and more companies are realizing the power of planning and forecasting. While it is helpful to have a view of what could happen in the future, the best way to predict the future is to make it. Success is built on driving results rather than predicting them. The key is to attain the appropriate insight that will give finance professionals the answer to “How?” instead of “What If?” By combining FP&A with an Execution Management system, companies will gain the ability to re-invent their business processes to gain more insight into the future.

Read More at The EPM Channel >